I was scrolling through Instagram one day last month and this reel came up. As is my rum and fickle nature I thought I must try this! Aside from a whole chicken (I used four frozen chicken thighs as a substitute) , I had all the ingredients in my cupboard.

I made this dish when I working from home, which was a good way to help fine-tune my time management skills and ensure we had a delicious lunch. And delicious it was – every mouthful was rich, warm and somewhat comforting. I am a big fan of Middle Eastern fare, so I could not pass by an opportunity to try something different. Although in a way, I did feel like I was essentially making rice and chicken, with the colours (the red sauce) and the method (baking), especially made me feel like I was making the middle Eastern version of baked jelloff rice. It is of course not jelloff rice and chicken and on this vein, I went down the rabbit-hole of history, religion and culture, to find out little more about this dish.

T’beet is an Iraqi Jewish dish, traditionally rice stuffed chicken cooked for Shabbat lunch. T’beet also referred to as tebit, taybeet and tibeat, is from the Arabic word ’tabayit’ which means ‘stay overnight’. In Judaism the Sabbath (Saturday) is a day of rest and there is no cooking from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday. T’beet is a dish is cooked at low temperature for many hours (overnight) . The dish is seasoned with baharat which is one type of spice blend used across the Middle East. There are many variations of baharat but I understand that the main players are cinnamon, cardamon and pepper (for those who are expert, please update and enlighten me!). 

This verson of T’beet was so simple, that I think that I will try and make it again, if I find myself with a bag of chicken to use up. Although I have a suspicious just making this rice and cooking it in the red sauce, serving it with roasted vegetables such as aubergines, sweet potatoes and/or mushrooms would be amazing. Let’s see shall we – you know I will let you know once it’s done!

If you want to make this dish the ingredients and instructions are below.

Have a good week 😊

Ingredients

• 1 whole spatchcock chicken 
• 2 cups of basmati rice
• 1 red onion, cut to slices 
• 4-5 sliced Campari tomatoes 
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil 
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt 

Red sauce ingredients

• 1.5 teaspoons of sea salt 
• 1.5 teaspoons of @jamigellerBaharat spice
• 1 teaspoon of sumac 
• 1 teaspoon of cumin 
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper 
• 3 tablespoons of tomato paste 
• 4 minced garlic cloves 
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of date syrup 
• 5 cups of boiling water 
• Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix it well. 

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 400F. 
2. In an oven safe pan drizzle olive oil and add the tomatoes, onions, and salt. 
3. Add the chicken on top.
4. Pour the rice evenly around and on top of the chicken. 
5. Pour the red sauce gently over the rice and chicken. 
6. Cover the pan with wet parchment paper and cover with aluminum foil on top of it. 
7. Bake it in a preheated oven on 400F for 1.5 hours. 
8. Remove the parchment paper and aluminum foil. 
9. Transfer to the broil for 5-7 minutes to get a golden brown color.