Palestinian "Maqluba"

Maqluba is a famous Arabic dish, specially a Palestinian dish, it's often pronounced as Maalouba or Maglouba, it's an Arabic name which means (upside-down) because it's served upside-down, the main ingredients in this dish are rice, cooked meat and fried eggplant, and it could be made with any kind of meat like chicken, lamb, or beef, and also any kind of fried vegetable with or without eggplant, like potatoes, cauliflower, or carrots. This dish is really valuable and really delicious. We first cook the meat, and fry the vegetables, then start cooking the dish.

Serves: 3

Prep. time: 2 hours (or as long as the meat takes in cooking.)

Cooking time:  25 min.

Ingredients:

500 gm beef cubes

1 onion, chopped

2 or 3 eggplants

1 onion, sliced (not so thin)

2 tomatos, sliced

2 cups Egyptian rice or short grain rice, washed and strained

2 cups water

salt & pepper to taste

4 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

1-  Heat the oven 200C, Prepare the meat, put it with the chopped onion, saute for 5 minutes on medium heat then cover it with water and leave for an hour or tell cooked, check it from time to time if it needs more water, and when cooked add salt to taste.

2-  Prepare eggplant, I don't like to fry it, I put in the oven, so place it on baking tray greased with olive oil, and sprinkle it with the olive oil.

3-  Place eggplants into 200C oven for 20 to 30 minutes.

4-  Prepare Maqluba, place onion slices in a pan.

5-  Place the tomato slices on the onion.

6-  Place the eggplants like this.

7-  Place half of the rice on the eggplants.

8-  Place half the meat on the rice.

9-  Place the rest of the rice.

10- Place the rest of the meat.

11- mix the water with salt to taste, and add it to the Maqluba, and sprinkle some pepper.

12- Let the Maqluba covered on high heat till boil, then low the heat (really low like cooking rice), leave it for about 25 minutes, then serve it upside-down, and... Bon Apetit :)

Yummy