Saloona

Saloona is a traditional Arabic stew that can be made with almost anything. It's excellent for family dinners. Depending on what's available, the meal is usually made with beef, fish, or lamb. It can be made with seasonal vegetables and flavored with ginger and garlic.Saloona can be found in any traditional restaurant in Qatar for visitors. In fact, there is a classic restaurant in almost every Souq in Qatar. Saloona is best served with bread that has been soaked in the broth. Surprisingly, some eateries in Qatar have given Saloona their own modern spin.

Ingredients:

1 kg chicken (cut into thighs, breasts, and legs),courgette, cauliflower, carrots, and potatoes, chopped into small pieces,basmati rice,4 diced onions,2 -3 garlic cloves, crushed and ground,dried coriander, chopped,3 chopped tomatoes,1⁄4 cup tomato puree,3 chicken stock cubes,black pepper,turmeric,salt,ghee,6 cups of water

Instructions:

• Fill a cooking pot around half way with water (approximately 6 cups) and leave to boil.
• Add the chicken to the water followed by pinches of salt, black pepper, and turmeric and leave to cook for around half an hour.
• In another pan, put in 3 tablespoons of ghee and leave to melt. Follow this by adding two of the four diced onions, crushed garlic, chopped tomatoes, chopped vegetables and tomato puree and stir. Leave to cook for around fifteen minutes.
• Once the fifteen minutes are up, add the mixture in the pan to the chicken broth in the pot and follow this by adding two chicken stock cubes. Leave to cook on a low flame for ten minutes.
• Then add the coriander to the mixture and allow to cook on a low flame for another ten minutes.
• Now you have finished making the chicken saloona. The whole process should take 45 to 50 minutes.
• To make the rice, first put the amount of rice into a cooking pot and fill the pot with water so that the water just about covers the rice. Leave the rice to soak for half an hour.
• Drain the rice and re-put it into the cooking pot with water so that again it just covers the rice, and leave to cook until the water boils.
• In another pan, add two to three tablespoons of ghee and allow to melt. Add diced onions along with a pinch of salt and stir until the onions are a golden color.
• Transfer the onions to the rice in the pot. Add the remaining chicken stock cube and stir into the rice. Leave the rice to cook on a low flame for another ten minutes. By then the water should have evaporated and the rice be ready.