Kubba Haleb
Kubba Haleb makes the best after school snack, no? At least my 10 year old (and current) self would think so. Crispy fried rice on the outside, fluffy rice on the inside, and a lightly spiced meat within – that is Kubba Haleb in a …
Old School Middle Eastern Recipes with Some Modern Day Twists
Kubba Haleb makes the best after school snack, no? At least my 10 year old (and current) self would think so. Crispy fried rice on the outside, fluffy rice on the inside, and a lightly spiced meat within – that is Kubba Haleb in a …
Rice with hikaka is a staple in our house. But, what is hikaka (pronounced hick-ka-ka in Arabic) you may ask? Hikaka is the delicious, crispy rice that forms at the bottom of a pot of cooked rice. When ready to serve the pot is flipped …
“What color rice would you like for dinner?” a question frequented by our mom. Options were white, brown, red, and yellow. Besides brown rice, our rice colors are not based on the type of grain, but the broth we used. Always using basmati, of course.
The Iraqi style of cooking rice is to fully immerse the rice in the flavored broth. In red rice, we use a mix of water, tomato sauce, and chicken broth. Then, we cook the rice in the mixture, so each scoop is a mouthful of savory tomato goodness. Contrary to Persian rice, the Iraqi saffron (yellow) rice is made similarly to red rice. The entire pot of rice turns yellow compared Persian where the saffron flavored rice mainly resides on the top of the rice.
Our Nana Badriya would make her own version of red rice by adding some eggplant and other vegetables to the pot. We are sticking to the basic recipe now but can’t wait to share our Nana’s version of red rice soon!