The state of Palestine is best known these days for its political situation and unending conflict. It's not exactly an American tourist destination, and we definitely don't imagine the cuisine when we hear Palestine mentioned on the news. There is a lot that I could say about the Israel/Palestine conflict, and my views differ from most. I think we've picked a side without trying to understand the facts on the ground. But this is a food blog, so I'm not going to go there. Suffice it to say that I believe the Palestinians are too often unfairly painted in a negative light by our news media, religious organizations, and even some government leaders.
We need to remember that people are people anywhere you go, and it's important to recognize their humanity. And what better way to do that than by exploring their traditional food? Food brings people together.
Also, I love Middle Eastern food, so I'm very excited about this stop on the tour.
THE FOOD:
Our main course for this meal is a very typical Palestinian food called Maqluba. This is an Arabic word that means "upside down." The dish consists of layers of meat, vegetables, and rice that are cooked in a pot and then flipped over before serving. Hence, the dish is upside down.
This turned out to be one of the more ambitious meals that I've made. I would be lying if I said that the maqluba was easy to make. It has a lot of steps involved and takes quite a bit of time to prepare.
You can follow the recipe I used here. But for each element of the recipe - meat, vegetables, rice - you have to pre-cook them before adding it all together in the pot.
The meat is simmered with onions and spices.
The vegetables are fried in batches and then drained on paper towels.
The rice is soaked in boiling water, then it is toasted with vermicelli and spices.
Once all of that is completed, then you layer the ingredients in a big pot. The meat goes on the bottom, the vegetables are next, and finally the rice sits on top. You have to add enough water or broth to barely touch the top of the rice, and then let it cook until the rice is soft and the water is all gone.
Need a visual? Check out this slideshow:
At the end, it's time for the tricky part. I can't explain how scared I was to flip this giant pot. It took me two minutes of trying to work up the nerve, and then finally I had to get Younes do it instead. He was more successful than I would have been.
We had to let the pot sit for a few minutes as the excess water (probably more than there should have been) leaked out and I sopped it all up with paper towels. RIP you precious commodity.
When I finally lifted the lid, it looked beautiful. Just like the picture in the recipe! But only for about 4 seconds before it started to collapse and rice and eggplant ended up all over the floor. At least I was valiantly able to save the chicken leg. 😂
For the actual presentation of the food, I was able to reshape it a bit. I served the maqluba with yogurt and a salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, and parsley.
THE DESSERT
Wait, I'm not done! Like I said, this was an ambitious meal. In doing my research for Palestine, I kept finding this sweet dessert called knafeh (or kunafah). It was so intriguing I just had to try it!
If you watch/read the recipe, you'll see that these ladies used a special food coloring to get the traditional red color for the pastry. But when we asked about it at the Mediterranean store, the lady told us she was out. That turned out to be just fine, because something about the red color makes it look less appetizing in my opinion.
So what is knafeh? It's a pastry made from layering shredded filo dough with creamy cheeses and topping it with syrup and pistachios. I saw it called the sweetheart of the Middle East, and I think that title is well-earned.
Critic Time!
Being ambitious really paid off. This was an amazing meal! The maqluba was both filling and tasty. The spices in the rice were not overwhelming, and complemented the chicken and vegetables, while the toasted pine nuts on top added a nice crunch.
The real MVP though was the knafeh. I've never had mozzarella and ricotta cheese quite like that before. It almost felt like I was eating a crunchy dessert lasagna, and I loved it!! I also added a secret ingredient to the syrup that this recipe didn't call for. I switched out a cup of sugar for a cup of honey. If you make this for yourself, don't ask questions, just do it.
To sum it all up, this meal was a lot of work. But it was well worth the effort, and I would highly recommend it!!!
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