Machboos – rice dish with chicken

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 2 large onions, chopped
• 3 tbsp butter or ghee
• 1 tbsp, heaped spice mix (Baharat), homemade or ready-made
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 kg chicken or other meat
• 3 chili peppers, dried
• 1 tbsp ginger, fresh, grated or dried
• 5 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 large tomatoes, diced
• 3 lemon(s), dried (Loomi) or the juice of 2 fresh lemons
• 5 cardamom pods
• 5 carnations
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 3 tbsp salt
• 2 ½ cups chicken broth
• 2 cup(s) Basmati rice, soaked for about 15 minutes before cooking
• 3 tbsp, heaped coriander leaves, chopped
• 3 tbsp, heaped parsley, chopped
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 cinnamon stick(s)
• 1 tbsp cloves
• 1 tsp cardamom
• 1 tbsp paprika powder
• 1 tsp nutmeg

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 2 hours; Total time approx. 2 hours 30 minutes

Cover the meat with water in a pot and bring to a boil. Once a foam has formed on the surface, remove the pot from the heat and drain off the water and foam. Briefly rinse the meat to remove any remaining foam and set aside. Heat the butter and oil in a pot, then fry the chopped onions over medium heat until browned. Add the ginger, finely chopped garlic, and chopped chilies and fry for 2 minutes. Add the baharat and turmeric, mix well, and leave in the pot for another minute. Then return the meat to the pot along with the chopped tomatoes, loomi, cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and salt. Pour in the broth and mix well. It’s important to pierce the loomi with the tip of a knife so that the cooking liquid can fully penetrate and draw out the flavor. After cooking, the loomi are also good to eat, although this is a matter of taste. Bring everything to a boil and then reduce the heat. Cover and let everything simmer for one hour. After one hour, remove the lid, fish out the cinnamon sticks, add the chopped herbs and the soaked rice, and stir everything well. Bring back to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer with the lid on for another 15-20 minutes, until the rice has absorbed all the liquid and is tender. Ideally, the rice should be dry at the end and only slightly sticky. If you like, you can remove the larger pieces of meat and arrange them on a bed of rice on the plates. I prefer to cut the meat into bite-sized pieces and mix everything together so that every spoonful gets the full flavor. For the Baharat spice mix, carefully toast all the spices, except the paprika and nutmeg, in a small pan without any fat over medium heat for about 4 minutes. Stir well every now and then to make sure nothing burns! Put all the spices, including the paprika and nutmeg, through a spice grinder and then mix the powder well again. Store the finished baharat in an airtight container, preferably in the refrigerator. Machboos is a traditional rice dish with meat (chicken, beef, lamb, or fish) from the Arabian Gulf, strongly reminiscent of Indian biryani. It’s actually very simple to prepare and only requires one large pot, which makes washing up easier later on. However, the sheer number of different spices can seem daunting at first, but the result is stunning! Loomi are small dried Arabian lemons that add a wonderfully subtle citrus flavor to soups, broths, or stews. Unfortunately, they are quite rare in Germany, but some Arabian shops or spice specialists still carry them. They can be substituted with fresh lemon juice.