Al Kabsa Ancient Arabian Chicken And Fragrant Rice Food

AL KABSA - TRADITIONAL SAUDI RICE (& CHICKEN) DISH

Steps:

• Melt butter in a large stock pot, casserole or dutch oven. Add chicken pieces, onion & garlic & sauté until onion is tender. Stir in tomato puree & simmer over a low heat for a couple of minutes.
• Add tomatoes, carrots, cloves, all the spices & salt and pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes. Add the water & Maggi cube.
• Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Add rice to the pot & stir carefully. (if you're wanting to brown the chicken in the oven - remove it from the pot now & place in the preheated oven).
• Re-Cover & simmer for 35 - 40 minutes - adding the raisins for the last 10 minutes - or until rice is tender.
• Place the rice on a large serving dish, topped with the chicken & garnished with almonds. Serve with a fresh mixed salad - preferably with a little lime vinaigrette. Saudis like their Kabsa with a hot sauce called 'Shattah'.
• N.B: You can also 'finish' the chicken pieces off in the oven by cooking them for 25 - 30 minutes at 180 C whilst the rice is cooking. (but don't let them become dry).

AL KABSA - TRADITIONAL SAUDI RICE AND CHICKEN

Steps:

• Mix together the saffron, cardamom, cinnamon, allspice, white pepper, and lime powder in a small bowl, and set the spice mix aside.
• Melt the butter in a large stock pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Stir in the garlic and onion; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken pieces and brown them over medium-high heat until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Mix in the tomato puree.
• Stir in the canned tomatoes with their juice, the grated carrots, whole cloves, nutmeg, cumin, coriander, salt, black pepper, and the Kabsa spice mix. Cook for about 3 minutes; pour in the water, and add the chicken bouillon cube.
• Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer and cover the pot. Simmer until chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear, about 30 minutes.
• Gently stir in the rice. Cover the pot and simmer until rice is tender and almost dry, about 25 minutes; add the raisins and a little more hot water, if necessary. Cover and cook for an additional 5 to 10 minutes or until the rice grains are separate.
• Transfer the rice to a large serving platter and arrange the chicken pieces on top. Sprinkle the toasted slivered almonds over the dish.

AL KABSA - ANCIENT ARABIAN CHICKEN AND FRAGRANT RICE

Steps:

• Slice the onion and garlic, cut the tomatoes in to wedges and chop the fresh coriander.
• Heat the oil in a casserole dish and add the onions, garlic - sauté for 3 to 5 minutes, then add chicken and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the rice and sauté for about 3 minutes before adding the tomato, spices, salt and dried limes.
• Add water just enough to cover the rice mixture and bring to boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Remove from heat, stir in the sultanas and almonds, then leave for further 10 minutes with the lid on.
• Remove the lid, stir well and serve with the following sauce.
• Accompanying Sauce.
• Skin the tomatoes and mix all the ingredients together, season to taste.
• Serve the Kabsa with the tomato sauce and flatbreads.
• NB. If making up the Kabsa spice mixture fresh - grind all the spices together in a coffee grinder or a food processor/mixer, or with a pestle and mortar.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CHICKEN

Steps:

• If using boneless chicken pieces, cut into 1 inch cubes and place in a shallow non reactive container; if using whole birds, butterfly them; combine the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl and pour over the chicken. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight. Bring the meat to room temperature before cooking.
• While the meat is warming to room temp.Prepare a fire in a charcoal grill or preheat your oven broiler (griller) Remove the meat from the marinade, reserving the marinade. You can marinate for up to 48 hours if properly refrigerated.
• If using chicken cubes thread on to skewers. Place the skewers or butterflied or halved birds on the grill rack or a broilerpan and grill or broil until cooked through, basting with reserved marinade while cooking.
• Whole chicken (5-7 pounds) 22 minutes a pound, butterflied whole chicken (3-5 pounds) 45-50 minutes; whole cornish hens (18 -24 oz) 45-55 minutes; breast half, boneless (4 oz) 8-10 minutes a side, (6-8 oz) 10 -15 minutes a side; leg or thigh (4-8 oz) 10-15 minutes a side.

FRAGRANT RICE

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a 2 quart sauce pan.
• Toast pine nuts until they are fragrant, about 3 minutes.
• Add onions and cook until soft.
• Add raisins, rice, turmeric and salt.
• Add water until rice is covered. boil and cook until the water has mostly absorbed. Keep this up until the rice is cooked, about 25 minutes (almost like cooking a risotto).

CLASSIC ARABIAN KABSA SPICE MIX FROM THE SPICE ROUTE

Steps:

• Grind all the whole spices and saffron threads together, then add the promegranate powder, mix well. (If using the dried limes, add them to the intial grinding procedure.).
• Decant into an airtight tin or container and store in a dark, cool and dry place.