Since I can't seem to get anything going with my day today, I'm just going to commit to the procrastination and write a blog post about food.

Specifically kabsa.

I don't know what it is about Kabsa, but I consider it the food of the gods. THE GODS.

Kabsa is a traditionally Saudi dish that appears all over the middle east. I think of this as what Bedouins eat when they are trekking through the desert. When I lived in the Kingdom, and I'd come home from a hard day at work - and let's be honest, everyday there was hard, even the ones where all that was required of me was to sit at my desk and go on Choose Your Own Wikipedia Adventures -  and order kabsa from the place down the street. And it was always magical. MAGICAL.

I couldn't tell you what's so great about it - it's just chicken and rice and some crazy spices - but everytime I ate it I thought I would never eat anything ever again.

I loved it so much that when I went on my vacation to Turkey during Eid, I was surrounded by delicious Turkish food and all I wanted was some kabsa. Mmmmm kabsa...

I have arbitrary decided that I am going to write a cookbook (I probably should have led with that...), so I am experimenting with kabsa recipes looking for the perfect combination of deliciousness.

See the thing is, Saudi culture is very singular and they don't have much going for them in the way of cuisine - it's pretty much just kabsa, dates, lebneh, and Saudi coffee - so you don't really get Saudi restaurants anywhere else in the world but the Kingdom. It's hard to find an authentically Saudi recipe, even on the internet. And I'm not going to pretend to know what 'authentically Saudi' is, since I can only speak from my experience there.

All this is to say, I had a pretty unconventional method when trying to decide how to make this.

Step One: I made a list of all the ingredients all these sites were telling me to put in the recipe.

Step Two: cross out all the things, in my opinion, couldn't possibly be in the kabsa I ate - or that I just didn't want to put in there because, gross. This was pretty much just tomatoes (there are no tomatoes in Saudi kabsa!) and freaking cilantro (because cilantro is actually a plot by the devil).

Step Three: Go for it. 'Cause what could possibly go wrong? There are no mistakes in cooking, only delicious delicious teaching moments.

Here, I present to you, my recipe for Saudi Kabsa, translated through a filter of faulty memory and my own peculiar tastes:

Note: This recipe makes a metric crap-ton of kabsa. So, make it only if you have space in your freezer for at least half of it.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp butter
4 tbsp oil (any kind is fine, but probably avoid olive oil as it's not meant to be used at high heat)
3 c. long grain rice (basmatic, jasmin, whatevs)
1 chopped carrot (use peeler to peel it into strips, or cut into pieces)
1 tsp chopped garlic
A handful of golden raisins (or regular raisins. Whatever. YOLO)
1 1/2 lbs. of chicken, or four large chicken breasts (or a whole chicken, cut into quarters)
Salt
Water

Dry Spices:
1/4 tsp ground Cardamom
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp ground Cumin
a pinch of Coriander
1 tsp Chili Powder

Whole Spices:
1 cinnamon stick
5 whole cloves
5 cardamom pods

Note 1: This recipe calls for a lot of different forms of spices that you may or may not have. If you don't have some of the whole spices, because, why would you? then here are some substitutes:

1 Cinnamon stick: just add a pinch or two of Cinnamon

5 whole cloves: cloves are really strong, if you don't have whole ones, just add a tiny bit of ground cloves to the dry spices

5 whole cardamom pods: I feel like cardamom is essential to this process, so go ahead and put about a half teaspoon in the dry ingredients instead of a fourth a teaspoon.

Note 2: Saffron is also called for in many recipes and I would have added it into this one, except that it's freaking expensive. If you happen to have saffron on hand, add a couple strands to the whole ingredients.

Instructions: 

1. Add onions, butter, and oil to a large cooking pot (must be large enough to hold another five cups of water), and put on medium heat.

2. Add in first garlic, then the dry spices. Stir until onions are cooked (5 minutes, tops).

3. Add in chicken (big peices of chicken are fine), and whole spices; sautee in onions and whatnot on high for 2-3 minutes. Add a pinch or two of salt.

4.  Add 4 c. water into pot, lower heat to simmer and cover for 25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked.

5. While the chicken is cooking, soak rice in water for 25-20 min.

NOTE: I did this, but I suspect this is what made my rice a tad bit soggy. Next time I do this recipe, I'm going to try it without this, to see the difference. If you are adventurous, don't soak the rice and let me know what happens! What crazy lives we lead!

6. Make sure chicken in done and then remove it from the pot. Set it aside in something covered to keep it warm.

7. Drain the rice.

8. Make sure there is at least 4 1/2 c. of broth in the pot (pour it in a measuring up or eyeball it and make an executive decision) and add in carrots and rice.

9. Boil on high for 2-3 minutes and then turn it down to a simmer. Cook until water is gone, for me this was less than 10 minutes.

10. Put chicken back on top of rice, add in raisins on top (give the raisins time to steam in the heat of the rice, if you can)

11. Done!

Can you eat it cold?: You can, but the chicken is not as good.

This recipe filled my house with the most delicious smells imaginable. I'm going to work on making it easier to do so it won't be such a big production. First step will be to reduce the recipe to a manageable level.

I used cayenne pepper instead of chili powder in this recipe WHICH WAS A MISTAKE. They are, apparently, not the same thing.

This recipe can be cooked with chicken, lamb or camel. I don't really care for lamb, and camel is not readily available where I live now (for obvious reasons), so I choose chicken. Feel free to experiment and let me know how it goes!

Just so you know, when eating this, you may run into those whole spices you put in earlier. It is a mistake to think it would be a good idea to just eat them. This can only lead to tears. Avoid if you can.

Also, if you can think of a good name for my cook book, let me know! I'm struggling at the moment. Something about being poor and 20-something...