Parda Palaw (Rice pie)

This is arabic dish (or maybe Turkish, I'm not really sure) can be found in many arabic restaurants and it is a delicious main course that looks like a rice pie made with puff pastry. I never really found out the actual recipe and I searched everyone on the net so is my stab at it:

Parda Palaw

1 Potatoe
1/4 cup Peas
3 Layers of puff pastry
1 cup of white rice
1-2 Tbsp Tomatoe Paste
1/3 of a large eggplant
Some almonds (slivered or sliced) and raisins, about 1-2Tbsp (you can leave out the raisins if you don't like them)
Salt to taste

Rice:
In a medium saucepan on high heat, add a little bit of oil to the pan then add the tomatoe paste, fry it until the tomatoe paste starts to sizzle, add the rice and enough water to cover the rice and about an inch above it, stir add salt to taste. Keep the heat on high until most of the water has evaporated and the rice starts to sizzle and spit out water, reduce the heat to low, stir and cover. Allow the rice to simmer, mixing every now and then until the rice has fully cooked.

While the rice is cooking you can get started on the vegetables. Fry the potatoes golden and crunchy, add salt and set aside on some paper towels to absorb the oil. Fry the peas and do the same. Cut the eggplant into circles (see image on the right) and fry in plenty of oil, add salt and set aside as you did with the potatoes. Fry the peas, then the almonds and raisins in the same way but with little oil.

After the rice is cooked, mix everything together. Add some meat to your liking, I personally like to use cooked pieces of chicken.

Prepare the pie dish:
Get a round, deep ceramic type dish. Butter or oil the dish so that the pastry doesn't stick to it when it's flipped. Cut up the puff pastry and cover the inside of the dish with it just as you would do with a pie.

Fill the dish with the rice and cover it with more puff pastry. Then make small cuts at the top so the steam can escape. Put the dish into the over until the pastry is cooked (since the rice is already cooked).




You can flip it or eat it straight out of the dish. It's delicious and full of flavor!