Machboos - Chicken and Rice (Bahrain)
Machboos - A spiced chicken and rice dish cooked with a mixture of warm spices, it's deliciously comforting and quite simple to make! Perfect for a weeknight dinner.
Machboos is the national dish of Bahrain and it's actually a dish that is made in a variety of ways across the Arabian gulf and is also known as Kabsa.
This recipe is part one of my series called 'Dine To Survive'. I'll be making food from the hosting countries/cities of the Formula 1 Grand Prix across the 2024 season. I'm SO excited and I hope you enjoy the recipes regardless of if you like F1 or not! Here is the 2024 season calendar if you want check up on the upcoming countries!
Disclaimer: This recipe is not completely authentic and it's the way I make it. I try to be as close as possible to the authentic version and this is a dish that varies across households and this is just my take on it. I got inspiration from Hungry Paprikas and But First Chai's recipes!
Ingredients for the Machboos
- Ground spices - 7 Spice (or Baharat spice mix), Cumin, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Turmeric, Black pepper
- Whole spices - Cinnamon sticks, Bay leaves, Cardamom pods, Cloves
- Dried lime - This can be found in any Middle Eastern or Persian store and adds a ton of flavour.
- Tomato & tomato paste
- Onion
- Garlic
- Serrano pepper - or use any green chilli you have on hand
- Skin on - Chicken legs - You can use skinless if you don't like the skin (like my mom) but the skin gets nice and crispy and makes the chicken much more juicy!
- Basmati rice
Machboos
Ingredients
- 3-4 tablespoon - ghee or oil
- 1 - medium yellow onion diced
- 4-5 - garlic cloves minced
- 1 - green chilli minced
- 2 - large bay leaves
- 2 - cinnamon sticks
- 2 - dried limes, poke it with a fork a few times
- 4 - cloves
- 2 tablespoon - tomato paste
- 2 - medium tomatoes chopped
- 1¼ teaspoon - 7 spice (or baharat spice mix)
- ½ teaspoon - cumin powder
- ¼ teaspoon - cinnamon powder
- ¼ teaspoon - turmeric power
- ¼ teaspoon - cardamom powder
- ¼ teaspoon - black pepper
- 2.5 teaspoon - salt
- 6 - chicken drumsticks bone-in and with skin
- 2 cups - basmati rice
- 3.5-4 cups - water
Instructions
- Heat up a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium high heat and add the oil or ghee.
- Add in the onions, green chilli and garlic and sauté until fragrant and slightly softened.
- Add in the whole spices and cook for 4-5 minutes
- Add the tomato paste and stir it around well and cook for a few minutes to caramelize.
- Now add in the chopped tomatoes, along with the ground spices and salt. Cook until the tomatoes soften up. If it starts to stick to the pan too much, add in a few tablespoon of water to deglaze.
- At this point, wash and soak your rice for 30-40 minutes
- Add the chicken to the pot and stir to coat it well. Cook this for 5-10 minutes or until the chicken meat turns white on the outside. Around the 5 minute mark, add in about a ¼ cup of water while cooking.
- Preheat oven to a low broil temperature or 450F.
- Once the meat turns white, add in a cup of water, stir and cover to cook for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is almost cooked through on the inside.
- Take out the chicken and place in a lined baking tray. Brush with some oil and sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper (if you prefer). Broil for 5-10 minutes or until the chicken skin caramelizes and browns.
- Add in 2 more cups of water to the pot and taste to check seasonings. The water should be on the saltier side so it balances out with the rice.
- Add the washed and drained rice to the pot, stir it well. Bring to a boil and then cover the pot. Turn the heat down to low and keep cooking while covered for around 20 minutes.
- At this point, check to see if the rice is cooked by either mushing it between your fingers or taking a bite. If there is still some bite to it, and all the water has been absorbed/evaporated, saturate the surface of the rice with about ¼ cup of water and cover and let cook until the rice is cooked through.
- Once cooked, turn the heat off and keep the rice covered for 5-10 minutes.
- Fluff up the rice with a wide spatula or a fork.
- Serve the rice in a large platter and place the chicken on top of the rice. Garnish with some cilantro. You can also serve with yogurt or a yogurt sauce made with cucumber, salt, pepper, cilantro and mint and tomatoes if you would like!
Mahmoud Elkrsh says
Keep going up
Huzaifah Sheikh says
Love this series. Tried your machboos recipe and it was extremely delicious. Tbh it was so much easy to make. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful recipe.