Maqluba recipe

An upside-down pot of rice where the vegetables are deep-fried first and the rice cooks in the chicken broth.

2 hours and 10 minutesmedium12 ingredients

Ingredients

• 2 eggplant
• 1200 g chicken
• 500 g basmati rice
• 400 g cauliflower
• 2 tsp baharat
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 onion
• 1 stick cinnamon stick
• 2 bay leaves
• 50 g pine nuts
• 500 ml vegetable oil
• 2 tsp salt

How to make Maqluba

1. Simmer 1.2 kg chicken pieces with 1 quartered onion, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 bay leaves and 2 teaspoons salt for 40 minutes, then keep the broth, it is what the rice will cook in.
2. Soak 500 g basmati rice in warm water for 30 minutes and drain it.
3. Slice 2 eggplants 1 cm thick, salt them for 20 minutes and pat them dry, and break 400 g cauliflower into florets.
4. Deep-fry the eggplant and then the cauliflower in 500 ml oil until deep brown; frying is what gives maqluba its taste, raw or merely roasted vegetables will not do it.
5. Line the bottom of a heavy pot with the chicken, stand the fried eggplant slices up the sides and spread the cauliflower over the meat.
6. Season the drained rice with 2 teaspoons baharat and 1 teaspoon turmeric and spread it on top without stirring the layers.
7. Pour in 900 ml of the hot broth, bring to the boil, then cover and cook on the lowest heat for 30 minutes.
8. Rest the covered pot off the heat for 15 minutes, set a platter over it and turn it over in one confident movement.
9. Lift the pot away, scatter 50 g fried pine nuts and serve with plain yoghurt.

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