So Many Dishes

This has been one of those “roll with the punches” weeks. Our son Ben had planned to spend last weekend and Monday with us, as he had a meeting with the water management district in West Palm Beach on Tuesday. We always enjoy having Ben with us, and, since he’s even more of a foodie than I am, I had planned some interesting dinners.

But we all know the Robert Burns quote: “the best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men/Gang aft agley.” Well, our plans went plenty agley! Ben came down with a stomach virus, and wasn’t well enough to drive either Saturday or Sunday. Instead, he would drive here from Orlando Monday afternoon, spend the night with us, and head home immediately after his meeting on Tuesday.

We decided not to change our dinner plans for either Saturday or Sunday: turkey burgers and the cabbage, sausage, and bean casserole that i blogged about earlier in the week. My plan was to make another new recipe on Monday, this one for kabsa, a chicken and rice dish that is a Saudi Arabian specialty.

My phone rang Monday afternoon, right after lunch. “Mom, can I make another change of plans?” Something had come up that he needed to work on immediately. Could he spend Tuesday night with us, instead?

Of course he could! We decided to move the kabsa to Tuesday’s dinner. That emergency package of hot dogs in the freezer came in handy!

I took a look at my kabsa recipe early Tuesday morning, thinking I’d see if I could do some early prep; I had an appointment in the morning plus lunch with Mary on my schedule. That’s when I realized I had only looked at the list of ingredients for the recipe. The cooking instructions were two and a half pages long, and I started to panic. I wanted to spend as much of Ben’s limited time with us with him, not working in the kitchen. I decided to make a quick switch to a family favorite that we’ve always called Saudi chicken.

I think we bought The Complete Middle East Cookbook by Tess Mallos in the late 1980s. I mentioned it when I talked about Ahmed’s Spice, the spice blend Baharat. The chicken recipe is in the Gulf States chapter of the book, which includes the cuisines of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, and UAE. I’m not sure why we referred to it as Saudi chicken. In the book it’s listed as Machbous Ala Dajaj, with an English title of spiced chicken and rice. The ingredients are very similar to kabsa, so I did a little online research—something I obviously couldn’t have done in the 1980s.

It appears that these are regional variations of the same dish. Kabsa, according to my research, is the national dish of Saudi Arabia, and emphasizes tomato in the sauce. Machbous (or machboos or majboos) is more representative of Kuwait, Bahrain, and the UAE. The flavorings vary, with kabsa using warmer spices and machbous relying on loomi, which is dried black lime that imparts a sharp, smoky flavor.

After reading all of this, I’ve come to the conclusion that my recipe is a merger of the two variations. It includes Baharat, the spice mix I call Ahmed’s spice, characteristic of the Saudi version. But it also calls for loomi (or a strip of lemon peel as a substitute) and doesn’t include tomato paste, just a can of diced tomatoes. Wherever it’s from, it’s delicious. There’s a reason I’ve been making this for more than 30 years. It’s not difficult; there are some long cooking steps, but it gave me time to sit down with Ben and bore him with the pictures from our trip.

Spiced Chicken and Rice

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Baharat
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 3 lbs chicken pieces (I used a combo of thighs and breast halves)
• 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 5 cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered loomi, or 1 strip lemon rind
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 green cardamom pods
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 2 cups basmati rice
• 4 tablespoons chopped cilantro and/or parsley

In a deep, heavy pan, gently fry the onion in the oil until translucent. Stir in Baharat and turmeric and cook 2 minutes longer.

Add chicken pieces and turn in onion mixture over medium heat to brown lightly. Add tomatoes, cloves, loomi, cinnamon, cardamom pods, and salt, stirring well to combine. Add water, cover, and simmer over gentle heat for 40 minutes.

Place rice in a bowl and wash with cold water until water runs clear. Drain.

Stir rice gently into pot contents, add cilantro and/or parsley and bring back to a low simmer. Cover with lid and simmer 30 to 35 minutes, until chicken is tender and rice is fully cooked. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

I forgot to add the cilantro with the rice, so I added it as a garnish. I also forgot to take a picture of the pot before I began dishing out, and Ben was grabbing plates as fast as I could fill them. As a result, my pictures aren’t the best. The food, however, was. I’ve never been able to cut this down for the two of us successfully, so this will remain a “company” dish. Who wants to come for dinner?

Happy eating!