My Experiments with Iftaar.

I have loved the Kabsa or Mandhi, whatever you call it, from the first day I ate it. And I started searching the web for a good recipe of it. And at last I got one here. And the recipe:

This receipe is for 10 persons and require about 3h30 for preparation and cooking.

Ingredients-

For Kabsa:

•  2 1/2 kg (80 oz) lamb leg or shoulder meat, large cubes
  
•  4 cups long grain rice
  
•  1/2 kg (16 oz) carrots, peeled and finely chopped
  
•  1 green pepper, seeded and finely chopped
  
•  1/2 kg (16 oz) green peas
  
•  1 kg (32 oz) red tomatoes, peeled and chopped
  
•  1 kg (32 oz) finely chopped onion
  
•  1 medium sized garlic head, peeled and crushed
  
•  1/2 teaspoon ground saffron
  
•  1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  
•  1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
•  1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
  
•  1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
  
•  1 tablespoon salt
  
•   shortening for frying
•  Fried almonds and pine nuts for garnishing

For Sauce:

• 2 cups meat stock
  
• 1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
  
•  2 large tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped
  
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
  
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
  
• 1 teaspoon salt (as desired)
  
•  2 tablespoons shortening
  

Steps -

Kabsa:

1. Fry meat pieces till brown from both sides. Cover with water, bring to a boil then cook gently over medium heat for 2 hours or till tender. Reserve stock.
   
2. Soak rice for 15 minutes. Drain, wash well, then drain again.
   
3. Add shortening to a pot, fry on medium heat all ingredients except rice and meat. Cook on low heat for about 10 minutes, or until tender.
   
4. Add rice to vegetables in pot, stir fry for 4 minutes on medium heat. Add stock meat until stock covers rice. Cover pot. Cook on low heat for 30 minutes or until tender.
   
5. Serve rice in a large platter. Garnish with meat, almonds, and pine nuts.
   

Sauce:

1. Fry onion, garlic and tomato in shortening. Add tomato paste, salt, cinnamon and meat stock.
   
2. Cook mixture on medium heat. When it thickens, add celery.
   
3. Serve the sauce beside the Kapse platter.

And here is the result:

Now for the comments - Tasted good as a different dish, but its come no where near Kabsa. ;-)

Insha Allah, next time I'll be able to make it better. This time I got some mistakes in the process. I forgot to fry the rice before cooking. And the tomatoes where a little over. So, to the utter disappointment of my husband, I have decided to try it once again.