Maqluba Recipe (Makloubeh), Palestinian Upside Down Rice (2024)

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Maqluba, means “upside down”. Looking at the picture, that makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? It’s a delicious, comforting Palestinian rice dish, a one pot treasure that knows as many variations as there are cooks making it.

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

Maqluba Recipe

Maqluba is more a method than a recipe. As long as you know the principle behind the dish, i.e. the layering, the use of some sort of fat, allspice, rice and meat – or even just vegetables – you’re off to a delicious start.

I’ve made many variations of Maqlooba, including, all vegetarian (using olive oil/butter/ghee as the fat), meat/chicken and varying the spices by adding turmeric and/or sumac.

Maqluba is usually eaten with just a side of yoghurt and green salad. It is such a flavoursome dish that you don’t really need anything else.

How to make Perfect Maqlooba

Start with a layer or two of tomatoes – not only does this prevent the bottom burning but those tomatoes are to die for at the end of cooking time. I’ve been known to really pile the tomatoes on for the second reason.

Season all the layers well with salt and pepper as you get them ready and one more time as you’re layering (for good measure), BUT, don’t overdo it with the salt!

In my original, old photo, and in the video, you see me making just one layer of everything. But in these new pictures, as you can see, I split the lamb up to create more layers. It just looks prettier that way, doesn’t it?

What Rice to use for Maqluba?

Basmati is best for cooking maqluba. Failing that, any good quality, long grain rice.

You can either use a pot or a portable rice cooker. I’ll let you decide this for yourself. Whatever you are using, just follow the instructions in the recipe for this maqluba recipe.

EDIT MAY 2023: Does the Rice want Soaking?

To Soak or not to soak? This depends completely on the quality and type of rice. I went years with not soaking my rice once I came to the UK. And that’s what I’ve been advocating here and in my classes, but ultimately leaving the decision to you guys.

This is because my rice would just fall apart upon cooking. And I’ve never bought “cheap” basmati rice or own brands by supermarkets. I have always gone for brands like Tilda and whatever else that’s in the higher price range.

But not too long ago, I decided to start trying out all the different South Asian rice that a new local “ethnic” shop stocks.

The very first one I tried came with an almost unpleasant smell upon cooking. Flavour was fine though. So I soaked the rice, hoping that this will reduce the smell.

Imagine my surprise when I ended up with aromatic, fluffy, super long grain rice, totally intact!

Moral of the story: properly aged basmati rice wants to be soaked before cooking to produce the best flavour and bite.

The Vegetables in Maqluba

Traditionally, cauliflower, eggplants and capsic*ms (bell pepper) are the vegetables of choice. I like to add courgettes (zucchini) to the mix for even more variety. I find this limiting and prefer to use both as well as capsicum (bell peppers) and courgettes (zucchinis), the last 3 having a natural affinity with each other.

The vegetables for maqluba are also traditionally fried, before being layered. I prefer to roast them in the oven with a little oil, salt and pepper, not being a massive fan of fried food. Frying or roasting the vegetables give them flavour which transfers onto the final dish.

Feel free to cheat here and get ready roasted vegetables from your supermarket, if you fancy. I always have a bag of these in the freezer, they are so handy for when I’m feeling lazy.

The Stock for Maqluba

Many people are happy to add water to the cooking meat, remove the meat, then use the liquid as stock – I prefer to use additional homemade stock – or a good shop bought one if you’re not into making stock. Also, I find lamb stock overpowering and seldom make it or use it, preferring to use chicken stock across the board.

If you make your own stock, great, if not, use a good shop bought stockpot or cube, no artificial anything. We tend to have frozen homemade stock at home, but there are always some stockpots handy for when we run out, and because they are also very convenient.These are the stockpots that I use. I have them in the whole range.

One stockpot or stock cubeis usually for 500ml (2 cups) of water. So for the amount of liquid in today’s maqluba recipe, 2 stock cubes or pots are perfect, as we have the meat and vegetables to flavour too.

The Saucepan

The saucepan/casserole dish. I believe a tightly packed pan will produce a tightly packed result, giving you a neat maqlooba “tower” that won’t fall apart. For the amount of ingredients here, you’ll need a dish that measures 20cm-22 cm (8″-9″) across ideally.

This is a question I get a lot. The saucepan I’m using in these latest pictures is a stone pot. And here is the link for the whole set.

And on that note, shall we get our aprons on?

Images from LinsFoodies

Thank you to everyone who’s shared your photos with me on social media. Keep them coming!

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Lin xx