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One of the first times I ever went to my husband’s house when we were dating, his mom made this dish she called Arabic Rice. Basically, it’s ground beef, a bunch of diced veggies, and some spices that you layer with rice and cook on the stovetop. She used to make it for her boys to get them to eat more vegetables – a brilliant trick if you ask me. Samer talked about it a lot, so I figured it had to be good. Plus, I’m a huge fan of rice, so I had a feeling I’d like it.
I’ll never forget the moment I saw Samer load up a pita with this mixture of beef, vegetables, and rice then proceed to smother it with YOGURT. I immediately started to question his sanity, and whether or not we were going to make it in the long run. Just kidding! Kind of. I did think it was very strange. At that point, I had never really tried any kind of Middle Eastern food, so it just seemed odd to me.
I’m pretty adventurous with food and will try anything once, and this was no exception. Still skeptical, I filled up my pita wedge and put a dollop of yogurt on it. I took one bite and was immediately hooked! The cool tanginess of the yogurt paired so well with the spices in the dish. It was incredible and has since become one of my favorite meals! You can also find me putting yogurt on a lot of other savory dishes now.
One of my favorite parts of this dish is what’s called Hkaka. If you’ve heard of Tahdig, it’s pretty much the same thing. It’s the crispy crunch part of the rice that was on the bottom of the pan after being cooked for a long time. I could honestly just eat that all day every day.
The star of this dish is Baharat. It’s a blend of several spices including Paprika, Cumin, Pepper, Cinnamon, Cloves, and Cardamom. It smells amazing and is one of my favorites to cook with. I haven’t seen it in any grocery store that I’ve been to, but you can get it pretty cheap on Amazon.
This is a great meal for a crowd, as it’s easy to make a huge batch. It also reheats very well, so when I make it, I usually make enough for a couple of meals. I made it for my family once and they all liked it, too!
Arabic Rice
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 red pepper
- 1 green pepper
- 1 large onion
- 1 handful carrots
- 1 small carton mushrooms
- 2 C Basmati rice
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1-2 tsp Baharat
- 1-2 tsp yellow curry powder
- Salt
- Pepper
- Olive oil
- pitas – make sure they’re the pocket kind
Directions
- In a rice cooker, add the rice and all but a few tablespoons of the water called for. Add the turmeric and turn it on. If you don’t have a rice cooker, bring a pot of water to boil and add the rice and turmeric. Keep a close eye on it and drain it once it’s nearly done.
- Dice all the vegetables and sauté them in a large saucepan with about 2 Tb olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
- In a separate pan, cook the ground beef and mince it up well. Season this with salt and pepper as well.
- Once the vegetables have softened and noticeably reduced in size, add them to the cooked ground beef. Mix this up and add 1 tsp of Baharat and 1 tsp of Curry powder. I recommend starting here and tasting as you go. You don’t want to overdo it with the spices! I usually use almost 2 teaspoons of each.
- At this point, your rice should be done. In a large, NON-STICK (this is very important) pot, add about 2 Tb olive oil and heat over medium-high. Once hot, add a thing layer of rice to cover the bottom of the pot.
- You can either layer the remaining rice with the beef/vegetable mixture, or you can mix it all up and dump it in. I have done both and they’re equally delicious. Flatten out the top so the whole thing is even in the pot.
- For 15 minutes, keep the heat on medium-high. After the 15 minutes are up, reduce the heat to low and place a paper towel over the top of the pot and cover with a lid. Let it cook for about an hour and a half.
- Turn off the heat and remove the lid and paper towel. Place a large plate or serving dish over the top of the pot and flip it over, letting the contents of the pot fall onto the dish. Be very careful and use hot pads!
- Serve with plain yogurt and pita pockets.