Omani recipe
How to make Maqbous (majboos)
مكبوس
All of Oman and the Gulf coast; an everyday family lunch
Spiced rice cooked in the broth of the chicken, lamb or fish that goes with it, flavoured with onion, tomato, dried black limes, cardamom, cinnamon and a pinch of saffron. The meat is often browned at the end and laid on top of the golden rice, with fried onions and nuts.
Ingredients
- 1 chicken (about 1.5 kg), cut into 8 pieces
- 400 g basmati rice, rinsed and soaked for 20 minutes
- 2 onions, sliced, and 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 2 tomatoes, chopped, and 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 dried limes (loomi), pierced with a knife
- 1 cinnamon stick, 4 cardamom pods, 4 cloves and 1 tablespoon baharat or mixed Gulf spice
- A pinch of saffron soaked in 2 tablespoons warm water
- 3 tablespoons oil or ghee, and salt
- To serve: fried onions, toasted almonds or raisins
Method
- Heat the oil in a large pot and fry the onions until golden. Add the garlic, the whole spices and the baharat and stir for 1 minute.
- Add the chicken and brown it on all sides, then stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste and dried limes.
- Pour in 1.2 litres of water with 2 teaspoons of salt, bring to the boil and simmer for 35 minutes. Lift out the chicken.
- Measure 750 ml of the broth back into the pot, bring to the boil, add the drained rice, cover and cook on the lowest heat for 20 minutes. Sprinkle over the saffron water.
- Meanwhile brown the chicken pieces under a hot grill. Pile the rice on a platter, place the chicken on top and scatter with fried onions and nuts. Nut allergy: leave out the nuts.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
The dried limes, called loomi, are small limes boiled in salt water and left in the sun until they turn black and hollow; they give the rice a sour, smoky taste.
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