In a medium pot, place vegetable oil and fry wedged onions till golden and crisp. Set aside on a kitchen paper and save the frying oil aside.Place lentils in the same pot, add sufficient hot water to cover the lentils, boil till tender (you might need to add more water). Strain lentils if there was any excess water. Put them back in the pot.

* Step 2

Add rice to the lentils and vegetable oil we used to fry the onions, mix all together. Add 2 ½ cups of boiling water, salt and cumin powder. Wait till the water evaporates, mix in half of the fried onions, lower down the heat and cover and leave it to cook for 20 minutes.

* Step 3

Meanwhile, lets prepare the hot sauce: In a sauce pan, sauté garlic, add tomato juice, tomato paste, cumin and salt. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add chickpeas. Set aside.

* Step 4

To prepare the "Daqqa" , mix all ingredients in an electric mixer. Set aside

* Step 5

Now to assemble the dish, layer the components as follows: 1) rice & lentils pilaf (mjaddarah) Elbow pasta, 2) Tomato sauce, 3) Crunchy Onions, 4) Add a dash of “daqqa” if you like to add more spiciness to your dish.

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