A fragrant, and flavoful rice dish with chicken, with its base in Saudi cuisine…
It is already two months past 2026. I sometimes forget that I have this space here. It has stopped being my priority, to say the least. The way this year has begun, I don’t know what to look forward to. We are almost through Ramadan and for the first time in my life, I figured out what disturbance means – the sounds of something being intercepted in the sky, loud thuds, the constant buzzing of fighter jets, and if not that, then complete silence. This has how it has been over the last 2 weeks. Though Alhamdulillah, it has got better over the days, still there is a little fear inside. Just wondering how we in our bubble are so protected that a little noise shakes us, while our brothers and sisters in war struck places like Gaza and Sudan live in this reality everyday, SubhanAllah… May Allah bring down the noise and protect our hearts and minds from wandering endlessly and placing our trust only in Him… Aameen Ya Rubb…
On another note, this Ramadan, I have been struggling to cook. I don’t know why, but over the past couple of year, I am noticing a decline in my interest in cooking. I started this blog to get myself interested in cooking. It was this blog that helped me love something like cooking that was a chore that I used to dread. It seems like life has taken a full circle and I am back to that feeling. 🙁 It was difficult for me to accept at first, but now I am taking it into my slide and letting it be. If it is a phase that takes time, so it be. Or if I can beat it and keep feeding this blog and my family, then In Sha Allah…
Keeping that aside, I have been wanting to make Kabsa for a really long time. I keep watching videos on Instagram and wondering, how easy it is to make. It is a simplified version of the Chicken Majboos, if I may say so. With intention in my heart, I got some kabsa masala while I went grocery shopping and stocked it in my fridge for more than 3 months, before I finally made it for dinner after Iftar over this weekend. I love one pot meals and this is definitely one of them. Kabsa is a rice dish that originated in Saudi, though it is made in the other Gulf countries as well with some minor changes. If you use store bought Kabsa mix, then making this dish is really easy. We had it with some yogurt and pickle. HD felt that it wasn’t as good as the Majboos, but then he has a bias towards that dish and tend to compare every rice dish with him. But the girls enjoyed it, Alhamdulillah… Off to this simple recipe…
Kabsa Dejaaj | Saudi Chicken Kabsa Rice
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 5-6 almonds
- 10-15 raisins
- 2 cardamom
- 10 black pepper
- 1 cinnamon small pc
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 large onion thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 small tomatoes minced
- 1 loomi
- 750 gm chicken cut into medium pcs
- 2 tsp kabsa spices heaped, store bought
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 chicken stock cube
- 1 1/2 cups basmati rice washed and soaked for 30 minutes
- Salt to taste
- Coriander leaves for garnish
Instructions
- Heat oil and ghee in a big saucepan.
- Fry the almonds and raisins. Drain and set aside.
- Add in whole spices and garlic and saute for a minute.
- Add the onions and cook till translucent.
- Add the ingredients from tomato to turmeric powder and give it a good toss. Cover and cook till the chicken starts releasing its water.
- Add in 2 cups of water and the stock cube. Bring to boil and adjust salt.
- Cook till the chicken is 75 percent done.
- Now add the drained rice and bring to boil. Bring down the flame and cook on low flame till the rice is completely done.
- Sprinkle in the fried almonds, raisins and coriander leaves. Serve hot with sides of choice.