How to Make Fish "Machboos"

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How to Make Fish "Machboos"

Machboos is probably the most popular Bahraini dish and it's definitely my favorite thing to eat...ever! The pressure is definitely on to make this right...otherwise I better toss away my passport!

Big Guy Big Flavors

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First, let's talk about "machboos" : it literally translates to compressed, as everything is compressed by the rice and fish! This could be prepared by any meat you like, today I'm doing it with fish!

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Let's talk about the fish...it's a popular Bahraini fish called Hamour! Also known as grouper...A beautiful rich white fish! Any other white fish will work but a meaty fleshy fish is best!

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Cut up the fish into good palm sized chunks (2-3 oz each)

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Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of turmeric

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Add 2 tablespoons of veg oil to a pot, allow it to heat up on a medium flame

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Cover the rice with water and let it soak for 30 or so minutes

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Add the fish skin side down on the hot oil and cook it for 2 minutes on each side, just to brown it

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Remove from oil and set aside on a plate

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Add the onions into the same pot with the same oil, stir untill it's a deep chocolatey brown color

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Prepare your whole spices in a bowl, except for the dried lime

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Add them to the onions and keep stirring until the onions brown up

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Once the onions are deep brown, add the garlic and ginger paste, make your own paste or use from a jar, both are fine

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After cooking the garlic and ginger for about a minute, add the chillies ( i love spicy food ) and the diced tomatoes.

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Sprinkle salt over the tomatoes and cover the pot and let the tomatoes cook over low heat for 5 minutes

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When the tomatoes "melt" into the pot, add a handful (1/4 cup) of chopped cilantro, stir it in

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Mix up your powdered spices

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Add the spices and stir over low heat

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The dried lime

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Throw it in...(hold the camera steady the next time :))

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Add the hot water and boil over high heat

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Add back the fish and cook it over high heat for about 5 minutes while covering the pot, taste the broth...it should be very salty but that's ok, you will need the salt to flavor the rice!

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Remove the fish and set aside one last time

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Add the rice after draining it

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Mix it in over high heat untill the liquid is absorbed

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Reduce heat once the rice absorbs the water

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Add the fish back and bury it under the rice

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Cover and put over a very low flame for 30-40 minutes until the rice grain is fully cooked and well bloomed.

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Serve! Forget garnishing it...not for this dish!

You're Done

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Big Guy Big Flavors

I enjoy the simpler things in life, jazz, food and cooking! Follow me for delicious recipes and guides

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25 Comments

Supplies

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Karin Siöö

Växjö, Sweden

Ameen Et

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

shima marzouq

kuwait♥دولة الكويت

Diane Van Every

SwtLadyNYC 💗

New York, New York

Lila Vicente

East Hemet, California

Michael Sherpa

Natasha Jackson

Joe Dodd

Kayla Parsley

Edu Boix

Barcelona - Spain

iAbdu .

Jizan

Abdullah Al Shammari

Bayan,Kuwait / Dublin,Ir...

Beth Wood

American South

Amal Alsubaie

Boise,ID

Azadeh Khalafian

Carolyn O'Connor

Halifax, Canada

Amira K

Khalid Alahmad

Faiha The Great, Kuwait

Amanda Tibbs

Joe McNamara

Canada

Praveen Pete

Cammi Z

Angel Peterson

Maureen Zieber

½ Pounds White fish fillet (hamour/ grouper is my favorite)

1 Pinch Salt

1 Pinch Pepper

1 Pinch Tumeric

For the rest of the recipe

1 ½ Cups White basmati rice

3 Small red onions, sliced

1 ½ Teaspoons Fresh garlic paste

1 ½ Teaspoons Fresh ginger paste

1 Medium tomato, diced

2 Green chillies (optional)

¼ Cups Chopped cilantro (corriander)

1 Cup Hot water

For the dried spice mixture:

3 Cardamom pods

5 Pepper corns

3 Bay leaves

2 Cloves

1 Sliver of cinnamon stick

1 Dried lime

For the powdered spices:

1 ½ Teaspoons Salt

¾ Teaspoons Cayenne pepper (optional)

1 Teaspoon Cumin

½ Teaspoons Ground ginger

¼ Teaspoons Ground cilantro

¼ Teaspoons Cinnamon

½ Teaspoons Garam masala (real curry powder)

¼ Teaspoons Cardamom

¼ Teaspoons Turmeric

Oh I hope you enjoy this as much as you did 13 years ago :) best if luck making it and let me know how it works out :) btw, you could just squeeze a bit of lime instead, not quite the same thing, but almost there.

