the famous Upside-Down Dish. Maqloobeh is a staple dish in every household. It varies from country to country and even from one family to the next, like most Middle Eastern cuisine. Here is my favorite way to make it, a blend between my mother's recipe and my mother in law's recipe. This recipe makes for 8 people. The recipe is here and all the notes and little tips are below (scroll down).
DISCLAIMER: this is just one way of making this. All recipes/variations are delicious and valid. Eat what you love. Cooking is a skill. It's a style, a technique. Learn from my recipe but feel free to adjust the amounts, the veggies, the meats, salt, etc. For this maqloobeh I used: **see notes**
Begin by salting the eggplants. Peel and slice. Place on a tray lined with paper towels. Sprinkle salt generously over the eggplant and flip them over. Salt the other side. Cover with more paper towels and leave to the side for a minimum of 1.5 hours. **Salting the eggplant removes the water from the eggplant. It makes the eggplant less prone to soaking too much oil in frying. **Here you can also prepare cauliflower instead of the eggplant. It needs to be washed and cut into medium florets, boiled for a 3-4 minutes and then left to dry before frying in oil. Next you will prepare the meat. For beef or lamb: wash and clean by removing any large fat pieces. Wash again. For chicken, soak in water and vinegar or lemon and salt for at least 30 minutes to remove any 'bad gamey smell' (zinkha). Wash again and remove any excess fat. Heat some olive oil (2-3 Tablespoons) in the pressure cooker. Peel and quarter the onion. Sauté onion for 3 minutes. Add the meat to brown, turning them on their sides to brown all around. Add the whole spices and bay leaves. Heat water in a kettle and enough boiling water over the meat to cover it. Add salt about 1 tablespoon. Close the pressure cooker and cook for 35 minutes, slow release. **You do not need to use a pressure cooker. In a normal deep pot, cook the same way for 1.5 hours or until tender. The time will depend on the quantity of the meat or chicken. **If you use an instant pot it might take closer to 50 minutes on high pressure for this amount of meat. The instant pot needs more time than a regular pressure cooker. Prepare your rice: soak your rice in a large bowl and leave to soak 30 minutes. Fry the eggplant until golden brown and leave to cool on a paper towel-lined plate. **If you prepared cauliflower, fry these until golden. You can also fry sliced potatoes (circles like the eggplant) and baby carrots. Drain and wash the rice until the water runs clear. Put the rice back in the large bowl. Toast the vermicelli in 2 teaspoons of olive oil until golden brown, stirring constantly. **Some regions, and people do not use vermicelli. If you do not want to use it, adjust the amount of stock so that you use around 1:1 ratio of rice to stock. Of course always check your rice bag instructions. Another option is to mix regular calrose rice and Uncle Ben's. Uncle Ben's rice has a very low margin for error and a good place to start if you're nervous about cooking rice. Others use basmati rice which is another great option but follow the amount of stock necessary on your rice bag. Add the vermicelli to the rice. Add the ground spices to the rice. Mix well. Strain the stock from the spices and onion. Place the stock back in the pot and reheat until it boils. **REMEMBER to taste for salt. Taste the stock it should be slightly salty, especially if you added potato as the potato will soak up a lot of salt. Taste for salt PLEASE. Assemble the maqloobeh by layering your prepared ingredients. Start by sprinkling a handful of rice on the bottom of the pot so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot. Next add half the eggplants (or other veggies), then the meat, and finally the rest of the eggplant (or other veggies). Finish by adding all the rice and gently push the rice around so it goes in between all the nooks and crannies of the dish. **Some people line their maqloobeh pot with fresh sliced tomato. It gives wonderful flavor. Just remember the tomato will release a little bit of juice so reduce the amount of stock JUST a little bit. Place the maqloobeh pot on the stove on medium heat until the pot is warmed. Add the 6.5 cups of hot stock to the maqloobeh pot. Gently push all the rice under the water. When you see little bubbles in the stock, cover and cook over medium-low heat for around 30 minutes. You will know that the maqloobeh is done because the water has dried up. Fluff the rice on top and turn off the heat. Leave the maqloobeh to the side to rest for around 20 minutes. **If you have changed the amount of veggies or rice and you need help deciding how much stock, go for about 1 cm of stock above the rice. Lastly toast the slivered almonds in a couple teaspoons of olive oil until golden. Be careful not to burn these. Let drain on a paper towel-lined plate. **The almonds are for decoration and crunch, totally optional. Other tasty garnishes include cashews, pine nuts, chopped parsley, lightly fried golden raisins. When ready, place the round serving dish over the maqloobeh pot and flip quickly. Lift to reveal the beautiful maqloobeh! Garnish with any of the above mentioned toppings. Serve with salad, yogurt, or cucumber salad. Let me know how you like this recipe in the comments below!
1 Comment
Rische
10/26/2020 08:02:13 am
Dear Bushra. Thank you very much !!! It is hard to find recipes that works. And you have done an outstanding job with it. Kindly post a yogurt recipe.
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MEMy name is Bushra and I post my favorite recipes on my youtube channel. All recipes are gathered here on my website as well as helpful links to my videos and fancy ingredients. Thanks for stopping by! Archives
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