Authentic Jordanian cuisine can be hard for a tourist to unearth. Jordan doesn’t have much of a restaurant culture. People in a hurry eat staple Middle-Eastern fare – falafel or shish kebabs – from street vendors. In the early evening, men go to cafes to shoot the breeze, smoke shisha water pipes and drink coffee heavily laced with cardamom. But they generally return home to eat.
When I was last there a few years ago, amid the dusty crusader castles, gnarled olive trees and road signs warning of camels crossing, any irrigated farms seemed ridiculously fecund, like desert oases: apple trees sagged heavy with their harvest; crimson fruit hung like Christmas baubles on the pomegranate trees; cauliflowers and tomatoes formed neat white and red stripes against the dust.
But it wasn’t until Mahmoud, our guide, invited us for lunch that I got a sense of the national cuisine. His wife, a physics teacher at the local school, prepared maglouba – meaning “upside down”, because the final dish is turned out of the pot in which it is cooked.
As her children scampered excitedly around our knees, Mrs Twaissi soaked some rice and then, one by one, cooked off chicken pieces, potato, cauliflower, aubergine, carrot and onions in olive oil and a “secret” blend of spices. I tasted turmeric, cinnamon, cumin and perhaps cardamom. Each ingredient was layered in a large pot, the rice packed on top and then water added. The dish was covered and cooked over a low flame. Once the rice had absorbed the juices it was ready. Mrs Twaissi turned it out on to a large platter, the orderliness of its layers breaking up satisfyingly as it settled.
The dish was moreishly subtle, a warm, rich, turmeric-yellow, one-pot chicken stew, the juices scented by the cauliflower and spices. We dug in with bread and fingers.
Most often made with chicken or lamb, our recipe today is vegetarian. It is, I am afraid, totally inauthentic. Sorry Mrs Twaissi, but this is too good a dish to reserve for meat-eaters alone.
Maglouba
Serves 6
1 litre veg stock
1 tbsp red pepper paste
1 tsp tomato puree
A pinch of saffron
350g long grain rice
400g cauliflower florets
400g squash, peeled and sliced
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and sliced into 1cm thick rings
3 leeks, sliced
For the spice mix
A pinch of ground cinnamon
1 tsp fennel seeds, ground
1 tsp black pepper
Seeds from 4 cardamom pods, ground
½ tsp allspice
A pinch each of cumin and coriander
To finish
Salt
A handful of pine nuts, toasted
A pinch of dried chilli
1 tbsp each of coriander and mint, roughly chopped
1 Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Heat the vegetable stock until just boiling. Whisk in the red pepper paste, puree and saffron and set aside. Wash the rice well in cold water and leave it to drain.
2 Toss the cauliflower florets in a little olive oil, season well and put in a baking tray. Repeat with the squash slices. Put both trays in the oven for 10 minutes or so to colour the vegetables. Set to one side.
3 In a large pan or wok, gently heat 1 tbsp olive oil. Sprinkle with 1 tbsp rice and arrange the rings of onion around the pan, followed by the leek slices. Mix together the spice mix with a good pinch of salt.
4 Sprinkle ⅓ of the spice mix over the leeks and onions. Start layering up the cauliflower and squash with the rice, making sure the spice mix is well distributed so that it seasons the vegetables. Finish with a layer of rice, whisk the stock well and pour it over the pan contents. Finely shredded kale can also be layered with the veg.
5 Turn up the heat for 2 minutes, cover the pan and turn the heat down to low. Leave the rice to cook for about 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave for a further 15 minutes.
6 Now comes the tricky part. The pan needs to be inverted on to a large plate, tray or serving dish to serve. Use thick tea towels to grab both the pan and plate, holding them firmly together, and flip the pan over.
7 Sprinkle with the pine nuts, chilli and herbs. Serve with the veg below.
Quick-fried root veg
2 carrots
2 beetroots
¼ small celeriac
2 turnips
1 parsnip
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin seeds, roughly crushed
Juice and zest 1 orange
2 tsp honey
1 –2 tbsp red wine vinegar (to taste)
A pinch of cayenne pepper
1 Peel and cut all the vegetables into thin matchsticks or julienne. Sprinkle with salt and leave in a colander for about an hour. Squeeze out any excess moisture.
2 Heat the olive oil in a large pan. Add the cumin seeds and cook for a minute before adding the shredded vegetables. Stirfry for 5 minutes and add the rest of the ingredients. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Check the seasoning before serving. This can be served at room temperature.
Spinach and yoghurt
250g spinach leaves
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 red chilli, chopped
250g Greek yoghurt
A pinch of dried mint
50g walnut pieces, lightly toasted
Salt and black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
1 Cook the spinach in a little olive oil until it has wilted. Drain well, allow to cool and squeeze out any excess moisture. Chop roughly.
2 Mix with the garlic, chilli and yoghurt. Season well.
3 Serve sprinkled with the dried mint and toasted walnut pieces. Drizzle with a little good olive oil.
- Henry Dimbleby is co-founder of the natural fast-food restaurant chain Leon;@HenryDimbleby.
- Jane Baxter is a chef and food writer based in Devon; @baxcooka
