Chicken Kabsa

A dish from the Arab gulf.

A wise man once said, “Chicken with rice is one of the best combinations ever.” That wise man is me. Kabsa, also known as kabseh or machbous, is a very popular dish in the Arab world that originates from the gulf countries. The term comes from kabs, which means being pushed together, to refer to how you cook everything stacked together in one pot. What makes Kabsa special is its spice blend, which contains a good amount of ground dried lime that gives the dish a very nice touch of acidity. You can find this blend, as well as dried lime, in any Middle Eastern shop. This dish has many variations depending on the kind of meat used in it, but it’s always served with a special tomato coriander sauce called daqqous. Today I will present the chicken version, let’s go!

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Ingredients

The Kabsa

Kabsa is a perfect dish when you have people over. This amount makes about 6 servings.

1 whole chicken
1 large onion
1 large tomato
1 small bell pepper
2 dried limes
1 cinnamon stick
4-5 cloves
2 bay leaves
2.5 tablespoons Kabsa spice blend
1 teaspoon turmeric
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cups basmati rice
Water

The Chicken Topping

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon Kabsa spice blend
1 teaspoon paprika

The Daqqous

2 large tomatoes
1 bunch of fresh cilantro/coriander
2-3 garlic cloves, degermed
1.5 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon white vinegar
Salt to taste
Chili pepper to taste

Procedure

Start by prepping your chicken, by separating the legs and the breasts from the carcass. You can boil the carcass with the stock for better flavor, but I did not, as my pot did not have space. Make sure you save it in the freezer though for a future stock! You may also choose to use chicken thighs or legs only instead of a whole chicken, but make sure you get your chicken with bone, as this gives more flavor to the stock.
Once you’re done with the chicken, prep your vegetables. Finely chop your onion, tomato and bell pepper. You can use a food processor for this step, but do not mix all veggies together, as we will add them in different steps.
Heat your pot at a medium high heat before adding vegetable oil. Since it’s a rice dish, a dutch oven is a very good pot for it, but you may use any kind of pot with a thick bottom to prevent burning. Add your onions and let them sizzle until translucent.
Proceed by adding the whole spices then mix for a minute to bring out their fragrance. Add 2 tablespoons of Kabsa spice blend and mix.
Now add your chicken, skin side down, and let them take some color at medium low heat. Mix every now and then for about 10 minutes so that the chicken absorbs some of the flavor of the onions and spices.
Add the chopped tomatoes, bell pepper, and the tomato paste, then mix again for about 5 minutes, or until the bell pepper becomes softer.
Add enough water to cover the chicken. Bring to a boil then let simmer for 40-60 minutes on low heat. In the meantime, you can proceed to prepare the daqqous and wash the rice.
Making daqqous is very easy. Simply add all the ingredients in a food processor. Mix together until you obtain a sauce. Pour the mixture into a dish and chill until serving. Some people like to cook the daqqous a bit and serve it warm, but I like it fresh and cold.
Make sure you wash your rice multiple times to get rid of all the starch, or until the water runs clear. Soak the rice in cold water for 30 minutes while the chicken is simmering.
In a small dish, mix 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, some tomato paste, Kabsa spice blend and paprika.
Once the chicken is cooked, take the chicken pieces out of the pot and into a baking tray, skin side up, and brush the skin with the mixture you just prepared. Put the tray in an oven on broil mode for 5-10 minutes in order to give the chicken some color and a bit of a grilled flavor.
Drain your soaked rice and add it to the pot. Proceed on adding enough boiled water to cook the rice (in total, you should have around 1.5 cup of liquid to every cup of rice). You can measure the liquid remaining in the pot before adding enough water.
Let the mixture boil on medium high heat, while mixing every now and then. It is very important to mix in order to avoid rice sticking on the bottom of the pot.
Once you start seeing the rice on the surface of the liquid, bring down the temperature to the lowest setting, and cover for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes have passed, turn off the heat and leave the pot covered for a further 5 minutes before opening.
When the rice is cooked, fluff it up a bit, remove the dried lime, cinnamon stick and bay leaves, then transfer it to a large tray. Add the chicken on top. Garnish with some roasted nuts (usually cashews, almonds and pine nuts; I only added cashews) and some fresh cilantro. Serve with daqqous and bon appétit!