Maghluba - rice cooked with meat & aubergine

Came across this dish whilst I was browsing some cookery sites looking for inspiration as hubby fancied a one pot rice meat dish... I’m always paranoid of trying a one pot rice dish incase the rice gets over cooked... so I came up with a cheat version and it turned out perfectly well...

4-5 chicken thighs 

1 1/2 cup rice (soaked for at least 2 hrs) 

2-3 onions (finely sliced and fried till golden) 

2 onions chopped

1 cinnamon stick

2 cardamom pods

1 bay leaf

2 green chilli, slit 

3-4 peppercorns

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

Lemon slices

1 tbsp ginger/garlic paste

Freshly chopped mint & coriander

2 aubergines, thinly sliced

1 stock cube

Olive oil & butter

Freshly crushed pepper & salt for seasoning

Method:

1. Marinate the aubergine slices in olive oil, 1 tsp garlic powder, basil, oregano, salt & pepper. Mix well. 
2. In a pan, shallow fry the aubergine in olive oil, until golden brown..keep aside.
3. Cut chicken into chunks and marinate in ginger/garlic paste, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Keep aside for 30 mins at least.
4. In the pan used to fry aubergine, add the chicken and fry lightly to seal juices for few minutes. Keep aside as it will cook along with rice later.
5. In a pot, heat oil, add the cinnamon, cardamom, peppercorns, cumin and bay leaf. Once it starts giving an aroma add the onions and mix well.
6. Add in the chicken and drained rice, lightly mix. Don’t overdo it ask this will break the grains. 
7. Add 3 cups boiling water, stock cube, season with salt, add the lemon slices and cover. Cook for 5 mins.
8. Once water is almost dry and holes appear in the rice, turn heat off and keep aside covered
9. Grease a Pyrex dish, add layers of rice, chicken and aubergine. Sprinkle the chopped mint, coriander and fried onions as you layer.
10. Place this dish in pre heated oven and cook for 20-30 mins on 180deg. 

Tips

The traditional method involves add the meat and aubergine to bottom of pot and then rice on top.. so when served it is flipped..  but I tried layering it to get better consistency. 

You can add pine nuts for garnish as well