I first fell in love with the idea for this dish while flipping through Tahini Baby by Eden Grinshpan. A book filled with vibrant, vegetable-forward, Middle Eastern-inspired recipes that make everyday cooking exciting and full of flavor. Her caramelized shallot maqloubeh sparked something in me, but as someone who loves upside-down rice that’s simple, hands-on, and packed with chickpeas and spices, I adapted the cooking method to better fit my kitchen style, layering flavors directly and cooking the rice in a way that simplifies the process a bit. The result is this Caramelized Shallot Upside-Down Rice with Chickpeas: rich, cozy, and deeply satisfying.
Caramelized Shallot Upside-Down Rice with Chickpeas
This upside-down rice is packed with sweet caramelized shallots, chickpeas, and aromatic spices for a comforting, golden dish that’s as beautiful as it is satisfying.
Ingredients
Caramelized Shallots
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 8 medium shallots peeled and halved (if your shallots are small, use more to cover the bottom of the pot)
- kosher salt
- 1 tsp sugar
Rice
- 1½ cups basmati rice rinsed and soaked in cold water for at least an hour, then drained
- ⅓ extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 15 oz can chickpeas drained, rinsed and dried
- 2 tsp hawaij
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 medium onion diced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2¾ cups chicken stock or water with consomé
- ½ cup dried currants
Instructions
Make the Shallots
- Add a circular piece of parchment paper to a medium nonstick pot. Add olive oil and heat over medium heat. When the oil is hot, carefully add the shallots cut side down and season well with salt. Use tongs to carefully flip the shallots so that they stay together. Let brown for about 5 more minutes.
- Sprinkle shallots with sugar and add ¼ cup of water of the pan and cover. Reduce heat to low and let shallots cook another 20 minutes. Flip them again so that they are cut side down.
Prepare the Filling
- While the shallots cook, heat olive oil in a medium cast iron pan over medium-high heat. A chickpeas and fry about 5 minutes, until almost crisp. Add in hawaij, a generous sprinkle of salt, a few cracks of pepper, onion and garlic. Fry until onion starts to soften, around 5 minutes. Set aside.
Assemble the rice
- In the nonstick pot, sprinkle the rice evenly over the shallots. Add in the chickpea mixture and the dried currants. Pour in the chicken stock, careful not to disturb the shallots on the bottom.
- Tie a kitchen towel over the lid of the pot. Bring pot to a boil over medium high heat, cover with toweled lid and turn down to low heat. Let rice cook for 25 minutes.
- Place a large platter over the top of the pot and invert the whole thing. Discard the parchment paper on the bottom. Serve hot and watch your guests enjoy.