Machboos ala Dajaj (Spiced Chicken and Rice)

After nearly 20 years in the Middle East, you can bet I have a few recipes that I fell in love with. Machboos (مكبوس) is one of them.  The word refers to a dish made of rice and spiced meat (lamb, chicken, fish, or - not so commonly - beef) and is traditional in the Gulf States. The spices - called baharat (بهارات) - used in machboos are what gives it its distinctive flavor; these are generally black pepper, cloves, cardamom, saffron, cinnamon, black lime, bay leaves and nutmeg. The main ingredient that accompanies the spices is the meat, such as chicken, goat, lamb, camel, or sometimes beef, fish, and shrimp. In chicken machboos, a whole chicken is traditionally used. This dish is almost always garnished with a mix of almonds, pine nuts, onions and sultanas called ḥashū (حشو‎) and is served with daqqūs (دقّوس‎)- a home-made tomato sauce - or plain yogurt, or both.

 I've talked about baharat before, so I won't get into that here. Instead, I'm going to share my recipe for the dish which I just made for dinner last night, sans ḥashū and daqqūs, because I'd used the last of my baharat for the actual main dish. Without further ado, let me introduce you to

 Machboos ala Dajaj

2 lg onions, chopped
2 T samneh (ghee, clarified butter)
1 T baharat
1 t tumeric
3 pieces of cinnamon bark
1 t cardamom seeds (or about 8 pods, bruised - I prefer to remove the pods)
1 t powdered loomi (dried lime)
1 C chopped tomatoes (more if you like them a lot - I don't)
4 t salt
4 cloves
2 lg chicken breasts, cubed
2 T fresh parsley, chopped
2 T fresh cilantro, chopped
2 1/2 C water
2 C basmati rice

Steps:
1) In a deep pan, saute your onions in the ghee until they soften and start to brown then stir in the baharat and turmeric and cook for a couple more minutes.

Onions sauteing happily.

2) Add the chicken and stir to cover with the onion and spices, allowing chicken to brown slightly before adding the tomatoes, cloves, loomi, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt.

Chicken in 1" sized cubes

Chicken in the pan

3) Add water, cover, and simmer while you get the rice ready.

4) Choose a good quality basmati rice.  It can be difficult to find a really good basmati here in the US. This is the best one I've found.  It's decent, and can stand up to longer cooking times without breaking down or getting mushy.









5) You're going to want to rinse the rice, so measure it out and put it into a bowl.  Pick out any discolored grains then rinse in several changes of water until the water runs clear. Drain.

6) Gently stir the rice into the pot.








7) Add the chopped herbs and stir gently.  You don't want to break up the rice grains.



8) When everything has been gently incorporated, cover it and simmer on low for 40 - 50 minutes (or until your rice is cooked and the chicken is tender).  You should gently stir a couple of times so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. If you end up with too much liquid, but everything is done cooking, just turn up the heat a bit and gently stir to cook it off.

9) Dinner is ready to serve! Traditionally, it would be piled into a large platter with the chicken placed in the center, with the daqqūs served in a bowl on the side and ḥashū sprinkled over the top.

Bil afia!! “In good health”