Kuwait – Traditional Maglooba (Savory Rice Cake)

by Fariha Saeed

About the dish

Maglooba is one of the delicious and famous cakes in Kuwait. Have you ever heard of a savory cake and if you, not Maglooba is one of the savory cakes. This is an upside-down cake. You can also pronounce Maglooba as Maqluba. Maqluba means flipped over. This cake is so delicious and has a very unique flavor. This is cooked in a circular flat pot on low heat. Once it is cooked it turned upside down. This is prepared by adding meat, rice, vegetables, and some spices to it. The aroma of it is so good that makes you drool. This is a specialty of Kuwait. The cake is healthy and good for your body. It is low in fat. If you ever visited Kuwait you have to try this specialty. The combination of meat with rice and vegetables goes very well together. The texture of the meat is tender and juicy, the texture of vegetables is soft and a little chewy, the texture of the rice is light and soft. You can serve this with:

• red sauce
• mint sauce
• chili sauce
• yogurt dip
• scallions
• grilled vegetables
• lemon juice

This dish is served on special events like family gatherings, weddings, Christmas and banquets, etc. This dish available in every restaurant in Kuwait and this is also available at street vendors. If you are not a sweet food lover you can have this savory cake. You can add and kind of meat to it like Chicken, lamb, beef, pork, etc. This dish is also very famous in UAE, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, etc. You can also have this as a snack with a cup of tea or coffee whatever you like.

Nutrition list

• calories 120
• carbs g
• protein 5 g
• carbohydrate 180

Ingredients of the cake:

• Lamb half kg
• rice half kg (boiled)
• 2 potato (chopped)
• 1 egg plant (chopped)
• peas 1 cup
• 1 cup oil
• 1 tbsp salt
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 5 tbsp lemon juice

Cooking

Take a pan and add potato, eggplant, peas, and oil and sauté it for 15 minutes. Now take a cooking pot and add water to it when water started to boil add lamb to it and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Now add the lamb, black pepper, chili powder, and salt and mix well until all the things are fully combined.

Now take a bowl and add rice and lemon juice in it and then mix well. Now take a circular flat pan and add the meat and vegetable mixture in the bottom and then add the rice on top of it and press it. Now keep the pan aside and after 10 to 15 minutes slowly remove the pan and serve with sauce.