My 'healthier' Maklouba

I've been having good days and bad days when it comes to my attempt to eat better and lighter.  It didn't help that I went to visit family, I swear I had good intentions.  In any case, I'm back in Dubai and trying to get back on track.  Last night I had grilled chicken with salad, no carbs.  Yay me! 
Tonight, I thought I would try to makeover a favorite of mine - Maklouba.  Maklouba is a Palestinian dish where you cook chicken (you can use red meat instead), with some vegetables like eggplant, cauliflower and capsicum and with rice, all in one pot.  Once it's ready, it is flipped onto a big serving dish so that all the ingredients are piled up over each other in the reverse order that they were placed in the pot.  That's the literal meaning of Maklouba - upside down.


I learnt the original recipe from my mother in law and I was really craving it.  I decided to try to make a slightly healthier version here.  So rather than fry each vegetable first, I baked and grilled them.  And I avoided rice all together.  So here's the recipe:


My 'healthier' Maklouba:

Ingredients: (This is for two servings)
4 Chicken Breasts 
2 Eggplants
2 Capsicum (1 green and 1 red - just for fun)
2 Large Tomatoes, cut into round slices
Olive Oil
Chicken Stock (I used MAGGI cubes dissolved in boiled water)
Arabic spice mix
Salt and Pepper

Method:
1. First, peel half of the eggplants, so that each eggplant looked like it was striped.  Cut them lengthwise and put them in a baking dish.  Drizzle with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Mix them around with your hands.

2. Bake them in the oven for about 20 - 25 minutes on high heat until they start to turn golden.  Half way through, make sure you turn them around so they don't stick to the baking dish. 
3. Meanwhile, cut the capsicum into large slices and grill them on a dry pan for a few minutes.
4. Boil the chicken breasts for a couple of minutes and then pan fry them with a little olive oil to get a nice golden color.  Season with salt and pepper.  Do not cook entirely. 
5. Prepare the chicken stock.
6. Now in a smaller baking dish, drizzle very little olive oil on the base.  Make a layer with the sliced tomatoes. Then add the chicken breasts, then the eggplant and the capsicum.  

7. Sprinkle a little Arabic spices and drizzle some of the chicken stock.  You may want to put a small plate on top of the last layer of capsicum just to hold everything in place.  Then add a little more chicken stock.  Cover with foil paper and put it in the oven to bake for another 20 - 30 minutes. 
8. Take it out of the oven, remove the smaller plate carefully and flip the entire dish onto a larger serving plate.
9. I served it with cold yogurt with cut cucumbers and a little crushed garlic and salt.