Mujadara: how to add up lentils, rice and onions.
Mujadara is cheap, filling meal-prep food, and the weight of the pot is nothing like the weight of what went in. It is the clearest example of why the recipe builder asks for the finished weight.
- 6 servings, weighed at 1,250 g when finished
- 337 kcal a serving, with 11 g protein, 52 g carbs and 10 g fat
- 6 ingredients, every one a USDA FoodData Central entry in the library
The sample data
These are the amounts used on the screens below, with each figure taken from the library entry for that ingredient. They are sample figures for a pot or tray of this size, not a measurement of anyone's kitchen.
| Ingredient | Amount | kcal | Protein g | Carbs g | Fat g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brown or green lentils, raw | 190 g | 669 | 47 | 120 | 2 |
| White rice, raw | 185 g | 675 | 13 | 148 | 1 |
| Onions, raw | 450 g | 180 | 5 | 42 | 0 |
| Olive oil | 54 g | 477 | 0 | 0 | 54 |
| Cumin seed | 4 g | 15 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Allspice, ground | 2 g | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Whole recipe | 885 g | 2,021 | 66 | 313 | 58 |
| Per serving (6) | 208 g | 337 | 11 | 52 | 10 |
Calorie and macro figures are fitness estimates, not medical or dietary advice. Ingredient values are from USDA FoodData Central, which is in the public domain.
Why this recipe
Lentils and rice both soak up water, and the onions lose most of theirs in the pan. Weighing each ingredient raw and the pot at the end is the only way to get a gram figure you can trust for a bowl of it.
What to weigh
The raw ingredients weigh 885 g. After the lentils and rice have drunk their cooking water, the sample pot weighs 1,250 g. Every serving is then 208 g of the finished dish, and the calories come from the raw ingredients you entered.
The full workflow, in four steps.
1. Open Create a recipe and search the library
Create a recipe and name it. For the first ingredient search "lentils" and choose the raw entry, because you are weighing them before they are cooked.
2. Enter the amount you weighed
Set the portion to grams and enter 190. The sheet shows that the lentils alone are 669 kcal, mostly carbs and protein.
3. Add the rest, then set the servings and finished weight
Add the rice, the onions, the oil and the spices, then enter 6 servings and the 1,250 g from the scale. The per serving line works out to 337 kcal.
4. Save it and log a serving
Save the recipe and log a serving of it. If you eat a bowl you weighed, switch the portion to grams and type that weight instead.
Tips while you build it
- Use raw entries for dry lentils and rice and the finished weight for the pot. Mixing a cooked rice entry with raw lentils double-counts the water.
- Onions are the heavy item here. Their weight before frying is the right amount to enter.
- Make the dish the same way each week and the saved recipe spares you the arithmetic every time.
Make it your own
- Swap in the cooked lentils entry and cooked rice entry if you are using leftovers, and leave the finished weight to match.
- Add a spoon of yogurt as a topping by logging it as its own food next to the serving.
Each change is a second recipe with its own name, so the first stays as you built it.
Mujadara questions.
Do I enter the lentils raw or cooked?
Either, as long as the library entry matches what you weigh. This sample uses the raw entries and the weight of the finished pot, which keeps the calories exact and the serving size honest.
Why does the finished weight matter for mujadara?
Rice and lentils soak up water while they cook, so the pot is heavier than the ingredients. The calories do not change, so each gram of the dish is lighter in calories than the sum would suggest.
How many calories are in a serving?
The sample six-serving pot comes to 337 kcal a serving, with 11 g protein, 52 g carbs and 10 g fat. Your numbers will follow your own oil and portions.
More example recipes.
- Hummus bi tahini211 kcal a serving, 8 servings, from USDA FoodData Central ingredients.
- Chicken shawarma (oven tray)444 kcal a serving, 4 servings, from USDA FoodData Central ingredients.
- Chana masala309 kcal a serving, 4 servings, from USDA FoodData Central ingredients.
- Dal tadka265 kcal a serving, 4 servings, from USDA FoodData Central ingredients.
- Butter chicken498 kcal a serving, 4 servings, from USDA FoodData Central ingredients.
- Spaghetti bolognese499 kcal a serving, 6 servings, from USDA FoodData Central ingredients.
- Chicken cacciatore639 kcal a serving, 4 servings, from USDA FoodData Central ingredients.
- Turkey chili326 kcal a serving, 6 servings, from USDA FoodData Central ingredients.
- Homemade cheeseburgers456 kcal a serving, 4 servings, from USDA FoodData Central ingredients.
Keep going.
- Recipe builderWhat the builder does, and every example recipe in one place.
- Lebanese food caloriesPer 100 g tables for the dishes the food library finds.
- Nutrition and macro trackingBarcodes, label reading, targets that follow your weigh-ins.
- Help: scan, create and recipesThe same steps in the Help Center.
Cook it once. Log it for good.
Build your own lebanese favourite in Nutrition.