morsels45

morsels45 said

Maqluba

Upside down: cooked in a pot, flipped onto a plate, and everyone waits to see if it holds.

Maqluba
Photo: Arafataslan, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. A photo of the dish, not of these exact recipes.

That was somebody else’s answer. Yours takes about twenty seconds: a handful of either-ors, then one dish.

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How to make maqluba

2 genuinely different takes — a classic, and a faster or lighter route. The same ones the app hands you once you have decided.

Flipped, and everyone watches

90 minutes · serves 6 · Hard

What you need

  • 800g chicken pieces
  • 400g rice, soaked 30 minutes
  • 1 aubergine, sliced
  • 1 cauliflower, in florets
  • 2 onions
  • 1 tbsp baharat
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • Cinnamon stick
  • Oil for frying
  • Toasted almonds

What you do

  1. 1Poach the chicken with an onion, cinnamon and baharat for 30 minutes. Keep the stock — the rice cooks in it and that is where the flavour is.
  2. 2Fry the aubergine and cauliflower until well browned. Browning, not just cooking; it is the colour on the outside of the finished dome.
  3. 3Layer in a heavy pot in reverse: chicken on the bottom, then the vegetables, then the drained rice on top, packed flat.
  4. 4Pour the hot stock over to about 2cm above the rice. Lid on, lowest heat, 35 minutes, then 15 off the heat without lifting it.
  5. 5Run a knife round the edge, put a big plate on top, and flip it in one confident movement. Hesitate and it falls apart.

With lamb

100 minutes · serves 6 · Medium

What you need

  • 800g lamb shoulder, cubed
  • Rice, aubergine, cauliflower
  • Baharat, cinnamon
  • Onion
  • Almonds

What you do

  1. 1Simmer the lamb 60 minutes first; it needs longer than chicken.
  2. 2Same reverse layering, same 35 minutes, same nervous flip.