Maqluba

The whole pot is inverted onto a platter and lifted away, so what was the bottom arrives as the top.

Lamb. Not vegetarian — contains lamb.

Ingredients

the meat and stock

• 800 g lamb shoulder, in large pieces
• 1 onion, halved
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1.5 litres water
• 2 teaspoons salt

the vegetables

• 2 aubergines, in thick rounds
• 1 small cauliflower, in florets
• oil, for frying
• salt, for drawing the aubergine

the rice

• 450 g long-grain rice, rinsed and soaked
• 2 teaspoons baharat
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

to serve

• 60 g pine nuts, fried
• 400 g thick yoghurt

Method

1. THE WHOLE POT IS INVERTED ONTO A PLATTER AND LIFTED AWAY, so what was the bottom arrives as the top. The name means upside-down and the turning out is the dish. It is built in reverse: the fried aubergine rounds are laid against the base and up the sides of the pot, then the lamb, then the cauliflower, then the rice packed on top. Cooked, rested, a platter set on the pot and the whole thing flipped in one committed movement, and it stands as a cake with a glossy dark aubergine crust. Served in layers from the pot it is a perfectly good rice dish; the turning out is what makes it worth building this way.
2. IT IS RESTED TEN MINUTES BEFORE TURNING, AND NOT LONGER. Off the heat, lid on. Turned straight away it slumps because the rice has not firmed; left half an hour it sticks to the base and tears. Ten minutes, then flip.
3. THE AUBERGINE IS SALTED AND FRIED, AND IT IS THE CRUST. Thick rounds, salted thirty minutes, patted dry and fried until well browned on both sides. They line the pot, so they are what is seen and they must be dark -- pale aubergine gives a grey, unappetising dome. Unsalted, they drink the oil and collapse.
4. THE RICE IS PACKED DOWN FIRMLY AND THE LIQUID ONLY JUST COVERS. Pressed level with the back of a spoon, and stock poured gently down the side to about a centimetre above the rice. Too much liquid and the structure is too soft to stand; too little and the top layer stays hard.
5. IT IS COOKED ON A LOW HEAT WITH A CLOTH UNDER THE LID. A tea towel between pot and lid catches the condensation that would otherwise drip back and make the top layer wet. Forty minutes on the lowest heat, undisturbed.
6. THE FLIP IS ONE MOVEMENT AND IS NOT HESITATED OVER. Platter on top, both hands, over in one go. A cautious half-turn is how it collapses.
7. The lamb simmered with the onion, bay, cinnamon stick and salt in the water 1 HOUR 30 MINUTES. The meat lifted out and the stock STRAINED and kept.
8. The aubergine rounds salted 30 MINUTES, patted dry and fried until WELL BROWNED both sides. The cauliflower fried until golden.
9. A heavy pot lined with the browned aubergine rounds across the BASE and up the SIDES.
10. The lamb laid in, then the cauliflower.
11. The soaked rice mixed with the baharat, turmeric and cinnamon and packed on top, PRESSED LEVEL.
12. The hot stock poured gently down the side to about 1 cm above the rice.
13. Brought to a simmer, then a TEA TOWEL laid over the pot and the lid on, and cooked on the LOWEST heat 40 MINUTES.
14. RESTED off the heat 10 MINUTES -- not longer.
15. A platter set on the pot and the whole INVERTED IN ONE MOVEMENT. The pot lifted away.
16. TESTED: it should stand as a dome with a dark aubergine crust. A slump means too much liquid or too long a rest.
17. Pine nuts scattered over, yoghurt alongside.

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 Lebanon · All recipes