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Molokhia or Mulukhiyah is a delicious garlicky greens stew or soup. The greens simmer in a fragrant chicken broth with tons of garlic. It’s honestly comfort food like it’s right out of mom or grandma’s kitchen!
Give me a bowl of Molokhia and I’m all set.
Garlicky delicious jutes mallow leaves simmered in an aromatic chicken broth, finished with fried garlic and coriander.
Top 5 favorite meals of my life, hands down.
Molokhia is a dish that’s widely made across North Africa and the Middle East. From Palestine to Jordan, Egypt to Lebanon, Sudan, Tunisia, and Syria. Each country makes it a little differently. Some use tomatoes or tomato paste, others serve it with a spicy chili condiment.
It saddens me that it took me a good 30 years of my life to discover that a beautiful dish like this existed. But trust me when I tell you, I’ve been making and perfecting my Molokhia recipe since then.
I’ll rave about it to my South Asian family and friends every chance I get. If you too aren’t familiar with Molokhia, let me tell you about it. It’s a delicious garlicky stew with a soup-like consistency made from greens. Most of the ingredients can be found in any middle eastern store. And it it best served with a bowl of fragrant rice. I like my vermicelli rice pilaf, and that’s how I believe it’s served in many Egyptian and Palestinian households.
I kid you not, I almost always have frozen mulukhiya in my freezer now. If you haven’t had jutes mallow leaves before, they come in a variety of forms, such as fresh leaves or frozen. For someone like me, it makes sense to buy frozen minced molokhia. It doesn’t require any prepwork. Just add it to the recipe and keep going. The taste of Mulukhia is similar to spinach, but the texture is more like the stickiness of okra. So keep that in mind. If you aren’t a fan of okra or bamya, you might not love Molokhia.
But I definitely urge you to try it. I make a big pot of molokhia and then serve it with freshly roasted chicken thighs and a drizzle of green shatta.
Ingredients for Molokhia
- Chicken Bones: I like use a roasted whole chicken because it gives the broth a roasted flavor. Be sure to pull of the meat. Though you could totally use the shredded meat for your mulukhiyah, I tend to roast some chicken thighs if I’m serving this to guests or if I want it to have a nicer presentation. Either way works though!
- Olive Oil: I prefer to use olive oil for the tempered garlic but ghee works too.
- Onions: you’ll need it to make the broth.
- Whole Spices: like green cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, and allspice berries are all used to give this plenty of aroma and flavor.
- Frozen Molokhia: this is frozen jute mallow leaves you’ll need a 14 ounce (400 gram) package. I use it frozen but fresh works too.
- Chicken Bouillon: to give the broth plenty of flavor.
- Cloves of Garlic: you’ll need lots of garlic cloves, some of the stew and others for the green shatta condiment.
- Ground Coriander: I like to use coriander instead of fresh cilantro with stems. I think it gives it a more unique floral flavor. If you prefer, ¼ cup of chopped cilantro would also work here.
- Serrano pepper: for the shatta topping. Remove the stem, ribs and seeds to keep it mild.
- Lemon Juice: a few tablespoon so lemon juice for the shatta to help mellow out the spice from the garlic and peppers.
Recipe Tip
If you wanted to make this with roasted chicken thighs, I’ll provide directions in the notes. You’ll need 2 pounds of bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs along with some oil, 7 spice, sumac, and a few other spices.
How to Make Molokhia
- Simmer the soup. First make a hearty chicken broth. Boil the rotisserie chicken bones (or other bones that have been roasted) in 6 cups of water, with the onion and the whole spices. Then stain the soup.
- Make Molokhia. Add the stained chicken broth to a pot, along with the frozen molokhia, and chicken bouillon. Let the leaves slowly melt into the soup mixture.
- Make the condiment. Grind the whole garlic cloves with the peppers and kosher salt until you have somewhat of a chunky paste. Then add lemon juice. Let this mixture sit in the fridge and mellow out a bit as you wait for the rest of the dish to come together.
- Make the tempering oil. Heat olive oil in a small skillet or sauce pan. Then add the garlic and allow it to cook the oil until golden. Add the ground coriander and stir to combine. Then pour this into the prepared molokhia soup. You can also stir in the shredded rotisserie chicken now you’re using that.
- Plate it up. Finally add vermicelli rice to bowls, top with the molokhia stew. Add an oven-roasted chicken thighs and drizzle with prepared shatta.
- Leftovers should be kept in an airtight container and stored in the fridge. Reheat in the microwave and serve.
If you like this recipe, you might also like:
- Middle Eastern Okra Stew with Beef
- Lebanese Meat Stuffed Pita Bread
- Lebanese Garlic Sauce (Toum)
- Halal-Cart Chicken over Rice Bowls
- Homemade Beef Shawarma (2 Ways!)
Molokhia (Garlicky Greens Stew)
Equipment
Ingredients
Molokhia
- 1 Rotisserie Chicken see notes
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 white onion cut in half with end attached
- 6 green cardamom
- 6 allspice berries whole
- 6 cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 cups water
- 14 ounce minced molokhia frozen
- 2 chicken bouillon cubes
Fried Garlic Oil
- ¼ cup olive oil or ghee
- 12 cloves garlic minced or pressed
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
Shatta and Rice
- 1-2 serrano pepper chopped
- 8 cloves garlic
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice plus more, as needed
- Vermicelli Rice for serving
Instructions
- SHRED: Remove the rotisserie chicken from the bones. You can shred the chicken if you plan to serve it with the stew, or if you’re roasting chicken separately (see notes) then you can save it for another meal.
- SIMMER: Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to a 5 quart dutch oven over high heat along with the chicken bones, onion halves, cardamom, allspice, cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and pour 6 cups of water over the top. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and allow the broth to simmer for 1 hour (prepare Shatta and vermicelli rice while you wait.)
- SHATTA: Add the chopped chilies and garlic to a mortar. Sprinkle with kosher salt and using the pestle breakdown the ingredients to form somewhat of a paste. Add lemon juice, stir to combine. Allow to rest for for at least 30 minutes before serving.
- STRAIN: the broth through a fine mesh strainer. Add 4 cups of broth back to the same soup pot. Use water to make up the rest if you ended up with less. With the heat on medium, add frozen molokhia, bouillon cubes, and allow them to slowly melt into the soup and reach a simmer.
- TEMPERING OIL: While molokhia melts, heat ¼ cup of oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add minced garlic, stir frequently, and let it cook for 2-4 minutes or until fragrant and lightly golden brown. Add the ground coriander stir, then carefully pour this into the molokhia.
- STIR: Taste, and adjust with more salt as needed. If you’re using cooked shredded chicken, stir it into the molokhia now so that it heats through.
- SERVE: Place vermicelli rice in bowls, ladle molokhia over the rice, add chicken pieces (if cooking separately), then drizzle shatta over the dish. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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