Makloubeh, Palestinian Upside Down Rice

Food Recipes from around the world

Category: Main Dish - (613)
Origin: Palestine
Source: Linsfood

Makloubeh, means “upside down”. Looking at the picture, that makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? It’s a delicious, comforting Palestinian rice dish. Servings: 8

Ingredients:

- 500 g Basmati rice
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 500 g minced lamb (or beef)
- 1 tsp allspice
- 1 tsp salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 800 ml chicken stock hot, preferably simmering away when you need it

Vegetables

- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 large eggplant
- 1 courgette (zucchini)
- 1 red capsicum (bell pepper)
- 4 tomatoes sliced in rings
- 1 small cauliflower

To Serve

- 30 g pine nuts
- 1 handful fresh parsley chopped

Preparation:

Prep Work – the rice and vegetables

- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F, for the cauliflower.
- Rinse and drain the rice and set aside.
- Dice the onion (chop up fairly finely).
- Chop up the eggplant, courgette and capsicum into rough cube shapes. Basically, quarter the eggplant and courgette lengthwise, then slice.
- Slice the tomatoes into rounds and set aside.
- Let's Roast the Cauliflower (you can skip the roasting and use it raw)
- Cut the cauliflower into bite-sized pieces.
- Arrange the cauliflower pieces on a baking sheet and drizzle 1 Tbsp of EV olive oil all over. Sprinkle a ¼ tsp of salt and some freshly ground black pepper and roast for about 20 at 180 C/350 F. Flip halfway through the cooking time.
- Let's precook the minced lamb
- Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.
- Sauté the onions for about 3-4 minutes.

- Add meat, allspice, salt and some pepper, stir and brown the meat all over and cook for 10 minutes on medium heat. You want the final result to be a little on the dry side, but not too dry. A little moisture is good.
- Let's assemble and cook our Maqluba
- Grease your saucepan all over. Then start with layering the bottom with the sliced tomatoes. You'll get 2 layers. Season with salt and pepper, a small sprinkle will do.
- Add half the meat, season with a pinch of salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Then pack down with a potato masher.
- Add all the vegetables, season with salt and pepper and pack down.
- Then top with half the rice, season with salt and pepper and flatten.
- Now we add the second half of the meat, season, and pack down.
- And finally, the second half of the rice. Season with salt and pepper, and pack down.

- Take a small saucer, place it face down on the rice (or use the back of a large spoon), and slowly pour all the stock in. This stops a gap/hole appearing in the rice as you're pouring the stock in. You also don't want to mess with the packed rice and stuff.
- Place the pot on the stovetop, turn the heat on high for 3 minutes to bring everything up to simmering point although you'll probably only see the edges bubbling. When you see the bubbles at the edges, move on to the next step.
- Put the lid on, turn the heat right down and cook for 45 minutes. After that time, if you think the rice isn't done, another 5-10 minutes should suffice.
- Take the saucepan off the hot hob and leave the rice to rest for 10 minutes before unveiling.
- Take a large plate or serving platter, place it over the pot. Holding the plate tightly against the saucepan, give it a gentle shake. Then slowly, ease the saucepan off the plate.
- In the video, this happens at around 12:15 minutes.
- Top with the nuts and parsley.
- If you packed the saucepan as mentioned, it shouldn't collapse. But if it does, no big deal, scatter with pine nuts and parsley and serve.

Nutrition Values: