Steamed Chicken Rice

Sort out, wash and soak the chickpeas for a few hours then rinse. Pluck, singe and remove the insides of a small chicken. Wash thoroughly, cut into regular pieces and season with salt and pepper. Keep the giblets for another dish such as ejja, shekshouka, etc.
In the lower part of a steamer, heat the oil over a vigorous heat and brown the chicken pieces together with a chopped onion. Add the tomato paste dissolved in a glass of water, the herissa, the ground red pepper and the bay leaves. Mix and leave to cook for a moment. Add one titre of water and bring to the boil.
Sort out the rice grains, wash, strain and put in the upper part of the steamer. Then turn down the heat and when vapour starts to infiltrate though the rice grains cook for 15-20 minutes. Then remove the steamer and transfer the rice onto a tray. Sprinkle with a little fresh water, fluff up with a spoon or fork. Drop the fresh peppers into the pan and stir. Return the rice to the steamer and cook for a second time and for the same cooking time. When rice is done, remove from the heat and add a little smen or butter. When the sauce thickens, check if the chicken and chickpeas are cooked through, add a pinch of pepper and correct the salt.
Serve according to the traditional method, dome-shaped or ring-shaped. Then garnish and serve hot.

Steamed Lamb Rice                                          Rouz mefaouar bil aalloush
Steamed Veal Rice                                             Rouz mefaouar bil agil
Steamed Rice with Andouillettes                     Rouz mefaouar bil osbene
Steamed Rice with Fish                                      Rouz mefaouar bil hout

Make in the same way the previous recipe. Instead of chicken use lamb, veal, andouillettes or a steak of a large fish such as grouper, bream, angel fish, tunny, etc.