Recipe of a Traditional Food (Madrouba)
Recipe of a Traditional Food
Madrouba which means ‘beaten rice’ is a Qatari cuisine that is spicy porridge with chicken, rice, and about ten flavorings that give this dish an extraordinary and savory taste. This dish involves cooking rice and mashing all ingredients together for a long period of time. It is important to serve madrouba while it is still hot and preferably by Qatar people with fresh lime zest. The combination of all ingredients and aromatic spices with lime will provide a smoky, and rich blend of flavors that will melt in your mouth as you take one spoon by another.
Whole pieces of chicken are cooked with all of the spices, with the rice added in at the end to soak up the flavored liquid. The result is a beautifully golden, intensely flavored, middle eastern comfort food. If you want to feel and taste exquisite Middle Eastern cuisine full of wonderful spices, you have to try madrouba. The whole place will smell amazing and be infused with all wonderful scents.
Yield: up to 8 people or servings.
Time: about 3 hours.
Ingredients:
2 cups of long-grain white rice;
1 ¼ pound of boneless chicken (especially thighs and breasts) cut into small pieces;
3 medium red chopped onions, and 2 thinly sliced small red onions;
4 minced garlic cloves;
4 plum tomatoes which should be finely chopped, cored, and minced;
2 tablespoon salt;
Half a cup of vegetable oil;
Spices (half a cup of ghee, 1 ¼ tablespoon ground turmeric, one tsp. ground cumin, half tablespoon ginger, one tsp. coriander, ¾ tsp. cardamom, ¼ tsp. cinnamon, ¼ tsp. black pepper, 1/8 tsp. ground cloves, 1/8 tsp. cayenne, a pinch of nutmeg);
8 cups of water;
4 dried limes.
Instructions:
1. Place rice under running water and rinse it until it is clean. Then cover the rice with clean water and let it soak for 30 minutes, then drain.
2. Cut each lime in half and remove the flesh from the inside with fingers, discard seeds dried outer rinds.
3. Heat ¼ ghee in a large saucepan over medium-high until it gets brown (10–15 min), then add the garlic, tomatoes and cook and stir for 2 min. Add dried limes with the chicken, turmeric, cumin, ginger, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, ground cloves, cayenne, and nutmeg; stir and mix all spices. Then add 8 cups of water and salt, and boil them until the chicken is cooked (for about 20 min).
4. Add the rice, reduce heat, and cook while stirring it frequently to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pan or pot. Cook it for 1 and a half or 2 hours. Add some water if necessary.
5. Heat the oil over medium-high, add sliced onions, fry, and stir until they get deep golden brown (5–8 min).
6. Remove the onions with a spoon and put on a paper towel to drain any excess oil.
7. When the rice and chicken are cooked, mash the mixture with a wooden spoon until it becomes porridge.
8. Melt remaining ¼ cup ghee over medium-high, stir remaining cardamom, let it infuse the flavor until the scent appears (2 min), and then remove from heat.
9. Garnish with ghee, cardamom, and fried onions.
10. Serve while hot with bread.
Step by step (images)
