iraqi tbeet...baked chicken and rice

 

i follow many foodies on insta and have been collecting recipes for a while now. recently this dish caught my attention…iraqi tbeet by sivans kitchen. it is her grandmother’s recipe and she gives the 3-hour version. you can watch her make it via this link.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C569DlCv1kG/?igsh=MTdzamoxcmRndGpxNA==

i followed it but with a little tweak, i used chicken stock plus 1 cup of water instead of 5 cups of water. i bought the date syrup from woolworths. you will find it in the international food’s aisle in the middle eastern section. i say this feeds 6-8 people but if they are of the big appetite variety then 6 generously. i also used chicken thighs and legs. chicken has become a staple in our household because we all like it, it is versatile and does not break the food budget. this is the first time i have made a dish from Iraq and it was absolutely delicious, absolutely easy to make, you just need to be patient as it takes 2 and a 1/2 hours in the oven. i put it on at 3 and lovie was here after the footy ended in a draw and joined us for dinner. i also sent her home with left overs.

Ok so foodie viewers here is the recipe with a few tweaks. i only had 8 chicken pieces and being a public holiday, i wasn’t about to go out hunting for a few extra pieces. i also used the left-over fresh cherry tomatoes and i sliced my onions finely rather than dice them. i used my oven proof deep bacarrat dish which is one of my favourites from my assortment of pots and pans but a decent sized baking dish or tray is good, enough to fit 3 cups of basmati rice which will expand with liquid.

ingredients

10 pieces of chicken…6 legs, 4 thighs

3 large onions cut in half and finely sliced

2 punnets of cherry tomatoes cut in halves or 4 large tomatoes diced

2 tablespoons of sweet paprika

2 tablespoons of salt

1 tablespoon of ground black pepper

1 teaspoon of cardamom powder

¼ cup of date syrup

1 litre of chicken stock plus 1 cup of water

1/3 cup of olive oil

preheat oven to 180 celsius

method

brown chicken in olive oil until they are nice and golden, put aside, add the onions and sauté and then add tomatoes and do the same, then add spices and sauté further. add 3 cups of washed basmati rice and mix everything through. add the chicken pieces on top and ¼ cup of date syrup and then add stock and water. bring to the boil, make sure chicken is nestled into rice, turn off heat, cover with a layer of parchment paper and then foil to seal. place into oven and bake for 2 hours and then uncover and bake for a further 30 mins. serve with a simple salad of lettuce, cucumber, lemon, pepper and olive oil.