Kurdish Macaroni Hamin

Kurdish Macaroni Hamin

Macaroni hamin (a slow-cooked Shabbat stew) appears in various family traditions in Israel, including Jewish-Kurdish, Jerusalemite and Sephardic ones. The recipe here is a home adaptation for a whole night and is not a copy of any specific recipe or a claim of community exclusivity.

Prep: 30 minutes · Cooking: overnight · Yield: 8 · Difficulty: easy

Half-cooked pasta keeps going in the oven

The macaroni goes into the pot while it is still firm in the center, because it absorbs the chicken and onion juices overnight. Thin or fully cooked pasta will turn to mush. The combination of eggs, potatoes and overnight time is the choice of this home version, and so it isn’t attributed to a single printed source.

Ingredients

• 800 grams thick macaroni, cooked for half the time and drained
• 1.5 kg chicken legs, 1 kg potatoes
• 8 clean, whole, uncracked eggs in their shells
• 80 ml oil, 3 onions, paprika, turmeric, salt and pepper
• 750 ml hot water

Choosing ingredients and substitutes

Use thick pasta so it doesn’t fall apart. The dish is a meat dish. Choose clean eggs without cracks; a dirty or cracked egg doesn’t go in the pot.

Thick macaroni or bucatini are better suited than thin spaghetti. A cracked egg doesn’t go into the overnight pot, because its contents could contaminate the cooking water.

Method

1. Fry the onion and brown the chicken. Line the bottom with potatoes.
2. Mix the macaroni with the oil and spices and arrange it with the chicken. Add the whole eggs.
3. Pour in the water, boil for 10 minutes and cover tightly.
4. Bake at 100 degrees Celsius (210°F) for 8–10 hours. Before serving, the chicken should reach 74 degrees and the pasta should be moist, not burnt.

Nutrition facts and calorie estimate

Variations and tips

• Cook the pasta for about half the time on the package and rinse briefly only to stop the cooking.
• Before the night, make sure the liquid reaches at least a third of the height of the pot, but doesn’t completely cover the pasta.
• Use a pot and lid without plastic parts and set it on a tray, because the starch may bubble over.
• Refrigerate leftovers within two hours and reheat until the chicken and pasta are steaming in the center.

Summary

This is a large Shabbat dish of about 980 calories. See kubbeh kotla and Kurdish cuisine.