Rozz Me'ammar

The rice bakes in milk until a browned skin forms on top and the grains below set in cream.

Not vegetarian — contains chicken stock.

Ingredients

• 500 g short-grain rice, rinsed and soaked
• 1.2 litres whole milk
• 400 ml chicken stock
• 200 ml double cream
• 120 g butter, melted
• 150 g qishta or clotted cream
• 2 teaspoons salt

Method

1. THE RICE BAKES IN MILK UNTIL A BROWNED SKIN FORMS ON TOP AND THE GRAINS BELOW SET IN CREAM. Not boiled, not steamed, not stirred -- poured into a wide shallow dish and put in the oven for an hour and a half, uncovered, and left alone. Two things happen and both are wanted: the milk and cream reduce and the rice absorbs them, so the grains end up bound in something closer to a set custard than to a pilaf; and the exposed surface caramelises into a browned, faintly blistered skin that is lifted off in sheets as it is served. A rice cooked in milk on the hob and then put in a dish has neither.
2. IT IS NOT STIRRED, NOT ONCE. The skin is the point and stirring destroys it. Also, stirring releases starch and the dish goes gluey rather than setting.
3. THE DISH IS WIDE AND SHALLOW. Four or five centimetres deep, no more. The surface area is what gives the skin, and a deep dish bakes for twice as long and still arrives wet in the middle.
4. IT IS UNCOVERED THROUGHOUT. No foil at any point. Covered, the surface steams and stays pale and the whole thing is a rice pudding.
5. THE RICE IS SOAKED AND RINSED UNTIL THE WATER RUNS CLEAR. Thirty minutes soaking, several changes of rinsing water. Excess surface starch is the thing that would make this gluey, and it is washed off rather than cooked in.
6. THE QISHTA GOES ON IN SPOONFULS NEAR THE END. Dropped over the surface for the last twenty minutes, so it melts into the top and browns with it rather than disappearing into the body. Stirred in at the start it is simply more fat.
7. IT IS SALTED AND IS NOT A PUDDING. Two teaspoons. Milk, cream and butter make this read as a dessert if it is under-seasoned, and it is a savoury dish served with chicken or lamb. Stock in with the milk does the same job.
8. The rice rinsed until the water runs CLEAR, then soaked 30 MINUTES and drained.
9. The milk, stock, cream, melted butter and salt whisked together.
10. The rice spread in a WIDE SHALLOW dish, 4 to 5 cm deep.
11. The liquid poured over.
12. Baked UNCOVERED at 180°C for 1 HOUR 10 MINUTES. NOT STIRRED.
13. The qishta dropped over the surface in SPOONFULS and baked a further 20 MINUTES.
14. TESTED: the top should carry a browned, faintly blistered skin and the rice below should be set in cream rather than loose. A pale surface means it was covered, or the dish too deep.
15. Rested 10 MINUTES and served with roast chicken or lamb.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Egypt · All recipes