Lebanese Lentil/Rice Pilaf w/ Blackened Onions

From Recipezaar--tons of great reviews!  Lots of people recommended cutting down the cinnamon slightly.  Some also decreased the liquid.  

Ingredients

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
2 (14 ounce) cans vegetable broth
3/4 cup dried lentils, rinsed, picked over
3/4 cup long-grain white rice
2 large onions, sliced
3 tomatoes, quartered lengthwise
1 cucumber, peeled, cut into rounds
plain yogurt
chopped fresh mint

Directions

1 Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat.
2 Add chopped onion and next 4 ingredients; sauté until onion softens, about 4 minutes.
3 Add broth and lentils; bring to boil.
4 Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, 10 minutes.
5 Stir in rice; return to boil.
6 Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook until liquid is absorbed and rice and lentils are tender, about 15 minutes longer.
7 Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat.
8 Add sliced onions; sauté until soft and beginning to blacken, about 20 minutes.
9 Season pilaf to taste with salt and pepper.
10 Transfer to plates; top with blackened onions.
11 Place tomatoes and cucumber alongside.
12 Top pilaf with dollop of yogurt. (I did not count this in the nutrition info)
13 Sprinkle with mint.

Serves 4.

Per serving:  Cals--230, Carbs--28gms,  Fat--6.2 gms,  Fiber--5.5 gms  WW points 4.  (if you are Core, I think that using cooked brown rice would make this almost Core, probably count 1 point for the oil, when divided out into the servings.)

[peekawho]

Making this for dinner tonight.  Will review tomorrow.  

[swampcritter]

Swampy makes something very much like this, although he commonly adds walnuts (roast walnuts with the onions at the start), and sometimes some wild rice as well.

[peekawho]

OH DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN.

I ADORED  this.  Mr. Peek liked it very much.  I misread the recipe and only used one sliced onion for the blackened onions on top.  Oh, how I wished I had used 2!  I used vidalias.  I'm not even an onion fan, but carmelized like this, they MADE the dish.

I loved, loved, loved this dish.  

[RockRose]

Peek,  this sounds interesting - it sounds like it would taste very similar to your Easy Morrocan Stewed Chicken,  but much less hearty.

The combination of cumin and cinnamon,  in a dinner dish,  was very unusual and really good - and I see this here too.

Thanks!