Djaj Mahshi (Middle Eastern Stuffed Chicken)
Djaj Mahshi (or Dajaj Mahshi) is Middle Eastern stuffed chicken, a celebration of flavours, textures and traditions.
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 2 hr
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
- 1 medium chicken
- 1 tbsp EV olive oil
- 1/8 tsp salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 medium onion
- 1 medium carrot
- 200 g 7 oz Brussels sprouts (optional, read article)
- lemon wedges to serve
- 1 medium onion
- 200 g basmati rice
- 2 tbsp ghee or EV olive oil
- 250 g minced lamb or beef (a little less is fine, this is the weight in a small pack in the UK)
- 500 ml chicken or vegetable stock (1 stock cube/pot + 500 ml (2 cups) water)
- 250 ml water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/4 tsp sweet smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 20 g toasted pine nuts
- 15 g toasted flaked almonds
- 10 g zereshk (barberries)
- 60 g raisins
- 1/2 tsp ghee or EV olive oil (for the barberries)
- 1 pinch sugar (for the barberries)
Instructions
- 1
Rinse the rice a couple of times, drain, and set aside.
- 2
Season the chicken with 1 Tbsp olive oil and the salt and pepper, getting under the skin, but being careful not to tear it. Set aside.
- 3
Quarter one onion for the roasting tin. Finely chop the other one for the stuffing.
- 4
Scrub the carrots clean, then, either slice them in thick rounds or into sticks.
- 5
If using Brussels sprouts, trim and halve them. Or prepare any other vegetables you may be using.
- 6
Heat the oil on medium and fry the chopped onions for 2 minutes.
- 7
Increase the heat to medium-high, and add the mince (beef or lamb). Break it up and brown for 2 minutes.
- 8
Add the dried spices, stir for 30 seconds, then tip the rice in. Mix well, frying for 1 minute.
- 9
Pour in the stock, water, salt and bay leaves. Stir, and bring to a simmer.Cook on medium-low for 25 - 30 minutes or until the water has been completely absorbed. At this stage, the rice will be cooked. Or mostly cooked, and that's fine.Cover, take it off the heat and set aside.
- 10
While you could skip this and use taosted almond flakes and pine nuts, everything will taste better when freshly done.Toast the almonds and pines nuts separately over a medium-low flame until golden. This will only take a minute or two. Tip out onto a plate.
- 11
Heat the ghee or olive oil in the same pan and fry the barberries with a pinch of sugar for 1 minute. Tip out onto a plate.
- 12
Toast the raisins in the same pan, with no added oil, for 1 minute. This is not in the video.
- 13
Preheat the oven to 200℃ (400℉ / 180℃ Fan).
- 14
Remember the rice and meat stuffing from earlier? Tip half of all the fruits and nuts into it and stir well to mix.
- 15
Stuff the chicken with the rice and meat stuffing. Don't burn yoursel. If the stuffinf is still too hot, leave it to cool down a little more, uncovered.Pack the chicken as much as possible, do the front too, if you want, but I don't bother. Some people will also push a little stuffing between the chicken skin and meat. Again, not something I do.
- 16
Truss the chicken to keep its shape, basically, we're tying the legs together. See the video on how we do this.
- 17
Place in a roasting pan with the quartered onion, carrots, and Brussels sprouts.
- 18
Cover with foil and roast in the preheated oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
- 19
Take the foil off, baste chicken and vegetables, and roast for another 30 minutes until the skin is cripsy and golden brown.To test for doneness, piece the thickest part of the chicken leg. If the juices run clear, it's done. No termometer needed.
- 20
Take it out of the oven and cover with fresh foil and a tea towel. Rest for 30 minutes before carving and serving.
- 21
Remember the leftover stuffing? Heat ot right through for minutes on medium heat, stirring frequently.If your rice wasn't fully cooked earlier, give it a good 5 minutes, with 2 Tbsp of water.
- 22
Take a large serving platter and spread the rice and meat stuffing over it.
- 23
Sprinkle the remainder of the fruits and nuts all over.
- 24
Place the chicken over the rice bed and serve, carving your chicken at the table. Serve with the lemon wedges, a side salad and some yoghurt. See article for ideas.