Machboos or Fooga (Traditional United Arab Emirates Dish)
- Ready In:
- 1hr
- Ingredients:
- 16
- Serves:
-
3-4
ingredients
- 4 cups water
- 4 chicken bouillon cubes or 5 teaspoons chicken stock powder
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 8 -10 bone-in chicken pieces, skin removed (if it is the breast pieces, cut those in half since they are very large)
- 2 whole dried limes (loomi)
- 1⁄8 teaspoon saffron
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 large tomatoes, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1⁄2 - 3⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons ground turmeric
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons curry powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional) or 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (optional)
- 3⁄4 - 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups basmati rice, rinsed and drained
directions
- Preheat oven to 375°F and grease a 9x13 baking dish.
- Bring water to boiling and add chicken bouillon cubes, lower heat and add dried limes and saffron and let simmer till bouillon is dissolved --keep it hot.
- Sprinkle chicken with half the spices (except the garlic).
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet on med-high to high heat and fry the chicken till both sides are brown, lower heat to medium and remove the chicken to a plate.
- In that same skillet sauté the onions for 2 minutes, add tomatoes, garlic and remaining spices and sauté another 2 minutes, then turn off the burner.
- Add the rice and stir for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, till well coated.
- Spread rice in the baking dish and place the chicken pieces over the rice.
- Gently press the dried limes on the sides of the pot to distribute flavor in the broth and then poor on the rice and chicken (the whole thing including the dried limes) and cover tightly with foil.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes--do not open the foil cover at all until the time is up.
- If you want to eat this the authentic way, you can lay newspaper on the floor (for easy cleanup of spills), put all of this on a very large platter or on a couple large sheets of aluminum foil laid on the newspaper and everyone sits around and eats with their right hand!
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Reviews
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4 3/4 stars. This was pretty delicious for DH, DD (toddler) and I. I think the people who leave out the loomi should not star it unless they get 5 stars as I like the flavour given by the loomi. I used homemade chicken stock instead of chicken bullion cubes, extra virgin olive oil, I peeled my tomato before chopping it, added an extra clove garlic, used a sweet curry powder, Recipe #104344 as we dont like hot spicy, therefore I did not add the optional cayenne pepper or chili powder. I used as much sea salt as I needed as I do in all recipes I don't go by salt amounts. I cooked this for DH, DD (toddler) and I with half a chicken cut in pieces and 1 1/4 cups white Basmati rice and half the amount of spices. I served this with Recipe #133169 for a wonderful meal. Made for Think Pink Tag.
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Ok.....not having the dried limes, I sliced up 2 regular limes & threw them into the chicken broth. NO idea if the flavors are similar. Everyody LOVED the chicken but the kids didn't like the rice. :? I was shocked. Very easy & very delicious!! Mine wasn't too salty - I used Maggi chicken bouillon cubes. The proportions were all perfect & everything cooked perfectly. I think I'll triple this during the summer for guests. :) Made for NA*ME Recipe of the Week.
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Tweaks
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4 3/4 stars. This was pretty delicious for DH, DD (toddler) and I. I think the people who leave out the loomi should not star it unless they get 5 stars as I like the flavour given by the loomi. I used homemade chicken stock instead of chicken bullion cubes, extra virgin olive oil, I peeled my tomato before chopping it, added an extra clove garlic, used a sweet curry powder, Recipe #104344 as we dont like hot spicy, therefore I did not add the optional cayenne pepper or chili powder. I used as much sea salt as I needed as I do in all recipes I don't go by salt amounts. I cooked this for DH, DD (toddler) and I with half a chicken cut in pieces and 1 1/4 cups white Basmati rice and half the amount of spices. I served this with Recipe #133169 for a wonderful meal. Made for Think Pink Tag.