Baked rice in clay pots, loaded with butter, milk, and cream, can be savory or sweet. Today I am showing you the savory one. Incredible texture and heavenly taste. One of the easiest on pot meals like this chicken and yellow rice recipe.
Meammar rice in one of the authentic, traditional Egyptian rice recipes, as old as Egypt I guess :). Meammar means loaded, and as you can see authentically, this rice is loaded with full cream, ghee and full-fat milk. The slow cooking of rice in the oven gives it a lot of time to soak up all these flavors, to come up unique, fluffy, and tastes heavenly good.
Of course, this is not your everyday rice but, we need some luxury every now and then, and if you have a special occasion, this is a one-pot meal that will impress your guests and leave you with fewer pots to clean.
This rice can be made meatless, with red meat, minced meat or chicken so you choose, I prefer to make it with chicken for a one-dish meal, throw it in the oven and forget about it for an hour until done.
This is my Aunt Mona recipe and she probably got it from her mom - my sitto, we called my grandmother Sitto. I did not get to know my grandmother - father side, but I knew my Sitto - mother's side.
I wish I have her wedding picture, she was so young probably 16 years old. She looked so proud in her white wedding dress which was so simple yet elegant, with short hair and a tiara around her head, with a white round face and gray colored eyes, she was really beautiful until the very last day of her life. My Sitto was a great cook, she cooked everyday letting no one - even her daughters- cook for her, she was an authentic traditional cook.
I really admire the way they lived back then, they did not have meat and chicken every day, which a challenge I am going through now 😁, they used to get on hands and knees to scrub floors, not dragging themselves to the gym and trying to find excuses not to 😀, they ate fresh produce of the season and they used to raise their own chicken, ducks, and pigeons never knew frozen vegetables or meals. All my grandparents die of age, just probably a week at most in the hospital in comma or some sort of sudden system failure and that's it.
I remember my Sitto, grabbing a chair and sitting so close to the television- back then it was probably 14 inch at most- so she can see and hear, she refused to wear glasses or hearing aids, the woman had pride and I cannot blame her, she was strong until the day she collapsed. She was funny a very funny woman, loved to laugh, and watched only Ismail Yasin who was a comedian Abbott and Costello style. She lived a simple calm life and died calmly without much fuss. May she rest peacefully in heaven.
I tried to lessen the fat content in this recipe without jeopardizing the taste, and I think I did a pretty good job, first I used 1% milk not full cream milk, I used butter instead of ghee and I used only half the amount, I also used a combination of Mascarpone cheese and sour cream instead of using the usual milk cream we use in Egypt which is mainly milk fat.
This recipe is so popular in Egypt in banquets and especially during the holy month of Ramadan. I hope you'll give it a try and as usual Enjoy!!.
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Savory Rice with cream (Egyptian Meammar Rice)
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups of short grain rice - like cal rose.
- 2 Tablespoon unsalted butter divided.
- 5 chicken tenders. Note1.
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste.
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.
- 2 Tablespoon sour cream.
- 1 Table spoon Mascarpone cheese.
- 1.5 cup Chicken broth any type.
- 1.5 cup milk.
Instructions
- Start by washing the rice and soak in water for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Meanwhile in a pan over medium heat, melt 1 Tablespoon of butter and brown the chicken tenders, 2-3 minutes each side, season with some salt and pepper, set aside.
- Drain the rice, add salt, pepper, sour cream, Mascarpone cheese and the remaining 1 Tablespoon of butter, mixing all very well until all rice is covered well.
- In a deep oven dish, authentically a clay one, add about 5 Tablespoons of the rice mixture to cover the bottom and spread evenly.
- Add the chicken pieces if using, then cover with the remaining rice, level the surface.
- In a pot over medium heat, add the milk along with the broth and bring to a boil, turn off the heat and season with a dash of black pepper.
- Add the hot liquids to the rice , place the dish into a bigger oven dish or pan filled halfway with water.
- Bake in the oven for almost an hour until the rice is fully cooked and the surface turns golden brown.
- Let it cool down and serve.
- Enjoy!!
Caroline Shenouda’s
Hi Amira, just wondering if I have to double the amount of rice, do I double the water mount as your recipe too or does the liquid ratio change? Thanks, appreciate it!
Amira
Hello Caroline, I haven't doubled the amount before but I think you will need to increase the amount of liquid. If in doubt, then I think it will be better to make the recipe in two pots/oven dishes.. let me know how did it go.
Randa Tadros
Hi Amira,
I would love to try but would like to know what can I use instead of mascarpone cheese and sour cream. Mascarpone is pretty expensive and you have to buy a whole container, not very practical to get I TB. What do you mean by is milk cream - Ishda?
Julia
I made it. Tried to attach a picture but it will not allow me! It came out great. I used Creme Fraiche, as that is what my store had in organic, which I always look to buy organic. My Egyptian husband absolutely LOVED it, as well as myself and our son. When he says "it's like my mother makes" - I know I've done well! The 3 of us almost finished off the entire pan of rice!! Thank you, Amira!
Amira
Oh Julia, I know when an Egyptian man says that :)) they all love their mama's dishes and we cannot compete hehehe. Happy that you loved the recipe. I wonder why you were unable to attach a photo. Would have loved to see it.
holly
Hi Amira, I'm hoping you can help me. In Cairo, my friend made rice with milk that got crusty on the bottom of the pan. She said many people think the crust is the best part, and i agreed - it was delicious. She's coming to usa, and i wanted to surprise her and make it for her. Will this recipie do that? Or do you know the name of that rice dish? i cant eat rice anymore, or I would just try it an see :-(. Thanks so much!
Amira
Hello Holly, let me first start by saying you are such a wonderful devoted person/friend. My dad used to love the crusted layer that forms at the bottom of the pot:) he used to call it " Hikeeka" weird name I know. Well from my humble experience I would say you can develop this crust in any rice whether it is made with water, milk or stock. Anyways, I have got this crust when cooking rice over open flame and also when I reheat our everyday rice in the rice cooker and forget about it for like an hour. The point is to cook it slow for a long time. I hope this helps. I will try to experiment with it before your friend's visit and get back to you.
Julia
I love your site!! Everything I have made has come out absolutely wonderful. Thank you for sharing such wonderful recipes that have been in your family for many generations. I always read your text about the origin of each recipe as well. Many thanks!!!
Amira
Julia, thank you so much for your sweet comment, you made me so happy. I am glad you like the recipes here.
Colleen
That is one fine dish! Definitely going into the winter menu. So rich.
Amira
Colleen, it is indeed a very rich and tasty dish. Waiting to see how it will turn out with you.