Maklouba

I'm currently obsessed with simple yet rich middle eastern food. My good friend made this a couple nights ago for an iftaar and I was in heaven. This is ANOTHER good friends recipe for it. Props Hazima!

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken or lamb
2 or 3 cups of rice ((Basmati does NOT work well with this recipe. Uncle Ben's is recommended))
1 tsp garam masala (OR whole garam masala: few cloves, few black peppercorns, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 or 2 bay leaves, 2-3 cardamom pods/elaichi, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds))
couple pinches of nutmeg
3-4 chicken bouillon cubes
pinch of haldi/turmeric
half a cauliflower in small-medium size florets
3-4 carrots sliced thick
1 small eggplant sliced in rounds
2 medium potatoes sliced in rounds
1 medium tomato sliced in rounds or chopped up ((This is totally optional))
salt to taste

Boil the chicken with the garam masala, haldi, bouillon cubes, salt and about 4-5 cups of water. You want a lot of water in the pot so there is stock left over to cook the rice in. Add more if you need. Boil until the chicken is just cooked.

Meanwhile, soak the rice for 20 minutes. Drain, and add a little olive oil and garlic powder for taste. Cut up all the veggies and fry them in oil until golden brown. Don't let them cook too much, they should only be half cooked.

When the chicken is done, remove from the pot and set aside. Strain the stock to remove all the garam masala and other chunks of stuff. You can broil the chicken at this point to give it a little color.

In a large pot or dutch oven, place the browned chicken pieces, then layer nicely with the veggies. You should arrange these nicely and not just dump it all in. Then add the soaked rice on top. Place a plate on top of the rice to weigh everything down ((not to cover the pot with)), and pour the chicken stock into the pot. There should be enough to cook the rice thoroughly. If not, add more water.

Cook on medium till the water boils, then lower it a bit till the rice is cooked through. When it's done, place a large serving platter over the pot and flip it over carefully. When you remove the pot, the maklouba should retain the shape of the pot ((this is why the plate on top of the rice is key)) and be in lovely layers with chicken on top, then veggies, then rice. You may garnish with parsley or toasted almonds or pine nuts.

Note: This may be my desi side lashing out but I feel like there is a lack of oil in this dish. So I feel like I would either add it to the pot before putting in all the layers or drizzle some olive oil on top after flipping the cooked product over onto the platter.