Machboos Dajaj

Ingredients

• 1.4kg bone-in chicken pieces
• 500g basmati rice
• 3 large onions
• 4 garlic cloves
• 30g fresh ginger
• 3 dried black limes (loomi)
• 2 tbsp baharat
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 5 cardamom pods
• 4 cloves
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 60ml vegetable oil
• 40g ghee
• 2.5 tsp fine salt
• 1 tbsp rose water
• Large pinch saffron threads
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander
• Daqoos tomato sauce, to serve

Before you cook

• Rinse the rice until the water runs clear, then soak it for thirty minutes.
• Pierce each dried lime twice with the point of a knife so it can release its flavour.
• Slice the onions thinly, and grate the garlic and ginger to a paste.
• Chop the tomatoes.
• Steep the saffron in the rose water in a small cup.

Steps

1. Heat the oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat.
2. Brown the chicken pieces in batches for four minutes a side, then lift them onto a plate.
3. Add the sliced onions to the pot and cook them for twelve minutes until deep golden.
4. Stir in the garlic and ginger paste and cook for one minute until fragrant.
5. Add the baharat, turmeric, cinnamon stick, cardamom pods and cloves and stir for thirty seconds.
6. Stir in the tomatoes and tomato paste and cook for three minutes until the mixture darkens.
7. Return the chicken to the pot along with the pierced dried limes and the salt.
8. Pour in one litre of hot water and bring the pot to a boil.
9. Cover the pot and simmer for thirty-five minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
10. Lift the chicken pieces out onto a baking tray and cover them loosely with foil.
11. Measure the broth left in the pot; you want seven hundred and fifty millilitres, so top up with water or boil it down.
12. Drain the soaked rice and stir it into the broth.
13. Bring the pot back to a boil, then cover it tightly and cook on the lowest heat for eighteen minutes.
14. Drizzle the saffron rose water over the surface of the rice and dot the ghee on top.
15. Cover the pot again and leave it off the heat for ten minutes.
16. Grill the reserved chicken pieces for five minutes under a hot grill so the skin crisps.
17. Fluff the rice with a fork, fishing out the dried limes, and pile it onto a platter.
18. Sit the chicken on the rice, scatter over the coriander, and serve with daqoos on the side.