Spiced shrimp and rice

[Twitchin Kitten]

I made this over the weekend and I gotta say, this is easy and delicious. The hardest part was making the spice, baharat, only because I didn't have all the ingredients like I thought and had to make two runs to the store for them!

This make a lot, so next time I'm going to cut it in half. I also made a tiny bit of the sauce extra the next day as it seemed a tiny bit dry for my tastes. Just heat it up and add a little sauce at a time so not to make it soupy. You just want to moisten.

The photo is not mine. I scanned it out of a cookbook.

this recipe came from Middle Eastern Home Cooking by; Tess Mallos

Spiced Shrimp and Rice
Machbous (gulf states)

Serves 4-5
cooking time: 40 minutes

ingredients:

• 2-3 Tbsp. ghee or vegetable oil
  
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  
• 2 lb raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
  
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
  
• 2 tsp baharat (see recipe here)
  
• 2 tsp turmeric
  
• 1 1/2 cups (9 oz canned) chopped, peeled tomatoes
  
• 2 tsp salt
  
• freshly ground black pepper
  
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh, flat leaf parsley
  
• 1 tsp chopped fresh cilantro (fresh coriander)
  
• 2 1.2 cups water
  
• 2 cups basmati rice
  

in a large pot over a high heat, heat 1 Tbsp of the ghee.
add garlic and shrimp and cook, stirring frequently until shrimp turn pink.
Remove shrimp to a plate and set aside.

Add remaining ghee to the pot and heat over medium-low heat.
Add onion and cook until translucent and lightly browned, about 10 mins.
Stir in Baharat and turmeric and cook for 1 minute.

Add tomatoes, salt, pepper to taste, parsley and cilantro.
Bring to a boil and add water.
Cover and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Place rice in a fine mesh sieve and rinse under cold water until water runs clear (a trick to find if it's clear is use a dark bowl under the running water to catch it and keep watch until it's clear).
Stir into the sauce and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to low and cover and cook for 18 minutes.

Stir the rice, then put the shrimp on top of rice and gently stir through rice.
Cover pot and simmer over very low heat for 3 more minutes

Stir again then leave covered, off the heat for another 5 minutes.

Serve with pita bread, pickles and a salad