Bahrain is situated on the site of the ancient Dilmun civilization and has been famous for pearl farming for centuries. It was one of the first countries to convert to Islam in AD628 and has been ruled by the Arabs, Portuguese and the Persian Empire as well as spending time under British protection. It was declared independent in 1971.
The cuisine of Bahrain is influenced by Arabic, Persian, Iranian, Indian, African, Far East and European food. Camels are used for their milk and their meat is eaten on special occasions. Hummus, tabbouleh, and flat bread are also staples. Other traditional dishes are falafel, muhammar - rice served with dates, qoozi - grilled lamb stuffed with rice, spices and eggs, shawarma - lamb or chicken kebab and machboos - the national dish of rice topped with fish or meat and a tomato sauces.
For our Bahrainian meal we decided to cook Chicken Machboos with raita. We had planned to make it a couple of weeks ago but various things happened and it got put off until this weekend. Once again the rice based dish seemed to be like a biryani, with lots of spices to bring flavouring.
The recipe sat on our kitchen counter for 2 weeks and I occasionally read it through to ensure I was familiar with the process before I began cooking. During that time I took note of all the cooking times except number 5 which said 'cover and simmer for one hour'. quite an important step when you have left 30 minutes to make dinner! Still I didn't feel so bad when Gary made the raita and didn't notice the instruction to grate the cucumber! 😏
The recipe contains a mixed spice called baharat - this was the first thing to make. Black peppercorns, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cinnamon stick, whole cloves and green cardamon had to be dry roasted to release the flavours and then ground up with paprika and nutmeg. It smelt wonderful. I meant to take a before and after photo but forgot - so here's the after shot!
After leaving the rice to soak for 15 minutes I prepared the rest of the ingredients.
The recipe called for dried limes - no idea where to buy them from around here so I dried one myself.
The chicken should have had it's skin on but we only had skinless chicken breast so I cut it into smaller pieces and fried it in olive oil to brown the outside.
Then the onions needed to be sauted in ghee for 10 minutes before adding garlic, fresh ginger and a jalapeno chilli. (don't cut up a chilli and then scratch your nose - even if you have washed your hands several times before!!!!!!!!!)
Next the spices were added and everything fried together - mmmmmmm, a delicious aroma!
Ah, Instruction 5! Add chicken pieces, tomatoes, chicken stock and the rest of the spices and SIMMER FOR ONE HOUR. Hmmmmmmmm!
Gary, mean while was making the raita. Once we spotted the mistake about grating the cucumber we transferred the mixture to a food processor to make it more raita like!
After an hour we added the rice, some chopped cilantro and parsley replaced the lid on the pan and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
The liquid was absorbed and the dish was ready to eat.
Chicken Machboos with raita.
As Bahrain is a Muslim country they would have drunk this with tea, we had Sid's Cider in the fridge so we drank that!
The Machboos was delicious. I had made half the recipe but still used a whole jalapeno so there was a nice kick to the dish which the raita helped to cool down. It was a little like the Kabuli Palau we made from Afghanistan but with more spices and so a more complex taste. I think a vegetable curry dish would have gone well with it but we hadn't been able to find one. The Machboos could easily become a vegetarian dish by leaving out the chicken and using mushroom or vegetable stock.
This looks delicious. The fish version sounds like something to try. We love following the meals as you progress through the world.
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