Spinach and ricotta stuffed shells
Pasta shells filled with spinach and ricotta beneath a tomato sauce.
About 55 min · 540 kcal · 30 g protein per serving
Vegetarian
Mujadara with crisp onion and yoghurt
Lentils and rice cooked together, topped with deeply browned onion.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 22 September 2026; not yet cooked in a test kitchen or photographed, so the times and yield are estimates. How we develop our recipes
What still needs a real kitchen
- Confirm sliced onion crisps in 18 to 22 minutes over medium heat
- Confirm 90 g rice absorbs 250 ml of water in 12 minutes plus a rest
- Photograph the finished bowl
- Time
- About 55 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 2
- see below
- Energy
- 550 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 28 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 2 servings
Check off ingredients as you go.
Contains milk.
Cooking steps
Slice the onions as thinly as you can and cook them in the oil in a wide pan over medium heat for 18 to 22 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until they are deep brown and crisp at the edges. Do not rush this.
Lift out half of them onto kitchen paper to keep for the top.
Add the cumin to the pan, then the rice, and stir for a minute so the grains take on the fat.
Add the water, bring to a simmer, cover and cook on the lowest heat for 12 minutes.
Fold in the drained lentils, replace the lid and leave off the heat for 5 minutes.
Fork through, top with the reserved onion, the yoghurt and the parsley.
The useful detail
Give the onions the full twenty minutes. The dish has four real ingredients and no spice beyond cumin, and the browning of the onion is essentially all of its flavour.
Make it work for you
One serving is A deep bowl with 75 g of yoghurt. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.
Quark instead of Greek yoghurt
Thicker and sharper against the sweet onion.
Per serving: about the same energy, about the same protein, about 1 g less fat.
Leave out the yoghurt
The dish becomes vegan and loses about 7 g of protein a serving.
Allergens: Removes milk.
Bulgur instead of rice
Nuttier and quicker, about 10 minutes. Nutrition is not recalculated.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
A dish of lentils and rice that together make a complete protein, which is why it has fed people for centuries on very little else.
| Energy | 550 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 28 g |
| Fat | 12 g |
| of which saturates | 2 g |
| Carbohydrate | 84 g |
| of which sugars | 10 g |
| Fibre | 16 g |
| Sodium | 40 mg |
Show calculation notes
Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 2. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.
| Ingredient | Weight used | Source | Energy | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| onion | 200 g | FDC 170000Onions, raw | 80 kcal | 2.2 g |
| olive oil | 18 g | FDC 171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking | 161 kcal | 0.0 g |
| ground cumin | 2 g | FDC 170923Spices, cumin seedFoodData Central records cumin seed; ground cumin is the same seed, milled. | 8 kcal | 0.4 g |
| white rice | 90 g | FDC 168877Rice, white, long-grain, regular, raw, enriched | 329 kcal | 6.4 g |
| water | 250 g | No energy | 0 kcal | 0.0 g |
| cooked lentils | 350 g | FDC 172421Lentils, mature seeds, cooked, boiled, without salt | 406 kcal | 31.6 g |
| Greek yoghurt | 150 g | FDC 170903Yogurt, Greek, plain, lowfat | 110 kcal | 14.9 g |
| parsley | 10 g | FDC 170416Parsley, fresh | 4 kcal | 0.3 g |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 2 | 1096 kcal | 55.8 g |
Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.
Storage and reheating
- In the fridge
- Cool, cover and refrigerate within 2 hours of cooking. Eat within 3 to 4 days. Cooked rice is the limiting item: cool within an hour and eat within 24 hours.
- In the freezer
- Freezing keeps food safe indefinitely; the texture is best if it is eaten sooner rather than later.
- Reheating
- Reheat until it reaches 74°C / 165°F, steaming hot throughout.
Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.
Try another recipe
Mushroom and lentil cottage pie
A savoury mushroom-lentil filling with a soft potato topping.
About 1 hr · 360 kcal · 20 g protein per serving
Vegetarian