Maqluba recipe

Deep-fried eggplant and cauliflower layered over chicken under rice, then turned out of the pot upside down.

2 hoursmedium11 ingredients

Ingredients

• 2 eggplant
• 1 cauliflower
• 800 g chicken thighs
• 400 g long grain rice
• 1 onion
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 4 cardamom
• 50 g pine nuts
• 500 ml frying oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

How to make Maqluba

1. Rinse 400 g of long grain rice, soak it 30 minutes in warm salted water and drain.
2. Simmer 800 g of chicken thighs with 1 quartered onion, 4 cardamom pods, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of black pepper in 1.2 litres of water for 40 minutes, then keep the broth.
3. Slice 2 eggplants 1 cm thick and break 1 cauliflower into florets; salt the eggplant for 20 minutes and pat it dry.
4. Deep-fry the eggplant and the cauliflower in 500 ml of hot oil until deep brown; frying them, not steaming them, is what makes maqluba maqluba.
5. Oil a heavy pot, lay the chicken on the bottom, then the fried cauliflower, then line the sides with the fried eggplant.
6. Spread the drained rice on top, press it flat and pour in 600 ml of the hot broth so it sits 1 cm above the rice.
7. Boil 5 minutes, then cover and cook on the lowest heat for 30 minutes and let it rest off the heat 15 minutes.
8. Put a platter over the pot, flip the whole thing in one move and leave the pot in place a minute before lifting it.
9. Scatter 50 g of pine nuts fried in oil over the top and serve with yoghurt.

Get Copper on the App Store

More dishes from Palestinian Territory →