Emirati Chicken and Rice (Machboos or Fogga)

UmmBinat's Note:

We really enjoy this, masha Allah (praise be to God). This is a traditional dish of the United Arab Emirates. It can be made with meat, fish and shrimp as well, cooking times adjusted. It says it is always served with radishes, freshly sliced onion, sliced limes and dates though I can't testify to the authenticity of that I added raisins to the dish and did not serve dates but with sliced limes and sometimes a radish salad and Kuwaiti Tomato Sauce (Dukkous Al-Tamat). I modified this off of http://www.fahad.com/Dishes which is said to be originally from The Complete United Arab Emirates Cookbook by Celia Ann Brock- Al Ansari. I really did have to figure out the original recipe on my own though as it was poorly written.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 2

Yield: 2.0

• half a bone in chicken , jointed in two (breast & wing, and thigh & leg)
• 1 tablespoon bahrat mixed spice (Baharat Aka Middle East Mixed Spices - the Real Mix, I do not suggest using allspice as a substitute as it will be rather bland)
• sea salt
• 2 ¼ cups chicken stock (I use my own homemade)
• 1 cup chopped canned tomato
• 3 garlic cloves , minced
• 1 whole dried lime (periced a few times with a skewer. Called loomi & noomi Basra, please do not omit this!)
• 1 small cinnamon stick
• 2 tablespoons light olive oil
• 2 curry leaves
• 3 tablespoons butter , devided
• 2 tablespoons dark raisins
• 3 whole cardamom pods , bruised
• 1 cup white basmati rice
• 2 small onions , sliced
• 2 paper towels , cut in 2
• 1 lime , cut (for serving)
• plain yogurt (for serving)

Directions:

1. If using the oven method heat to 350°F.
2. Rince chicken and remove skin.
3. Rub with sea salt and bahrat.
4. Gently fry in 1 1/2 tbs butter until browned on both sides.
5. Transfer to a pot, add light olive oil, stock, crushed garlic, loomi, cinnamon, cardamom, curry leaves and tomato. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
6. Meanwhile fry slices of onion in remaining butter until soft and browned, remove from heat and add dark raisins to onions.
7. Taste stock pot for salt.
8. Rice white Basmati rice until the water runs clear.
9. Remove chicken pieces from pot and add rice then set them on top of the rice with the onion/raisin mixture.
10. Bring to a boil and then cover pot and reduce heat to low for 15 minutes.
11. Once the liquid has been absorbed, arrange the 4 sheets of paper towel around the pot's rim and tightly cover. (This makes for fluffier rice). Also you may bake it in the oven until done from this point which I prefer as I find it cooks the rice more evenly in a greased pan.
12. Remove from heat and leave to steam, unopened, for 15-20 minutes.
13. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Serve hot on a platter with lime wedges or halves and plain yogurt.

Reviews

[Maya's Mama]

This is just like mama use to make!! I used my own blend of baharat. For those that haven't made machboos before, the ingredient list and number of steps may seem long and intimidating, but it's actually a really easy recipe to make. Its a very easy recipe to double, or triple when cooking for large groups.
The recipe calls for 1 cup diced tomato. I miss read this and used a whole can.... so my rice was a fair bit musher than it should be. But still tasted good. So be sure to use the right amount of tomato for the right texture of the rice.
thanks for posting this one, its an excellent and authentic recipe.