Lebanese Chicken freekeh

Name: Lebanese Chicken freekeh
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 300 g freekeh wheat, rinsed very well; 2 onions, finely chopped; 3/4 teaspoon Lebanese ‘seven spices; 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder; 1/2 teaspoon allspice; 1/4 teaspoon black pepper; Chicken legs or thighs (bones will give extra flavour to the broth); Chicken broth from boiled chicken; Oil; Salt; 1 onion; pods Cardamom; stick Cinnamon; Dried lime; Cloves; Butter + oil (or either); Unsalted Cashew nut, almond, pistachio …

Linda L. @lindzi

Lebanese

Freekeh is the most flavourful grain in my opinion. It’s mainly roasted young green wheat that tastes smoky, earthy and nutty.
This is mom’s recipe and I’m so glad that I succeeded in replicating the taste.

The key is to cook the freekeh in freshly made broth (chicken, lamb or vegetable) instead of using stock cube.

I LOVE FREEKEH AND I CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH OF IT!
#lebanesecooking #lebanese #maindish #lunch #dinner

The key is to cook the freekeh in freshly made broth (chicken, lamb or vegetable) instead of using stock cube.

I LOVE FREEKEH AND I CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH OF IT!
#lebanesecooking #lebanese #maindish #lunch #dinner

Linda L. @lindzi

Lebanese

The key is to cook the freekeh in freshly made broth (chicken, lamb or vegetable) instead of using stock cube.

I LOVE FREEKEH AND I CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH OF IT!
#lebanesecooking #lebanese #maindish #lunch #dinner

The key is to cook the freekeh in freshly made broth (chicken, lamb or vegetable) instead of using stock cube.

I LOVE FREEKEH AND I CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH OF IT!
#lebanesecooking #lebanese #maindish #lunch #dinner

Saved

Ingredients

4 servings

300 gfreekeh wheat, rinsed very well
2onions, finely chopped
3/4 teaspoonLebanese ‘seven spices
1/4 teaspooncinnamon powder
1/2 teaspoonallspice
1/4 teaspoonblack pepper
Chicken legs or thighs (bones will give extra flavour to the broth)
Chicken broth from boiled chicken
How to boil chicken and get tasty broth
Oil
Salt
To boil the chicken and make the broth tasty (all or any of)
1onion
podsCardamom
stickCinnamon
Dried lime
Cloves
Topping
Butter + oil (or either)
Unsalted Cashew nut, almond, pistachio …

Saved

Steps

1

Start with boiling the chicken as mentioned In the attached tip. When the chicken is cooked, drain and keep the broth. Put the chicken aside, we’ll come back to it later of course! 🍗

How to boil chicken and get tasty broth
2

Now to rinse the freekeh. Some freekeh has stones or gravel in it, even the good quality one. To remove them easily, spread the dry freekeh grains on a tray, remove any visible ones you can see. Add into a bowl, add cold water and remove the ones that float on the surface. Then rinse well. I recommend this brand and it’s available on Amazon.
3

In a deep pot (i used the one in which I cooked the chicken), add good amount of vegetable oil, fry the onions until translucent, but not brown!
4

Add the freekeh, mix until it’s well mixed with the onions and each and every grain is coated in oil. Add the black pepper, seven spices, cinnamon powder, allspice and salt. Mix gently.
5

Add the chicken broth. The level of the broth should be about 2cm higher than the level of freekeh. Taste the water to check if you need more salt. Give it a mix
6

Cook on high heat and when it starts boiling, turn the heat to very low, cover and let it cook slowly for around 40 to 50 minutes.
7

After 30 minutes of cooking, bring the chicken legs that you already cooked, place on an oven tray, drizzle some oil and I like to sprinkle a little bit of the same spices i used for the freekeh (cinnamon powder, allspice and 7 spices). Cook in the oven under the grill until golden and crispy
8

Fry some nuts like almond, cashew or pistachio in oil and butter
9

Once the water has “mostly” evaporated check the grains if they’re cooked. they should be soft but don’t expect them to be as soft as rice, they’re more like “rice al dente” and that’s how they’re supposed to be. I usually like it a bit moist, not fully dry as it’ll dry more when it cools down. The photo should give you an idea about how it should look time (I hope)!
10

Move to a serving dish, place the chicken on top along with the fried nuts. You can serve with plain/greek yogurt on the side.