Continuing my current binge of making meaty dishes with seitan, here is a vegan kabsa! Chicken kabsa is a Saudi Arabian rice that is very popular in the Middle East. It has its similarities to biryani in South Asia, but is of course not entirely the same.
A very special ingredient in kabsa is loomi or dried black lime. Fresh limes are brined then sun-dried to create a knobbly and shriveled dark grey ball. Initially, I was not going to make this dish as I don’t have access to loomi here. Luckily, my friend in Dubai said that they sometimes make it with fresh lemon too! It does taste slightly different though. You lose the smoky and musky flavour but you get an extra freshness that is so appetizing.
There are many ways to serve the protein in a kabsa. Some like to only cook the meat with the rice; others like to bake it casserole style; and many like to grill the protein for that extra flavour. I chose to grill, but you can totally do this as a one-pot meal. Traditionally, this dish is served with slivered almonds. Sadly, that is also another thing that I cannot get here on my little island. So, I replaced it with cashews.
The seitan-making technique for this dish is exactly the same as on this Vegan Cola Chicken WTF Seitan | 可乐素鸡 post. So, please hop over there to read up on the instructions. I used the yield from 500g of bread flour to get the two chick’un pieces used in this dish, so about 250g of seitan. For the stock powder, my recommendations are Vigor & Health Vegetarian G Seasoning and Massel Premium Stock Powder Chicken Style. You can also use mushroom stock powder.
To be absolutely honest, the star of this vegan kabsa is the rice. I mean, the grilled protein is tasty and a nice accompaniment, but the rice is already sooooo super yummy by itself. If you are a little bit sus about using orange peel and lemons in rice, don’t be. Definitely give it a try!
Tips
- If you can’t be bothered with making seitan, you can totally use tofu or mushrooms.
- Whole spices are way better than powder, if you can get them.
- Tomato paste refers to thick canned tomato paste, but you can replace with another fresh tomato instead.
- You can make this dish spicy by adding red chilli powder and more black pepper powder.
This recipe time is only for cooking this dish and does not include the time spent making seitan.
Ingredients
- Ingredients for Spice Paste
- For the Rice
- Grill Glaze