2 cups cooked rice
2 cups cooked elbow or shell pasta
3 cups cooked brown lentils
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen, chopped spinach
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
4 tomato paste cans water
1/4 cup sugar or substitute
1/4 cup vinegar
8 to 10 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoons cayenne, or to taste
French fried onions, as topping
1. Cook rice, pasta, and lentils, then mix with frozen spinach.
2. Except for french fried onion rings, simmer the other ingredients together to make the sauce.
3. Mix the sauce with the rice, pasta, lentil, and spinach mixture, place in serving dish, and top with French fried onions.
If you want it very hot, you could warm it in the oven before putting the onions on top.
Source of recipe: I based this recipe on an Egyptian friend's family recipe (no measurements given) and added a couple of seasonings I saw in online versions. Although it is not traditional to add veggies, I wanted something green in it and so added the spinach as a test, and it worked.