I was mindlessly scrolling through my Instagram on Saturday morning and I came across this wonderful little reel which was just so inspiring. I knew that by the end of the day, that this recipe was going to be created by and eaten by me. Moghrabieh is a traditional Lebanese dish of wheat semolina dough pearls, chickpeas, onions, and chicken in a spiced broth.
This recipe looked easy to execute and I had all of the ingredients apart from the onions all the ingredients in my house. Actually, I did not have the mograbieh, but I did have packet of wholewheat giant couscous which I thought might suffice. I did look for the moghrabieh a in my local international food stores but they currently really only have food of African Caribbean and Indian origin so I suspect next time I go into London I might be more successful, nevertheless I carried on relentlessly.
The thing that most drew me to this recipe was that fact that I could finally use caraway seeds. I bought some caraway seeds on a whim during the pandemic on a shopping trip to Waitrose an number of years ago. They have sat in my spice cupboard for years never used. And then interestingly when I discovered this recipe it required ground caraway seeds. I didn’t find them on my most recent shopping trip but perhaps it was because I didn’t look in the spice and herb section of the last supermarket I went to (a little oversight on my part!). So, I just ground them myself, but that was good because if I hadn’t I would not have had the pleasure of experiencing such a delightful smell. Having never experienced caraway before I found this to be refreshing not like mint but something close to it. The Internet “agrees” with my formulation, when I Googled ‘caraway seeds and smell’ and such, like, I got words such as sweet minty smell, light liquorice notes. More reading I discovered that aniseeds are similar to caraway seeds with liquorice notes in their flavour profile. Aniseeds and caraway seeds belong to the carrot family along with cumin. Caraway seeds are also known as Meridian fennel or Persian Cumin. And the connection with mint? Both spearmint and caraway seeds contain chiral versions of the chemical carvone – (R) and (S) respectively (that’s another lesson in ‘A’ Level chemistry – which I did many years ago, which deserves its own blog post).
Anyway, back to the project in hand. I was, luxuriating on a Saturday afternoon all to myself, the kitchen clean and sunny, and therefore this experience was nothing but wonderful. Having watched quite a few videos on how to make this, it seems clear to me that it’s all about making that flavourful chicken broth. This I tried to do with the chicken that I had available – frozen , skinless breast. However, I think next time, and there will be a next time, I’ll use any chicken pieces I have with skin and bone – I think that might at more depth to the taste. Next time, I will also need to use more water becasue I most of it had boiled away by the time I finished!
I didn’t have pearl onions but I did manage to pick up a pack of British shallots in Sainsbury’s. This particular bunch were quite round as opposed to oval/oblong, so suppose maybe they did look like pearl onions?
In the end, I managed to make chicken broth and spiced couscous mixture and combine the two to make the most wonderful formulation. The dish is comforting that probably the most accuarate word that I can think of right now. The spices warm warm and not at all overwhelming and just provided a feeling of intense an immense well being.
I can see myself making this again but perhaps using either orzo, bulgur wheat or quinoa both all of which I seem to have plenty off in my pantry. The giant couscous/mograbieh seems to be quite difficult to source at the moment. Even the giant couscous I normally buy at Sainsbury’s wasn’t present this week. Perhaps when I go home later next week I might stop at the international supermarket there which last time I went did have a stocks of it, I’ll try my luck! In the meantime, there are plenty of containers of this delicious stew in the fridge. They will provide ready made lunches from when I am working from home next week.
Ingredients
- 1 whole Chicken 2-3lb.
- 2 cups Dry Moghrabieh
- 1 can Chick Peas 15.5oz
- 2 cups Pearl Onions
- 2 tb. Vegetable Oil
- 2 tb. Butter
- 2 tsp. Caraway
- 1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tsp. 7 Spices
- 1 tsp. Ground Cumin
- 2 tsp. Salt
- ½ tsp. Black Pepper
Boiling Chicken
- 8 cups Water
- 1 Cinnamon Stick
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 1 tsp. Whole Cloves
- 1 tsp. Salt
- ½ tsp. Black Pepper
Instructions
- Pat the chicken pieces dry using a paper towel. Season with 1 tsp. of salt and a pinch of 7 spices. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat up 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Place the chicken skin side down and sear for 4 minutes until brown and crispy. Flip the chicken over and sear the other side for 4 minutes as well.
- Pour 6-8 cups of water over the chicken until fully covered (depending on size of chicken and pot) and add cinnamon stick, bay leaves, cloves, salt and black pepper. Cook for 30 minutes on medium-high heat and skim any fat that rise to the top.
- Peel the small pearl onions and add them to the chicken and broth. Cook for 15 minutes with the chicken.
- Prepare your spice mix by combining the caraway, cinnamon, 7 spices, cumin and black pepper.
- Drain the chickpeas from their liquid and rinse with water. Add the drained chickpeas to the pot along with the chicken and onions. Add about ¾ of the spice mix and mix well. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Season with a teaspoon of salt or as needed.
- Boil a pot of water. Add the dry moghrabieh and cook until tender, about 15-20 minutes. Drain the water completely from the pot and add the butter and leftover spice mix. On low-medium heat, sauté the boiled moghrabieh for a few minutes. Add a few ladles of the fresh broth to the moghrabieh and let simmer on low heat for about 7-10 minutes letting the moghrabieh pearls absorb all the flavor.
- Serve the moghrabieh by combining the moghrabieh pearls with a couple ladles of the broth and fixings. Enjoy!
Reference: https://www.simplyleb.com/recipe/moghrabieh/
