Vegan Maqluba (Arabic Rice and Vegetable Cake)

written by Katja

Maqluba is a recipe for everyone who loves thrills! It stays exciting until serving because you never know if the cake will stay stable or fall apart when you turn it out. But don't worry: we've tinkered with it until it really stands securely on the plate, and we're sharing our tips with you (a bit further down).

This dish comes from Arabic cuisine and means something like "turned upside down" or "flipped over." Each type of vegetable is layered into a pot, pressed down firmly, covered with rice, and turned out after cooking. Traditionally, the dish is prepared with meat and vegetables. In our vegan version, which looks (and tastes) just as impressive, we use rice along with cauliflower, tomatoes, mushrooms, eggplant, and onions, plus garlic that we add directly to the rice. Each type of vegetable is interchangeable: you'd rather add carrots and potatoes? No problem at all! The result: aromatic, juicy, filling, and still light.

The aroma in our dish comes from the Baharat spice blend from Lebensbaum. It's a typical Arabic spice mixture that tastes a bit different in each region. Lebensbaum uses paprika, pepper, and chili for their version to create a fruity heat, and cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves for warm depth. Every ingredient comes in 100% organic quality, is fairly traded, and sustainably produced.

Learn from our Mistakes

And now to our fail from test cooking: the first time, the cake collapsed when we turned it out. A bit frustrating, but also perfect motivation to keep tinkering. On the next attempt, we pre-salted the eggplants to draw out moisture, removed the excess mushroom water after sautéing, used generally less liquid for cooking the rice, and let everything rest briefly after cooking. Et voilà: suddenly there was a beautiful, stable rice-vegetable tower sitting on the plate! It was even so stable that we could basically cut out little cake pieces.

The dish might be a bit too elaborate for an everyday dinner, but if you're expecting guests, there's a birthday coming up, or you just want to make a fancy version of rice with vegetables, it's exactly the right thing. Speaking of birthdays: do you remember this Makkaroni Pie mit veganen Hackbällchen? Maybe this vegan Maqluba is an alternative for all gluten-intolerant people or rice fans!

Vegan Maqluba

4–6 Servings

40 minutes (+ 50 minutes cooking- and resting time)

Ingredients

For the Maqluba:

1 eggplant
250 g (9 oz) mushrooms
300 g (10.5 oz) cauliflower
4 large tomatoes
2 onions
8 tsp baharat spice blend per vegetable type (e.g., from Lebensbaum)
1 tsp chili powder
300 g (1.5 cups) rice
3 tbsp tomato paste
3 garlic cloves
400 ml (1.75 cups) water (divided)
neutral vegetable oil for sautéing
salt

For the Topping:

15 g (0.5 oz) fresh parsley
30 g (1 oz) blanched almonds
400 g (14 oz) vegan yogurt
salt
pepper

Instructions

Cut eggplant into bite-sized pieces, place in a bowl, sprinkle with some salt, and let stand for approx. 10 minutes. Then pour off the liquid that has formed. Meanwhile, quarter the mushrooms and break the cauliflower into small florets. Slice the tomatoes and halve the onions, then slice them.
Sauté the eggplant, mushrooms, cauliflower, and onions separately, one after another, in a pan with 1 tablespoon of oil each, briefly. Season with salt and baharat spice blend and place in a bowl.
Wash the rice well until the water runs clear. Add oil to the pan and briefly sauté the rice in it. Add tomato paste and briefly roast with it. Gradually add approx. 200 milliliters (0.75 cups) water, let it reduce, add 2 teaspoons baharat spice blend and grated garlic. As soon as the water is gone, begin layering the vegetables.
First, distribute the mushrooms evenly on the bottom of a pot, then distribute onions, then eggplant, cauliflower, and tomato slices on top.

Tip: Press the tomatoes right against the pot edge so they're visible on the outside after turning out.

Finally, distribute the rice on the vegetables, smooth it out, and press down firmly. Add the remaining 200 milliliters (0.75 cups) water to the pot. With the lid closed, simmer on low heat for 45 minutes. Lift the lid briefly 2–3 times to let steam escape.
Turn off the heat and let the pot stand for another 10 minutes to set before turning out.

7.Meanwhile, chop the parsley and set aside. Chop the blanched almonds and toast them in an oil-free pan. Season the yogurt with salt and pepper to taste.