Spiced Maqluba With Tomatoes and Tahini Sauce Recipe (2024)

In North India, we use the slim green cardamom for this kind of prep. it has a more delicate flavor and aroma.The fat brown ones are best (I find) stewed, say, in a lamb preparation. Just my suggestion.

This was rather amazingly delicious. Also time consuming and made quite a few dishes for my husband to clean. I recommend starting early as it would be good at room temp too. The lentils melt away and no one would know they are there. Use all the salt they direct you to as it does need it, though it seems like a lot. Mine definitely did not need more water at the end, perhaps due to juicy summer tomatoes. Wonderful food for company but delicious on an ambitious weeknight too!

I make the Palestinian way with a layer of sliced fried potatoes, fried cauliflower florets, thin sliced fried eggplant and topped with fried pine nuts and raisins sprinkled on top.

How does one use cardamom still in the pod?

As in Indian cooking, the whole pod imparts nice flavor. You just need to warn your guests it’s pretty pungent if you bite into it. They are large enough to see and be pushed aside so you can enjoy the dish.

Either slightly crush them and take them out before serving (or forewarn your guests) or put them in a tea egg while cooking. I'm sure cardamom powder would work ok in this recipe.Also some kind of Raita (I made a cucumber/garlic raita) is excellent with this dish. I'm not a fan of Tahini...

Phenomenal dish. We (two people) made this on a Monday night after work, and while it wasn't a cakewalk, it came together fairly easily and in about an hour with two people working on it. Used ground cardamom instead of pods and the dish was still wonderfully fragrant and spiced. The tahini sauce truly rounded out the dish. A showstopper for sure, or just a nice indulgent family meal.

I shelled the cardamom pods (green) and ground them with the other spices. I also added diced carrots on the top (which became the bottom) and next time I think I'll add some cauliflower for more veggie power. Definitely a make again dinner (we are three and have left-overs for five more portions).

I made this yesterday, following the recipe exactly. The lentils disappear but the rice remains fairly firm, so it is not like a pudding. I think the lentils are the glue that helps it hold its shape, and they also add some flavor and protein. It was delicious and my kids also ate it all up, so this recipe is a keeper for my family.

Which cardamoms did the chef use: the slim green cardamoms or the fatter brown ones? Each one has a unique flavor, so unless necessary, I wouldn't like to sub one for the other. Thanks

It depends, and this is simply my suggestion. If one is brewing tea,. crack the pod, smash the seeds, and infuse. If making a meat stew type dish, keep it whole, in my cuisine of birth, (North India, now Pakistan), we stick whole cinnamon stick, whole peppercorns, and cloves along-with it.

To absorb moisture. Otherwise, water that condenses onto the pot lid drips back down.

I used 3/4 tsp of ground cardamom.

Gently whack the cardamom pods with the wide-blade knife (like for garlic). The pods open up slightly (use your fingers to pry the pods open, so they split) or ajar. Use a toothpick to gently scrape out the seeds from the pods on a cutting board, discard the pods, roll a pestle over the seeds to crush. Or you can grind a lot of seeds at once in a small spice grinder. Like someone mentioned, people in India DON'T use their teeth to crack them open, maybe it is his habit!

In the Middle East green cardamom pods are used pretty much exclusively. That's what I would use. Maqluba is an Arab recipe made in a number of countries and it means "turned upside down".

I really loved this. What a celebration of taste. I used brown rice and it took of course longer to cook and I added maybe 1.5 cups of water instead of 2 T. Will make it again!

This was delicious, but the tomatoes were thoroughly burned on the bottom. Not surprising after 5 minutes at high heat protected only by baking sheet. Any tips about that?

Is it safe to put parchment in a pan going onto a burner? Parchment paper has a heat limit specified on the box, not just for fire, but importantly, to preserve the integrity of its coating. This would worry me. Otherwise, this recipe sounds amazing, can hardly wait to try it.

Our family loves this dish. I make it several times a year. I roast and freeze our excess cherry tomatoes in the summer and pull them out mid-winter for this dish (among other things). The concentrated flavor of the roasted tomatoes is wonderful here.

I have tried the Maqluba in his book & this is my quick version.Add spices in the chicken breast. In a pan line the tomatoes, the veggies, the marinated chicken, the rice & water. Add in the spices, cover and cook. Once it’s cooked just turn the pan over it will come off easily. Always cook on medium to low heat so that it doesn’t stick. If you want a veg version just cook the lentils in the pressure cooker first instead of a pan, it cuts the time in half.

I made this for the first time for company, and it was the star of a multi-course show!! I typically make minor modifications to recipes, but have learned that Yotam's recipes are designed to be followed to the gram, and made this accordingly. As others have noted, lentils disappear, so don't fret about that. This one is a keeper!!

I would like to make this with whole grain rice. Suggestions for time adjustment, or precooking the rice?

I roasted a sliced eggplant in the oven and added it between the tomato and onion layers. Delicious!

Where to start. This is way too much work, steps, pans/dishes, and poor instruction to salvage. Flavor is good but as other cook said, it’s rice and lentils (with spices) made far more complex than it needs to be. Did not hold together at all when flipped out of too deep pot the recipe instructed. Rice on top barely cooked adequately despite adding more water, as I suspected this could happen. Way too much work for this outcome.

This is tasty, but after cooking it twice, I find it hard to get the rice to cook all the way. In the future, I think I will leave it in step 1 for longer so the rice can cook some more.

This was a hit but did not work out at all as pictured. The tomatoes (I used extra) completely disintegrated, and the dish did not "mold" as in the picture.Also, A WORD TO THE WISE: read step 4 carefully. I skimmed over the word "round", lined the whole pan with untrimmed parchment paper, started the high heat, and nearly lit my kitchen on fire! Totally my bad; don't do the same thing.Overall, a delicious but very fussy recipe. Used every pot in the kitchen to make glorified rice and lentils

Unique and interesting flavors. Needs to cooked in a skillet (as directed) rather than a deep 10 inch stainless steel pot (which I used). Mine came out with a splat because my pot was too deep. But tasted good, although it was a bit messed up, visually.

Made this twice and tweaked it to my liking the second time: Add a tablespoon of cumin, another teaspoon or so of turmeric, make the teaspoon of allspice scant, I used about an eighth a teaspoon of ground cardamom. Make sure your tomatoes are ripe and flavorful. I used granulated instead of minced garlic in the sauce, about a teaspoon or more.

My first Mahdur Jaffrey cookbook was full of the repeated note "NB: Whole spices are not meant to be eaten." I strongly encourage fans of cuisines that use whole cardamom to use it the way the recipe tells you to, and tell your diners to eat around the whole pods. Ground cardamom behaves noticeably differently, and if you want the real effect the recipe is going for, just use the pod and don't wolf your dinner! It doesn't hurt to eat the pods if you do miss pulling one, though.

The ratio of work to satisfaction was way off on this dish, which is really a side dish, not a main. While it was tasty, though lacking in umami, I would not go to the effort again.