Freekeh (roasted Green Wheat) With Chicken - A Traditional Arab

Total Time: 6 hrs Preparation Time: 3 hrs Cook Time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 10
• 3 lbs wheat, freekeh
• 2 whole chickens, cut into serving pieces
• 2 onions
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1 cup almonds, slivered and toasted
• 1 cup pine nuts, toasted

Recipe

• 1 soak the freekeh in plenty of water, it will start to absorb right away.
• 2 cover chicken with water in large pot.
• 3 bring to boil.
• 4 skim the scum off the top until broth is clear.
• 5 add two onions, cut in half, to remove any bad odors from the chicken.
• 6 simmer for another half hour.
• 7 remove chicken from broth. set aside.
• 8 strain broth.
• 9 rinse freekeh, drain well.
• 10 in a large pot, add olive oil to cover bottom and fry freekeh in it for a couple minutes.
• 11 add some of the broth, without measuring, to cover.
• 12 simmer slowly, covered.
• 13 add broth to keep from drying out.
• 14 if you run out of broth, use water.
• 15 cook for an hour or more, making sure it does not get too dry.
• 16 a half an hour before serving, heat oven to 400 degrees.
• 17 mix tomato paste, olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika.
• 18 put chicken on baking tray and brush with tomato/oil mixture.
• 19 bake for 20 minutes or until chicken gets a nice toasty finish to it.
• 20 to serve, put freekeh on large tray. top with chicken. sprinkle with almonds and pine nuts.
• 21 serve with a yogurt salad made of plain yogurt, cucumber, dried mint, chopped green onions, and some salt to taste. also, serve a salad of finely chopped tomato, cucumber, onion, green pepper, carrot, etc with a dressing of lemon and olive oil.