You’ve eaten tasty machboos before, now learn how to cook some of your own!

Machboos is hands down one of the most popular Qatari dishes of all times. Although I prefer it to be made with chicken, it can be made with seafood or meat depending on your preference.

I first had machboos as a child when my Qatari neighbors sent some over during Ramadan. My entire family was hooked and my mother decided to take on the challenge and try to replicate the tasty food.

If you haven’t tried it yet or have never made it yourself, now’s the time to change that. Maybe it will become the special foreign dish that you make for people back home someday.

Let’s get started:

Paste ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground bay leaves
• 4 cardamom pods
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 6 peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine the list of ingredients and grind them together in a bowl to make the paste.

 Dish ingredients:

• 1 chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 3 chopped garlic cloves
• 1 can of peeled tomatoes
• 1 stock cube
• 500g of diced chicken, meat or fish
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 4 cups water
• 1 and ½ cups of basmati rice
• dash of saffron

Place the oil, garlic and onion in a pot and cook until soft. Add the paste in and mix it well. Next, add the meat for 4 minutes, allowing it to soak up the flavor, before adding the stock cube, tomatoes and water and letting it boil until the meat is cooked. Add the basmati rice and allow to cook, increase the water if necessary. Avoid overcooking the rice.  The machboos should be ready to be served. Typical sides for this meal include salad and rice.

Good luck and happy eating!

Photocredit: clevelandclinicabudhabi.ae