Maqluba (or Makloubeh, Palestinian Upside Down Rice)

Instructions

Prep Work - the rice and vegetables

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F / 160°C Fan), for the cauliflower.
Rinse and drain the rice and set aside.
500 g Basmati rice
Dice the onion (chop up fairly finely).
1 large onion
Chop up the aubergine, courgette and capsicum into rough cube shapes. Basically, quarter the aubergine and courgette lengthwise, then slice.
1 large aubergine (eggplant), 1 courgette (zucchini), 1 red capsicum (bell pepper)
Slice the tomatoes into rounds and set aside.
4 tomatoes

Let's Roast the Cauliflower (you can skip the roasting and use it raw)

Cut the cauliflower into bite-sized pieces.
1 small cauliflower
Arrange the cauliflower pieces on a baking sheet and drizzle the olive oil all over. Sprinkle with the salt and freshly ground black pepper, and roast for about 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Flip halfway through the cooking time.
1 Tbsp EV olive oil, ¼ tsp salt, 1 dash freshly ground black pepper

Let's precook the minced lamb

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.
2 Tbsp olive oil + a little more for greasing
Sauté the onions for about 3-4 minutes.
Add the meat, allspice, turmeric, 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.
1 tsp salt, 1 dash freshly ground black pepper, 500 g minced lamb (or beef)

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.
In my original recipe and video, I place all the meat first. But in these new pictures, you can see that I'm layering the meat along with the rice.
So half the meat now, and half later.
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.
800 ml chicken stock
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. Flip the whole thing over, carefully. So now, plate at the bottom, and pot on top, upside down. 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.
30 g pine nuts, 1 handful fresh 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.

Know someone who needs a VEGAN MAQLUBA?

Click here for my new recipe - Vegetable Maqluba.

Equipment

Ingredients

Vegetables

Dry Spices

To Serve

Instructions

Prep Work - the rice and vegetables

Let's Roast the Cauliflower (you can skip the roasting and use it raw)

Let's precook the minced lamb

Let's assemble and cook our Maqluba

Know someone who needs a VEGAN MAQLUBA?

Nutrition