Maqluba
The name means "upside down" and describes the most spectacular moment of the dish. Everything is layered in the pot in reverse order: whatever should end up on top goes in first. Once cooked, the pot is inverted onto a platter and the dish emerges whole as a cylinder. The most important condition for success: ten minutes of rest before flipping.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Chicken and broth 35 min
- Frying the vegetables 25 min
- Layering 15 min
- Cooking 35 min
- Flipping 10 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneSimmer the chicken and keep the broth
Cover the thighs with cold water, bring to a boil, skim and simmer for 35 minutes with the onion, cinnamon stick, cardamom, bay and salt. Lift out the thighs and, once cool enough to handle, pull the meat off the bones (the skin can go). Strain and keep the broth — the rice cooks in it, and it carries much of the flavour here. Taste it: it should be clearly salty.
Ingredients: 1000 g chicken thighs · 1 pcs onion · 1 pcs cinnamon · 5 pcs cardamom · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1500 ml water · 2 tsp salt
Salt the aubergine and wait
While the chicken simmers, cut the aubergines into slices about 1 cm thick, sprinkle with salt and leave 20 minutes, then pat dry. The salt draws out water, so the aubergine absorbs less oil and holds its shape better in the layer you are about to build.
Ingredients: 2 pcs aubergines · 500 g cauliflower · 200 ml oil · 1 tbsp salt
Fry aubergine and cauliflower deep brown
Fry the aubergine slices and cauliflower florets in oil in batches until deeply browned (about 25 minutes in total), and drain on paper. Pale vegetables tend to fall apart while the rice cooks — well-browned ones hold their shape through the flip and bring more flavour.
Ingredients: 2 pcs aubergines · 500 g cauliflower · 200 ml oil · 1 tbsp salt
Deeply browned, not pale — they must survive the flip.Line the base and sides with aubergine
Arrange the best aubergine slices overlapping on the base of a heavy pot and line the sides too. Remember: what is on the bottom now becomes the top after flipping — and the top is the only part anyone sees.
Ingredients: 2 pcs aubergines · 500 g cauliflower · 200 ml oil · 1 tbsp salt
Base and sides lined — this becomes the top of the dish.Layer meat, vegetables and rice
Lay the chicken meat over the aubergine, then the cauliflower, then the rinsed rice mixed with the spices. Press down lightly but do not compact it — compressed rice swells unevenly and the dish collapses on flipping.
Ingredients: 500 g rice · 1 tsp turmeric · 1 tsp allspice · 1 tsp cinnamon · ½ tsp pepper
Add broth to two centimetres above the rice
Pour in hot broth to 2 cm above the rice, running it down the side of the pot rather than into the centre — a stream poured centrally disturbs the layers. Bring to a boil, cover and cook 35 minutes over the lowest heat.
Ingredients: 1000 g chicken thighs · 1 pcs onion · 1 pcs cinnamon · 5 pcs cardamom · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1500 ml water · 2 tsp salt
Rest ten minutes before flipping
Take it off the heat and leave it covered for 10 minutes. These are the most important ten minutes in the recipe: the rice finishes in its own steam and sets into a single mass. Flipped immediately it easily scatters across the platter.
Ingredients: 1000 g chicken thighs · 1 pcs onion · 1 pcs cinnamon · 5 pcs cardamom · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1500 ml water · 2 tsp salt
Invert the pot in one movement
Cover the pot with a large platter, grip both together and flip in one decisive movement. Set it down and wait a minute before lifting the pot — the steam has to settle. Scatter with almonds, pine nuts and parsley, and serve with yogurt.
Ingredients: 60 g almonds · 40 g pine nuts · 400 g natural yogurt · ½ bunch parsley
One decisive movement, then a minute of waiting.
Before you start
A straight-sided pot
A pot with straight sides and no narrowing at the rim works best — otherwise the dish jams on the way out. It should not be too large either: the layers need to fill it to the brim so the cylinder stands tall.
When it collapses
It happens to everyone and is not a disaster — the flavour is the same, only the look is less dramatic. Next time extend the rest to fifteen minutes and use half a cup less broth.
Vegetable variations
Instead of cauliflower: sliced potato, carrot or tomato. Instead of chicken: lamb, simmered about an hour longer, or a vegetable version built on stock. The construction stays the same.
