In Celebration of Culinarian’s Day: Making the Perfect Madrouba
In honor of Culinarians Day on July 25th, QAIC would like to present one of our favorite dishes, Madrouba. This Qatari dish can be made in many ways, making it very hard ever to taste the same Madrouba – even though they all use the same ingredients. The dish’s essence is the same, but the methods of making it change.
Madrouba’s name is derived from the word “Darb,” the Arabic word for ‘hit.’ It has this name because the food is hit with a wooden spoon to mix it and make it softer.
Below is a standard recipe used in Qatari households:
Ingredients:
- 320g Wheat
- 125ml Olive Oil
- 4 Bay Laurel Leaves
- 8 Pieces Clove
- 1 Cinnamon Stick
- 15g Cardamom
- 2 Chopped Onions
- 4 Pieces Chopped Chili Pepper
- 3 Crushed Clove Garlic
- 1 Piece Crushed Ginger
- 1 Tomato Paste
- 5kg Chicken Pieces
- 96g Chopped Parsley
- 96g Green Coriander
- 15g Dry Coriander
- 15g Turmeric
- 15g Cumin
- 15g Black Pepper
- 2 Black Lemons
- 3 Chopped Tomatoes
- 1L Boiled Water
- 30g Salt
Method:
- Before everything, clean the wheat and have it soak in water for 4 hours and leave it on the side.
- Turn on your oven to a medium heat, and in a big cooking pot, put the olive oil, then add the right spices (cardamom, cinnamon, bay laurel leaves, and clove.)
- Next, add the chopped onions and chili pepper and stir everything together
- Add the crushed garlic and tomato paste – stir
- Then, add the chicken pieces and follow it with the crushed ginger
- Add the chopped parsley, green coriander, dry coriander, turmeric, cumin, and black pepper
- Pinch your black lemons, then add them to the pot
- Add the chopped tomatoes
- Add boiling water
- Add salt
- Close your pot and leave everything to cook together for 30–45 minutes.
- Afterwards, filter the wheat from the water it was soaked in and add it to the mixture in the pot.
- Add a pinch of yellow lemon
- Lower the heat of the oven and let it cook for 1 hour
- Now it’s ready to serve, enjoy!