9 Reviews of Upside Down (Maqloobeh)

From: Spice girl

On May 12, 2004

Although it looks very lenghty procdure, I thinks its worth it I used eggplant instead of caulifower and it tasted wonderful.....have to be careful with the chicken as it tends to break down. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

From: Sue L

On May 22, 2004

This has a very nice flavor from the mild blending of spices. Cooking the cauliflower in the pan raw gave it almost a roasty type of flavor, which permeated throughout the dish. I enjoyed the crust the rice had from the bottom of the pan- it was the best part (even though the chicken was veeerrry tender and tasty!) I did go with only half the amount of rice, and also cut the cooking liquid by half. It was quite enough rice to go with the chicken and cauliflower that way. I enjoyed this a lot! Thanks for posting!

From: muslimah

On Nov 10, 2004

My Palestinian husband often makes this dish. It is also common to make it with lamb and eggplants, but I prefer the chicken and cauliflower version. We always garnish with plenty of fried almond or for the lamb version, pine nuts. Also, we usually add more spices such as cardimon and always tumeric to color the rice yellow. I would stronly recommend using the bahrat instead of the curry for a more authentic flavor, or you can buy what's called 7 spice in any Middle Eastern grocery. This recipe can also be experimented with depending on what's in your home. We often add carrots, potatoes, or even frozen corn. Anyway this is a great dish . Oh yeah, be sure to completly brown the cauliflower as this makes all the difference and if you don't have a big serving pan or a need for the fancy presentation, we often just dish the rice onto a plate and top with the chicken and almonds. This is a must try and enjoy

From: loverania

On Sep 7, 2007

This was one of the first things I learned to make after meeting my husband. I think one of his friends taught me how to make it, because I loved it so much. I too use cauliflower and not eggplant, but eggplant is very common in this dish. This is one of may alltime favorite dishes ... american or arabic. I add fried sliced potatoes to the bottom to prevent sticking but most people do use tomatoes. I also add a pinch of clove to the broth. I always remember the spices as the 4 C's: curry, cardamom, cinnamon and clove. The combination is mild but delicious, I serve it with plain yogurt and chopped tomato salad. Thanks for posting.

From: Umm Amani

On Dec 26, 2004

I have loved this dish ever since having it round an Arab friends house. Always wanted to know how to make it for myself - and now I know!!! I followed the recipe verbatim. It was very, very tasty. I loved it, my husband loved it and my kids loved it. I think next time I wouldn't bother putting the chicken under the grill. Also I would love to try it with the authentic spices baharat. I will be looking in all the supermarkets to see if I can get hold of it. I reckon it will taste even nicer with that. I used 1 whole chicken and 4 mugs of rice, a whole tin of chick peas and whole cauliflower and it made loads!!! Enough for a big dinner party without too much hassle. Love It!!! Thank you for posting the recipe.

From: tearoseberry

On May 10, 2005

This is one of our families favorite dishes. Its much easier than it sounds. We serve it with a little plain yogurt and it is so delicious.

From: Elmotoo

On Nov 24, 2007

Something didn't work out so well. Should this be made with UNcooked rice? Everything was watery & soupy. The flavors were good. I couldn't present properly because there was so much liquid in the pot & everything was overcooked & mushy. So we got out the soup bowls & enjoyed it as such, lol. Thanks for sharing! MAde for NA*ME Recipe of the Week.

From: UmmBinat

On Apr 18, 2009

4 and a half good stars after revising. Firstly I read over the reviews and used the amount of liquid that is generally needed for cooking Basmati rice which I used. From there I put as much of each spice as I though would be to our tastes I think it was about the same amount as the recipe calls for. I did use my own Baharat Aka Middle East Mixed Spices - the Real Mix . I used olive oil in replacement of the vegetable oil. I used 2 garlic cloves chopped and fried with the onion. And I didn't have any chickpeas ready cooked so I decided to add some chopped carrots as muslimah does which I added when frying the cauliflower. I'm thinking another good addition would be fresh mushrooms sliced and fried after the onion another time. I used 2 whole cloves and 4 cardamom pods in the water while simmering like loverania uses and I also added 4 peppercorns too. Like Umm Amani suggested I didn't think the chicken needed to go under the grill so I broke it up into big chunks removing the skin, and pan fried it with 2 dashes of turmeric for colour and 1/2 cup pine nuts also as muslimah does. I used 1/2 tsp cinnamon to 1 3/4 cups rice. I then found Maqloobeh which uses some cumin so I added a couple pinches when all the rice was in the pot ready to cook. I found the instructions confusing for this but this recipe is what I used as a base although it didnt turn out with much of a crust, it was very delicious. I served it with tomato sauce on the side because of a dairy allergy. I will make this recipe again with my revisions. And next time I may include chickpeas.

From: ImmKareem

On Jul 5, 2006

I make my maklouba differently but just to let others know that when layering your vegetables and chicken and rice in the pot, first put slices of tomatoes on the bottom to prevent sticking.