The Daoud family — Minerva, Habib, and their three sons — have run one of the leading Palestinian restaurants for 30 years. Located in the village of Rama in the Lower Galilee, the restaurant serves food from the Shami tradition that have been passed down through the generations.
The Daoud family typically serves this recipe for moghrabieh on Christmas Eve. A traditional Levantine dish, it’s typically made with fried onions, baharat, and chickpeas and often includes slow-cooked beef, chicken, or lamb. The process of preparing the maftoul (pearl couscous also known as Palestinian couscous) is a craft in itself: long, circular movements are used to roll the bulgur grains between the palms of the hands, gradually coating them with flour and water. Traditionally, it is prepared fresh at home, while the type sold in supermarkets (which we call for here) is dried. Habib Daoud prepared this dish as part of the “House Pot” project at Café Asif, where he was a guest chef for Christmas lunch.
Ingredients
For the chicken:
1½ cups olive oil
1Kg (2.2lbs) onions, thinly sliced
½ tablespoon ground allspice
½ tablespoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon salt
5 chicken legs
5 celery leaves
2 cups water
For the maftoul:
500 grams (1.1 lbs) cooked chickpeas
500 grams (1.1 lbs) maftoul
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups cooking liquid from the chicken
To serve:
1 cup finely chopped parsley
Preparation
- Prepare the chicken: Over high heat, add olive oil to a medium-sized oven-proof pot, immediately add the onion, allspice, black pepper, nutmeg, cumin, and salt and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Reduce the heat to medium and arrange the chicken legs over the onion. Add the celery leaves and water, and bring to a boil.
- Reduce to low heat, cover, and cook until the chicken is completely tender and falling off the bone, about 1½ hours, basting throughout. After 1 hour, remove 2 cups of the cooking liquid from the pot and set it aside.
- Preheat the oven to 200C (400F). Transfer the pot, uncovered, to the oven so the chicken can brown, about 15 minutes.
- Prepare the maftoul: Place the reserved 2 cups of the cooking liquid in a pot. Add the chickpeas, maftoul, and salt and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it stand for 5 minutes. Mix in the chopped parsley.
- To serve: Arrange the maftoul in a shallow bowl, place a chicken leg and onion on top, and pour ½ cup of the chicken and onion sauce over it.
