The Libyan Kitchen: Ruzz Embowikh

Ruzz Embowikh can roughly be translated to mean steamed rice. This dish requires a steamer pot. The bottom portion holds the sauce and in the top portion, the rice is cooked from the steam of the sauce. Every Libyan household has one of these pots, they are essential to cooking other staples such as couscasee. This is a great dish because it serves as an alternative to pasta. It is also unique because it is one of the few rice dishes in Libyan cuisine.

What you'll need:
- 8oz can tomato paste
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 medium onion
- Lamb ( 1 piece per person)
- 3 cups short grain rice
- 3 potatoes
- 6 cups water
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoon Bzaar
- 1 teaspoon Cheyenne pepper

What to do:
1. Chop onion into small squares

2. On medium-high heat, add olive oil to pot and allow to warm. Add onions, cooking them for 2-3 mins (stir occasionally) to become translucent.

3. Add meat to pot

4. Allow meat brown on all sides

5. Add tomato paste and spices and mix, making sure to cover all pieces of meat

6. Add water to pot, lower heat to medium-low and allow to cook for about 15 mins

7. Wash your rice. You'll see when you first wash your rice it water will appear white. Rinse till water is clear

8. Take a piece of foil fold it length wise to create a strip to cover edge of the pot. This will allow the top part of the steamer to nestle close thus allowing all the steam towards the rice and not allowing it to escape.

9. Place rice into the steamer portion of pot

10. Allow to cook for roughly 15 mins. Stir your rice about once or twice in this period to avoid it sticking.

NOTE: Begin making the boosla. The recipe is not included here. You can find the recipe by clicking this

11. At this point nearly 30 mins has elapsed since meat started to cook and there should be a layer of ''Dahaan'' or grease that has formed on the top. You want to ladle that top layer onto your rice, mixing it together.

This infuses the rice with flavor as well as adds moisture to help cook it.

12. Leave pot on medium-low heat for an additional 25-30 mins to cook. About every 10 mins, stir rice and add more sauce till rice is ''plump''. Remember rice expands as it cooks. Dont be fooled into thinking you haven't made enough.

13. A little past half way through the cooking, cut potatoes and add to pot. You wait this long to add the potato because your meat and rice require more time to cook and potatoes will simply become mushy. If you'd like you can also add a single jalapeno pepper here for flavor and a bit of spice

When you pick up the steamer to drop the potatoes you'll notice about only half the sauce remains and thats okay. You dont need all that liquid, you wanted it to evaporate into steam thus cooking rice.

14. The best way to tell if your rice is cooked is simply to taste it. Different brands cook at different rates. Your meat and rice should cook roughly at the same time. You'll also notice that it will have doubled in size. This is completely cooked rice.