Description
Spiced rice with chicken and spices from Bahrain, a country in the Gulf
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 chicken (about 1.5 kg, cut into 8 pieces)
- 2 large onions (chopped)
- 2 tbsp ghee
- 1 tbsp baharat
- 1 tsp turmeric
- ½ cups peeled (chopped tomatoes or 2 small tomatoes)
- 3 cloves
- 1 black lemon (pierced once)
- 2 pieces Cinnamon bark
- 6 cardamom pods
- 3 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 cups basmati or long-grain rice
- 2 tbsp fresh chopped coriander leaves
- 2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup tomato paste mixed with equal amount of water
Instructions
- Boil rice with cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon bark until rice is half done, drain.
- In a deep pot, fry the onion in ghee until golden or light brown. Add baharat and turmeric and cook stirring for another minute. At this stage, the onion will darken more.
- Add chicken pieces and turn twice, or until the juices come out.
- Add tomatoes, salt, black pepper, coriander and parsley leaves. Stir well to combine. Add ½ cup water – or less.
- Cook for 15 minutes over low-medium heat, then add tomato paste mixture. Cook covered for another half hour over low-medium heat. The sauce at this stage should be thick.
- Add rice to chicken mixture; mix till rice is completely colored. Alternatively, arrange the rice and chicken pieces in layers ending with the rice.
- Cover with towel or towel paper between the pot and its lid, and leave over very low heat for at least 10 minutes. Longer is better.
Keywords: chicken machboos, Bahraini spiced rice