Kabsa chicken with aromatic rice and spicy tomato sauce
Dimitra's Dishes · ♥ 610 likes · 33.5K views · 7 min video
Read about whole bird in the BrightCulinary Book
Timestamp
Ingredients
Method
Techniques
- 1 whole whole chicken
Cut a whole chicken into portions and set aside.
Chicken portions and the spice set
- 1 whole cinnamon stick
- 3 whole bay leaves
- 4–5 whole cardamom pods
- 3 whole whole cloves
- 2 whole star anise
Get the aromatics ready: a cinnamon stick, three bay leaves, four or five cardamom pods, three whole cloves and two star anise.
Measure the ground spices: a teaspoon each of paprika and chili powder, a heaping teaspoon of ground coriander, half a teaspoon each of cumin and turmeric.
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 whole onion
- 2 whole carrots
- 2 whole oranges
- 6–7 cloves garlic cloves
Finely chop the onion; grate two carrots on the fine side of a box grater; zest two oranges; grate six or seven cloves of garlic.
- ¼ cup olive oil
Cook the onion in the pot with about a quarter cup of olive oil about five minutes until it takes on some colour.
Add the grated carrot, garlic and orange zest and warm through 30 to 40 seconds until the garlic smells beautiful.
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
Add the aromatics and ground spices and toast a few seconds to release their flavour, then add two tablespoons of tomato paste.
- 1 tbsp better than bouillon chicken base
Whisk in a heaping tablespoon of chicken bouillon base.
- 1–2 tsp salt
- freshly cracked black pepper
Season the chicken with one to two teaspoons of salt and lots of black pepper, toss it in the spices to coat and cook it in the pot a minute or two.
- 2 cups water
Add about two cups of water, just enough to cover the chicken, bring to a boil, reduce to medium, cover and cook 35 to 40 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened.
Lift the chicken out onto an oven-safe sheet pan and pick out the cinnamon, bay leaves, cardamom pods and star anise from the sauce.
Removing the chicken and whole spices
- 3 cups basmati rice
- 2–3 tsp salt
- 2 cups water
Add the rinsed, soaked and drained basmati rice to the pot with two to three teaspoons of salt and about two cups of water, enough to cover the rice by half an inch.
- 3 whole tomatoes
- 1 whole small onion
Put the chicken under the broiler about 10 minutes for a beautiful char and colour.
Charring the chicken under the broiler
- 3 whole serrano chilies
- 1 whole lemon
- 3 cloves garlic cloves
- fresh mint
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- ½ tsp cumin
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup water
For the spicy tomato sauce blend three tomatoes, a small onion, three serrano chilies, a peeled quartered lemon, three cloves of garlic, a bunch of fresh mint, a teaspoon of coriander powder, half a teaspoon of cumin, a teaspoon of salt and about half a cup of water until nice and chunky.
Cook almond slices, cranberries and raisins in a little butter until golden.
Serving with a fried nut and fruit garnish
- almond slices
- cranberries
- raisins
- butter
Transfer the rice to a big serving platter, place the chicken on top and sprinkle over the almonds, cranberries and raisins.