Cooking with Mom- "Maklubeh"

“Maklubeh” is a red rice dish layered with chicken and eggplant. Maklubeh literally translates to “upside down” because you layer and cook the chicken, eggplant and rice in a pot- and then flip it over onto a large plate so you end up with a standing cylinder of goodness (see picture below).

And just a word of caution, the red rice does not taste anything like the Mexican red rice that you might be thinking of, ours has a stronger tomato flavor and is a little more oily (in a good way).  

“Maklubeh” Red Rice with Chicken and Eggplant

Serves 8

1 large eggplant, cut in half vertically then sliced horizontally ½ in. thick

Kosher Salt

Cooking Vegetable Oil

1 whole chicken, skin removed

2 ½ TBS Tomato Paste

4 tsp Knorr Chicken Bullion

4 cups Basmati Rice

First cook the eggplant:

Put the sliced eggplant in a colander and sprinkle with salt. Let sit for 2 to 3 hours so the extra water drains. Arrange the eggplant slices on a baking sheet lined with foil and brush both sides with oil. Set the oven to broil and put the tray in to deeply brown the eggplant, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven to flip the slices over and return for an additional 5 minutes to brown the other side.

Then cook the chicken:

In a large pot, put the whole chicken, tomato paste, chicken bullion and 5 cups water. Bring to a high boil, then lower to simmer over medium heat for 1 hour, flipping the chicken half way through. Let the chicken sit in the pot to cool for 10 minutes, then remove and place on a plate to cool completely. Reserve the liquid in the same pot.

Once cooled down, shred the chicken from the bones, discarding bones and cartilage.

Next cook the rice:

Soak the rice in water for five minutes in a bowl, and drain completely. Using the same pot and liquid the chicken was cooked in, add 2 TBS oil and bring to a boil. Pour in the rice and stir the mixture to evenly coat the rice and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Once the water is level with the rice, lower the heat to medium-low and cover the pot, stirring the rice before to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom. Over ten minutes, keep lowering the heat and by the end the rice should be fully done.

Then, layer the ingredients in the pot:

Remove the rice from the pot. Pour a very thin layer of oil at the bottom of the pot, enough to cover. Place all the chicken meat on the bottom, then layer the eggplant over. Put the rice over the eggplant in 3 additions, smoothing out each layer to form a flat top. Put the pot back onto the stove on the smallest burner over medium heat so the chicken crisps, about 20 minutes (you will hear sizzling). Turn off heat and let mixture sit.

To serve, place a large flat plate over the pot and flip over holding the plate against the bottom. Pat down on the bottom of the pot to loosen the chicken and carefully remove.