Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Majboos in detail..

Wow! it really felt great to read the comments and to know that some of you still have not forgotten me....really made my day....

As to the queries from some of my fellow bloggers..esp for recipies of the previous post...well, that baking stuff are all there in the links I have given. The dough mentioned is really a quickfix type...and we just need to shape it up the way we need it out to be.



For fatayers, make a small ball of the dough, flatten it using the rolling pin, keep the filling of your choice, be it chicken, meat, veggies, cheese or labnah zatar as i have done..close over the edges and seal by pressing it with the egde of a fork...

Majboos can be prepared in two ways..or rather, this is how I do it....(learned it from my maid who was working in a Kuwaiti home previously..now that is one real advantage, of having run-away maids..we can learn arabic cooking well! )

1. Cook the whole chicken (with the skin) with sufficient water to fill it up..with spices..cinamon, cardamom, pepper, bay leaves, cloves, cumin and salt...till tender.

Then remove the chicken carefully from the stock apply ginger - garlic paste with turmeric slightly in the inner side, and rub tomato paste all over ...both ways..outside and inside..and straight to the oven to brown.

(tip : tomato paste gives a quick brown effect to the chicken)

Rice part : Take 3 cups of rice (1 cup for 2 medium stomachs!)..fry it in 2-3 tbsp of butter for a few minutes, and pour double the quanity of stock to the rice and cook till done. I usually dont take exaclty double the water..say for 3 cups of rice, i would go for 5 cups of liquid to cook it up so that they do not get overcooked. Strain the stock to keep all the spices away from the rice..but its up to you to leave it in or not.

One advantage of this means of cooking majboos is that this is perfectly oil free cooking. The fat from the chicken itself gives a good flavour to the rice...Add a pinch of turmeric and salt too to the stock while the rice is cooked to give it more colour...but again, a disadvantage for the spicy tongue..this will taste kinda bland..so, go for the next technique:

Clean the chicken well, rub it it marinade - paste formed by mixing chillie, turmeric, corriander powder, ginger garlic paste and salt on the in and out, stuff a boiled egg into the chicken for some surprise to your folks, n stitch close the bottom of the chicken with needle n thread.Leave it for 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute in little cooking oil, chopped onions, ginger, garlic, and again add the masalas as above with some chicken masala if required, and fry the chicken in the oil till almost done. Transfr the chicken to the baking dish with tomato paste rubbed over it, and brown in the oven at high.

Cook rice in the gravey, but we need to add water here, but keep in mind to add sufficient water depending on the amount of rice taken.

Usmania rice is prepared as the same as above second method, but the only difference is that we use chicken pieces instead of whole chicken..and the rice is more tastier as it is cooked in the masalas.

3 comments:

  1. Hey Sona,
    Merry Christmas to you and your family too. Have a great holiday season and a fabulous 2009.:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sona dear, how r u? :)
    I liked your detailed description on machboos.I have got these lessons from my aunty. I like this much, but always add some pepper corns to suit our mallu tounge.
    how about your family..? See u soon,

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice one! I once used a outdoor deep fryers to make it. It was nice.

    ReplyDelete

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Majboos in detail..

Wow! it really felt great to read the comments and to know that some of you still have not forgotten me....really made my day....

As to the queries from some of my fellow bloggers..esp for recipies of the previous post...well, that baking stuff are all there in the links I have given. The dough mentioned is really a quickfix type...and we just need to shape it up the way we need it out to be.



For fatayers, make a small ball of the dough, flatten it using the rolling pin, keep the filling of your choice, be it chicken, meat, veggies, cheese or labnah zatar as i have done..close over the edges and seal by pressing it with the egde of a fork...

Majboos can be prepared in two ways..or rather, this is how I do it....(learned it from my maid who was working in a Kuwaiti home previously..now that is one real advantage, of having run-away maids..we can learn arabic cooking well! )

1. Cook the whole chicken (with the skin) with sufficient water to fill it up..with spices..cinamon, cardamom, pepper, bay leaves, cloves, cumin and salt...till tender.

Then remove the chicken carefully from the stock apply ginger - garlic paste with turmeric slightly in the inner side, and rub tomato paste all over ...both ways..outside and inside..and straight to the oven to brown.

(tip : tomato paste gives a quick brown effect to the chicken)

Rice part : Take 3 cups of rice (1 cup for 2 medium stomachs!)..fry it in 2-3 tbsp of butter for a few minutes, and pour double the quanity of stock to the rice and cook till done. I usually dont take exaclty double the water..say for 3 cups of rice, i would go for 5 cups of liquid to cook it up so that they do not get overcooked. Strain the stock to keep all the spices away from the rice..but its up to you to leave it in or not.

One advantage of this means of cooking majboos is that this is perfectly oil free cooking. The fat from the chicken itself gives a good flavour to the rice...Add a pinch of turmeric and salt too to the stock while the rice is cooked to give it more colour...but again, a disadvantage for the spicy tongue..this will taste kinda bland..so, go for the next technique:

Clean the chicken well, rub it it marinade - paste formed by mixing chillie, turmeric, corriander powder, ginger garlic paste and salt on the in and out, stuff a boiled egg into the chicken for some surprise to your folks, n stitch close the bottom of the chicken with needle n thread.Leave it for 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute in little cooking oil, chopped onions, ginger, garlic, and again add the masalas as above with some chicken masala if required, and fry the chicken in the oil till almost done. Transfr the chicken to the baking dish with tomato paste rubbed over it, and brown in the oven at high.

Cook rice in the gravey, but we need to add water here, but keep in mind to add sufficient water depending on the amount of rice taken.

Usmania rice is prepared as the same as above second method, but the only difference is that we use chicken pieces instead of whole chicken..and the rice is more tastier as it is cooked in the masalas.

3 comments:

  1. Hey Sona,
    Merry Christmas to you and your family too. Have a great holiday season and a fabulous 2009.:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sona dear, how r u? :)
    I liked your detailed description on machboos.I have got these lessons from my aunty. I like this much, but always add some pepper corns to suit our mallu tounge.
    how about your family..? See u soon,

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice one! I once used a outdoor deep fryers to make it. It was nice.

    ReplyDelete