HOWTO — Cook Kapsa

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While I was in Richmond, I got to meet quite a few students from Saudi Arabia. They all raved about Kapsa (Kabsa). I finally had some and it was awesome. Then, I had them show me how to make it…even better! Here is a short how to on making Kapsa for yourself.  Click in to read more….

[Ingredients] [Steps]

Ingredients

Meat (chicken legs/thighs are the best, but any meat can be used)
Basmatti Rice (this is important. I’ve tried it with other types and it doesn’t work as well)
Bullion Cubes (use chicken for chicken meat, beef for cow, etc….)
1 good sized onion
a few cloves of garlic
salt
1 good sized tomato
water
baharat (or 7 spice mix) Look here and here for more information.
oil


Steps

1) Put your pot on the stove. You’ll only use one pot for everything….Pick the right size. Bigger is better than too small. Add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pot. Turn the heat on medium/medium low.
Step 1

2) Dice an onion. Add it to the pot. You are going to saute the onion. If you hear it sizzle, the heat is too high.
Step 3

3) After the onion has cooked for about 5-10 min, add the garlic (peel and chop it)
Step 4

4) Cook it a bit more. When it looks about like this, add the tomato
Step 5

5) Cook the tomato, onion, garlic mixture for another 10-15 minutes
Step 6

6) Add the meat. You should have 1 layer. I like skinless chicken legs and thighs. Sometimes when I use breasts, I’ll cut them in 1/2
Step 8

7) Cook it nice and slow. You’ll have to vary the time based on the meat. For chicken, I usually go about 15 min or so. Remember…low and slow (think cooking on hot desert sand and you get the idea)

8) Add water, salt, bullion, and baharat. Usually about 2-3 tablespoons of baharat, 2 bullion cubes, and 1-2 teaspoons of salt.
Step 9a

9) Now let this all cook for another 30 minutes or so. You might have to turn the heat up to get it to simmer then turn it back down.

10) Rince the rice–rince it real good–and add it. The ratio is about 2 cups water to 1 cup rice. After a while, you’ll get the ratio down and can eyeball it.
Step 11

11) Cook until the rice is done (about 30 min or so).

12) Plate and serve. You can eat it with some hot sauce added. A good paring with chicken is lemon. Just cut them in 1/2 and squeeze the juice over the baharat. If you’ve done it right, the chicken will be juicy but cooked, falling off the bone tender, and taste amazing.

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