Big Guy Big Flavors (author) 3 weeks ago

I love machboos, it's really yummy... I had it when I was in Bahrain 13 years ago. Today I bought some stuff to make machboos tonight. No dried lemon in hk, can't find it:( But I will use some lemon pepper in jar. Hope will taste the same.

Rowena Rieta 3 weeks ago

Thanks, I will have a look!

Karin Siöö 3 months ago

Thanks for the info Ann :)

Big Guy Big Flavors (author) 3 months ago

@karin sioo if there is an Indian or middle eastern store nearby they should have dried limes. Some ppl refer to them as Nomi Basra.

Ann Gharibih 3 months ago

@ali, ey3afeek :) inshalla in the future oo may9eer 5a6rek ella 6ayeb

Big Guy Big Flavors (author) 6 months ago

Y36ek el 3afya, can we have the recipe for mchbos la7m and chicken

Ali Alnakas 6 months ago

Hello Khalid, use 1 1/2 cups of uncooked rice. All the ingredients and measurements are found in the supplies tab. Good luck! :)

Big Guy Big Flavors (author) 6 months ago

Hi Saleh, thanks for sharing this yummy majboos. I really would like to try this it. I am just missing the quantity of rice. How many cups I should be preparing? or in grams? thanks

Khalid Alahmad 6 months ago

BTW guys, Hamour is the Arabic name for grouper :)

Big Guy Big Flavors (author) 6 months ago

Thanks! Wish you good luck! And halibut is an excellent choice of fish for this recipe!

Big Guy Big Flavors (author) 6 months ago

Yum. I'm trying it with halibut. Looks so tasty!

Beth Wood 6 months ago

Saleh, i agree! The egyptian one is more juicy but a good garlic and lemon dressing for the Shami method is awesome! ;) thanks a lot.

Omar Izzat Peña 6 months ago

Natasha, i'm sure you will, if you dont, its ok...i dont need to know :)

Big Guy Big Flavors (author) 6 months ago

Omar, malfoof is yummy as well! I especially love the Egyptian method as opposed to the Shami method :)

Big Guy Big Flavors (author) 6 months ago

Nice!! Hope I do it justice :)

Natasha Jackson 6 months ago

Great! Thanks indeed! However, although this one is really tasty, my favorite one will always be my grandma's 'malfoof' :))

Omar Izzat Peña 6 months ago

Natasha, it's really yummy...most traditional foods are! This goes back to hundreds of years, and it only gets better everytime you make it :)

Big Guy Big Flavors (author) 6 months ago

Hey Omar, the spices are written in exact quantities in the supplies list, just drag the list, you can find it at the bottom of the page if you are accessing the app from your phone.

Big Guy Big Flavors (author) 6 months ago

I'm soooo trying this!! Looks yum!! :)

Natasha Jackson 6 months ago

Hi Saleh! What spices exactly are required? Thanks.

Omar Izzat Peña 6 months ago

My pleasure shima :)

Big Guy Big Flavors (author) 6 months ago

thanks

shima marzouq 6 months ago

If you can't find it, it's fine...just squeeze a teaspoon of lime juice instead

Big Guy Big Flavors (author) 6 months ago

I would like to try this but as far as I know we don't have dried lime here...

Karin Siöö 6 months ago

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I don't really know where you could find it in the U.S. try looking for it in oriental soice shops. Of course, you can find everything online. You could also do without it! Just substitute with juice of 1/2 a lemon instead.

Big Guy Big Flavors (author) 3 months ago