Years ago, when my boys were little, I chatted with a Bedouin mom in the playground in my hometown in the Negev, the desert of Israel. I asked her if she cooks and she said she did, everyday. So I asked what is their typical dish, that one she cooks all the time and everyone in her family loves. She said chicken maqluba. Maqluba in Arabic means upside-down.
I don’t leave playgrounds without recipes! She gave me the recipe and I made it for dinner that afternoon. It was so simple and delicious that I started to make it often, with chicken and without. Just vegetables, different kind of vegetables. And sometimes with dried fruits like she suggested.
What I loved about it then and now is that everything is cooked in one pot, and the flipping and revealing elements create anticipation and excitement, even if it collapses a minute later.
I read a little bit about the dish and discovered that it goes back centuries and is found in the Kitab al-Tabikh, a collection of 13th century recipes, which I immediately googled and found a translated version of the collection, A Baghdad Cookery Book.
More middle-eastern inspired rice recipes:
Rice Eggplant Pilaf
Leftover Rice with Caramelized Onion
Upside-Down Rice With Vegetables
Ingredients
- 1 small sweet potato or potato
- 2 cups basmati or jasmine rice
- 5 large shallots or 1 large onion - any onion
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon baharat
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Handful scallion - parsley, dill or a little bit of each
- 2 cups water or vegetable stock
Instructions
- Boil the sweet potato for 5 minutes until it’s just a bit tender and set on the side.
- Wash the rice carefully until the water is clear (or soak in cold water for 20 minutes), let the rice sit in the colander to dry.
- Chop the shallots or onion. Put the olive oil in a non stick sauce-pan and add the onions and spices. Saute in medium-low heat until onion is translucent. Remove from the pan and put in a medium bowl with the rice and scallion. Add salt and mix.
- Peel the sweet potato and slice it into about ¼ inch / ½ cm slices. Drizzle a little olive oil into the pan and place the slices on the bottom of it.
- Pour the rice over and put over high heat. Add water or stock and bring to a boil. Lower heat to simmer, close the pan (I wrap the lid with a clean kitchen towel to seal it completely) and cook for 12 minutes (if you soaked the rice for 20 minutes or more, cook it for 10 minutes)
- When the rice is ready, let it cool for 5 -10 minutes then remove the lid. Place a large plate over the pan and quickly flip it. Tap the pan a few times then gently and slowly lift it up.
- Serve with tahini as a side dish.
Notes
Add dried fruits such as raisins, prunes, apricot into the rice and serve with chopped nuts such as almonds and pistachio like the Arabs do.
Discover more from Shelly’s Humble Kitchen
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Thanks For Sharing this Amazing Recipe. My Family Loved It. I will be sharing this Recipe with my Friends. Hope They will like it.
Thank you for letting me know xxx