Recipe of the week: Molokhia: The stew of Egyptian kings

Back when my grandmother first made me molokhia in her kitchen in Lebanon, “I wanted no part of it,” said Salma Abdelnour in Food & Wine. It was “an adult-looking dish,” to put my assessment of it politely, and it took me years to acquire a taste for this soupy, dark-green Egyptian stew. Since then, I have fallen “madly in love with it.”

The stew takes its name, which means “of the kings,” from the leafy green plant that colors it. The plant, which today grows throughout the Middle East, was apparently once a green favored by Egypt’s pharaohs. If you can’t find frozen molokhia in the U.S., spinach is an acceptable substitute in the stew, which Egyptians make with rabbit. But made the way my grandmother made it—with “layers of cinnamon-scented chicken and buttery rice surrounded by a wonderful sauce of dark, bittersweet greens”—molokhia is best when its namesake ingredient provides the color.

Recipe of the week

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Molokhia with spiced chicken

One 3½-lb chicken

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 rosemary sprig

One 4-inch cinnamon stick

1 bay leaf

One 14-oz package frozen molokhia (or one 20-oz package frozen spinach)

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp plus ½ tsp ground coriander

3 tbsp unsalted butter

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground cumin

¼ tsp sweet paprika

Steamed short-grain rice, for serving

In large, deep pot, cover chicken with onion, rosemary, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, and 12 cups of water. Top with small plate to keep chicken submerged and bring water to boil. Simmer over low heat until chicken is cooked through, 45 minutes. Transfer chicken to platter and let cool slightly, then cut into wings, breasts, thighs, and drumsticks and pat dry.

Strain broth into heatproof bowl. Skim off fat. Return 2 cups of broth to pot; reserve remaining broth for another use. Add molokhia to pot and simmer for 10 minutes.

Using a knife’s side, mash garlic to a paste with 1 tbsp of coriander. In a skillet, melt 1 tbsp of butter. Add paste and cook over medium-high heat until golden, about 1 minute. Scrape into molokhia and simmer 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

In small bowl, combine remaining ½ tsp of coriander with ground cinnamon, cumin, paprika, and ½ tsp each of salt and pepper. Sprinkle chicken with spices. In large nonstick skillet, melt remaining butter. Add chicken and cook over high heat, turning once, until the skin is golden and crisp, about 4 minutes. Mound rice in center of 4 or 5 shallow bowls and top with chicken. Ladle molokhia around chicken and serve.

Adapted from a recipe by Eric Monkaba, co-founder of a Cairo cooking school

Correction: Due to errors in a cookbook cited in our Feb. 17 issue, we published an ingredients list for beef stock that was inaccurate. The correct list is: 1 small onion, halved; 2¼ lbs beef scraps; 6 lbs raw beef bones; ½ cup diced carrots; ¼ cup diced celery; and 1¹⁄³ gallons water.