A deep-green stew of finely chopped jute mallow leaves simmered with chicken or beef, brightened by garlic, cilantro and a hit of lemon or vinegar. Ladled over rice and topped with raw onion and crisped bread, it is earthy, garlicky comfort.
Mulukhiyah is one of the oldest dishes of the Eastern Mediterranean, its jute-leaf greens cultivated and eaten since antiquity. In Lebanon it is a treasured home dish, the leaves picked from their stems and chopped fine, then simmered with poached chicken and a generous fistful of garlic and cilantro. Families guard their preferred texture, and the meal is built at the table: stew over rice, scattered with sharp raw onion and toasted bread for crunch.
Spoon it up and you get a thick, almost silky green broth, intensely garlicky and herbal, with tender shreds of chicken. A squeeze of lemon and a bite of raw onion cut the richness, while crunchy toasted bread plays against the soft rice.
Jute mallow leaves release a natural mucilage that thickens the broth to a velvety body, so a gentle simmer rather than a hard boil keeps the texture smooth and the color vividly green. A heavy dose of fried garlic and coriander provides the dish's signature aromatic backbone, balanced by acidic lemon at the finish.
Variations
Beef or rabbit instead of chicken; Egyptian smooth-blended style; with crispy pita and dukkah; vinegar-onion relish on the side
On the Palate
Where Mulukhiyah Lebanese sits in the Lebanese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
8 steps · 30 min
- 135 min
Poach chicken pieces with onion, bay leaf and cinnamon to make a fragrant broth; reserve the meat and stock.
- 220 min
If using fresh mulukhiyah, strip the leaves from the stems, wash and chop finely; if frozen or dried, prepare per type.
- 36 min
Fry plenty of crushed garlic with ground coriander and chopped cilantro until very fragrant.
Watch outFry the garlic and coriander hard until it hits you in the nose — this taqliya is the whole backbone of the dish; pale garlic tastes of nothing.
- 44 min
Add the chopped leaves to the simmering chicken stock and the garlic-cilantro mixture.
- 525 min
Simmer gently until the greens are tender and the stew is deep green, taking care not to boil hard.
Watch outKeep it at a bare simmer, never a hard boil — the jute leaves' natural slip thickens the broth silky and stays vivid green; a rolling boil dulls both.
- 65 min
Return the chicken meat to warm through and season with salt and lemon or vinegar.
Watch outAdd the lemon right at the end off strong heat — the bright acid lifts the whole pot; boiled in, it goes flat.
- 720 min
Cook plain rice or rice with vermicelli to serve underneath.
- 85 min
Serve the stew over rice with raw chopped onion, lemon and toasted bread on the side.
