I had never had Makloubeh until my mom made it for Iftar last year and my Dad and Brother asked me to make it again this year so… here it is! My mom gave me this recipe for Arabic Seven Spice, and I gotta say I like it. Now this is important for me because I generally don’t care for cinnamon and clove in my meats, but I really like the flavor that it brings to the vegetables and the rice, which is just nice.

I also found out that Makloubeh translate to English to mean “upside-down,” so based on that any upside-down food is Makloubeh. Pineapple “Makloubeh” Cake, for example. That might be a bit of stretch but, the fact remains, this is a tasty dish. It’s especially easy during Ramadan because it doesn’t take a lot of intimate cooking to make this. Chop and slice the veggies, roast them, boil some chicken, put it all in a pot and cook it a little more and then it’s done! I think this would be good with some tahini sauce from the gyro bowl recipe or the hummus from the Kibby recipe would be good, but those are good in pretty much any scenario in my opinion, but hey, that’s the beauty of cooking. Make what you like, how you like it!

Ingredients:

2 lbs Chicken Breast Available on Midamarhalal.com!

1 Tbsp Paprika

1 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon

1 Tbsp Ground Cumin

1 Tbsp Ground Black Pepper

1 Tbsp Ground Coriander

1 Tbsp Cloves

1 Ground Nutmeg

1 small bag of carrots, or about 2 cups of sliced carrots

1 head of Cauliflower, florets removed and cut in half

1 Yellow Onion, chopped

8 cups of Chicken Stock, divided

3 cups of Rice

Salt

Olive oil

Instructions:

1) Combine all seasonings and whisk to make 7 Spice

2) Preheat oven to 350°, prepare all vegetables and place them in their own mixing bowls. Coat each bowl with about 1 Tbsp 7 Spice and 1 -2 Tbsp of olive oil. Place vegetables in a deep lined pan and roast at 350° for 20 minutes

3) Meanwhile, pour 4 cups of chicken stock into a pot and add the chicken breast. Bring to a boil and let cook for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Remove chicken to a cutting board and reserve chicken stock. Cut chicken into bite sized chunks, or long strips

4) In a large pot place chicken and layer across the bottom. Coat chicken in 1 or 1 ½ Tbsp of 7 Spice, sprinkle a pinch of salt on top of that. Next layer carrots, top with same amount of spice and salt. Next add cauliflower and add same amount of spice and salt. Finally, layer onions and cover with spice and salt.

5) Place 3 cups of unwashed rice on top and flatten out, add reserved stock and additional 4 cups of stock (or as much as needed) to cover the rice, bring to a boil and let cook for about 10 -15 minutes or until rice is cooked

6) Place a large platter dish upside-down on the pot you cooked in and flip the pot over so the Makloubeh will fall out. Serve Makloubeh with pita bread and hummus or tahini sauce

That’s it for me this week, check us out on Facebook and let us know if you made this and how you made it your own! Be sure to check us out on Youtube and follow us on Instagram as well to keep up on all of our delicious Halal recipes. Thank you from all of us Midamar!