Chicken Tabitside

During one of our lunchtime wanderings in Bushnell Park the boys and I decided it was time for a Hanukkah Bad Beer/Bad Movie(You can read my review of the Bad Beer - Bad Movie night here). Since The Hebrew Hammer had just been released we took it as a sign from God, this had to happen! Luckily there were no virgins around to sacrifice....

Seeing how it was a special time of year for some of my Jewish friends I thought I'd try and make some Israeli meals that my buddy Elli had introduced me to. The hardest was Tabit, an Iraqi Sabbath meal. I spent some time searching on the Internet and couldn't find exactly what was looking for but improvised with some similar recipes. Since it's not quite Tabit I've christened it Chicken Tabit(side)

Chicken Tabit(side) - Feeds eight
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken ~ 4lbs
1 medium sized onion, chopped very finely
2.5 cups of Brown Rice
3 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of Black Pepper
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, ground
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon of cardamom
1 tablespoon of Baharat (available at most Middle Eastern Grocieries)

Equipment:
1 8 Quart Pot
2 large pots
- for 2.5 cups of rice
- to boil chicken

Preparation:
- Immerse rice in water for the whole night, strain.
- Heat the oven to 225 degrees
- Boil Brown Rice (7 cups of water to boil, take off heat, add rice, cover and let sit for 45 minutes)
- Clean the chicken, remove skin and cut into 4 to 8 parts (keep meat on bones)
- Boil the chicken
- When Rice is complete, remove water add onion, Olive Oil, salt, pepper, cinnamon, cilantro, cardamo, baharat and mix
- In 8 quart pot add layer of rice mixture to bottom add chicken and cover with rest of rice mixture
- place in oven till next day (12 hours minimum)

Enjoy!