A Bahraini Disappointment

This challenge is doing wonders for my spice collection. It seems that each week I am adding at least one or two brand new seasonings. Newly purchased this week: saffron threads and ground cardamom.

I had high hopes when I saw the amazing ensemble of spices that go into the Bahraini dish called "Machbous" - cinnamon, cumin, cloves, coriander, turmeric! With each progressive step in the recipe my excitement for dinner grew. First I rubbed chicken thighs and drumsticks with a unique mixture of spices. Then I sauteed onions, added hot pepper and limes, and then tossed in the chicken for searing. Tomatoes, garlic, and ginger went into the pan, and then several cups of water so that the chicken and vegetables could simmer.

This is where the recipe started going South. After the chicken was cooked through, the instructions told me to remove it from the pan and replace it with the basmati rice. The rice was to slowly absorb the chicken stock and cook over the course of an hour. The recipe said to finish off the chicken in the oven, but since it was already cooked through there was really no need to do anything other than slide it under the broiler for a couple minutes to brown. So we waited, and waited, and waited for the rice to cook. In the meantime the chicken pieces laid lonely on a pan on the counter. My stomach rumbled and mouth watered at the sight of it. After well over an hour, and probably closer to an hour and a half, the rice was still al dente. I lost my patience and started the broiler. We started with small scoops of rice and left the rest to continue softening on the stove top.

It could have been my use of regular limes instead of the suggested dried black limes (which I simply couldn't find, even at the Tropical Market), but something about the flavor of the rice was just off. It had also cooked very unevenly so some bites were perfectly done, and others crunchy. The chicken was pleasant and moist, but surprisingly did not take on as much of the spice rub as I had hoped.

In the end, this recipe required a great deal of effort and time, but did not deliver in flavor. We scored Bahrain a 2.5.