Maqluba – Upside-Down Rice with Chicken and Eggplant

👨‍🍳 Method

1. 1
   Rinse the rice under running water and drain.

   Colander
2. 2
   Heat the oil in a skillet and fry the eggplant slices in it until golden. Remove and set aside.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStoveFrying pan

   💡What you brown (meat, patties, schnitzel) goes into hot oil: in lukewarm oil it soaks it up and comes out greasy. For onion and garlic that you soften, oil heated over medium or low heat is enough; do not wait for it to smoke.
3. 3
   Cook the chicken in the pot with the onion, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, salt and black pepper and the boiling water, until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken and reserve the cooking water.

   StoveWide, shallow potSlotted spoon
4. 4
   In a wide pot, layer the eggplant slices, then the chicken on top, then the red pepper, and finally the drained rice.

   Wide, shallow pot

   💡The bottom layer will be the top after flipping: arrange it neatly and tightly, and the rice above it holds everything together.
5. 5
   Pour the cooking water from the chicken over the rice to 1 cm above the rice, and bring to a boil.

   Stove
6. 6
   Cook over high heat 5 minutes. Turn down' the heat to very low', cover and simmer 25 minutes.

   ⚙ SimmeringStoveLid

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.
7. 7
   Let the pot stand covered off the heat 10 minutes, then flip it confidently onto a large serving platter and serve with yogurt.

   LidServing platter

   💡Resting off the heat firms up the rice, so the maqluba comes out whole.