lebanese molokhia

This is one of the best Middle Eastern dishes I’ve ever tried. The recipe is from my friend Lina. She is from Lebanon and we met at the cooking club at the International School in London, one of my favorite clubs I’ve been a part of. 

Molokhia is a green leaf and not easily found, except in Arabic grocery shops (sometimes not even then). I substitute it with frozen spinach when I get a craving and can’t find it.

Enjoy!

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lebanese molokhia

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Ingredients

Chicken:

• 2 chicken breasts with the skin on

• 2 whole onion

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 1 slice of lemon

• 1.5L of water

• Salt

Molokhia:

• 3-4 tbsp olive oil

• 1 big onion, finely diced

• 400g frozen, green molokhia (substitute with spinach)

• 1 tsp ground coriander

• 20 garlic cloves

• 1 red chili, seeds removed 

• 1 big bunch of coriander leaves

• juice of a lemon

• pulled chicken breasts from above

• 1.2L chicken broth from above 

Rice and vermicelli noodles:

• 100g short vermicelli

• 200g long grain rice

• 1 tbsp butter

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 onion, finely diced

• 380ml chicken or vegetable broth

• salt

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Method

Making the chicken:

1. Cook the chicken with all the ingredients above, then leave to cool. 

2. Strain the broth, then pull the skinless chicken meat to pieces. 

3. Discard all the other ingredients. 

Making the molokhia:

1. Blitz the garlic, chili, coriander with its stems, lemon juice and 200ml of chicken broth. Keep it for later on.

2. Saute the onion in the oil, then add the ground coriander and defrosted molokhia with its juice. Cook for 5 minutes. 

3. Pour in the remaining 1L of chicken broth, cover with a lid and leave to simmer for 20 minutes. 

4. Add more salt if needed, then the pulled chicken and the garlic mixture. Leave to simmer for another 10 minutes with the lid on. When finished, let the dish rest for 10 minutes.

5. Serve with a side dish of rice and vermicelli noodles.

Making the rice:

1. Saute the onion and vermicelli noodles in the heated butter and olive oil, then add the rice and stir from time to time, letting the rice become translucent. 

2. Pour in the broth, stir, cover with a lid and on a low heat leave to cook for about 10 minutes from the moment it starts to simmer. 

3. Turn off the heat and leave the rice to cool for another 10 minutes.

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Tips & cheats

• For a vegetarian molokhia, substitute the chicken with potatoes, peeled, cut in cubes, then deep fried in olive oil. Substitute chicken broth with vegetable broth.