A warmly spiced Lebanese beef-and-rice one-pan dinner — ground beef, long-grain rice, chickpeas, and a quiet hit of cinnamon, cumin, and allspice. One pan, about 30 minutes. Comfortably serves 2 with leftovers.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 200 g ground beef
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground allspice (see notes if you can’t find it)
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 150 g long-grain rice, rinsed
- 1 tin (~240 g drained) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 350 ml hot chicken stock (1 Knorr cube in 350 ml hot water)
- 30 g pine nuts or slivered almonds (optional, topping)
- Small handful parsley, chopped (optional)
- ½ tsp salt (taste first — stock is salty)
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Toast the nuts (if using). Heat the pan dry over medium heat and toast the nuts, stirring, until golden — 2–3 minutes. They burn fast, so watch closely. Tip onto a plate and set aside.
- Brown the beef. Add the olive oil to the pan over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and cook, breaking it up, until browned and any liquid has cooked off — about 5–6 minutes. Spoon off excess fat if there’s a lot.
- Build the spice base. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic, cinnamon, allspice, and cumin, and cook 1 minute until fragrant. Blooming the spices in the hot oil here is what rounds them out.
- Toast the rice. Add the rinsed rice and stir for about 1 minute so the grains coat in the spiced oil.
- Cook the rice. Pour in the hot stock, add the drained chickpeas, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a gentle simmer, then turn the heat to low, cover, and leave undisturbed for about 15 minutes — until the rice is tender and the liquid absorbed. Don’t stir, don’t lift the lid.
- Rest & finish. Off the heat, leave covered for 5 more minutes. Fluff with a fork, scatter over the nuts and parsley, and serve warm.
Notes & tips
- Allspice is the one tricky item to track down in some places. If you can’t find it, use ¾ tsp cinnamon total plus a tiny pinch of ground clove or nutmeg — both much easier to find, and the combination mimics allspice closely. Cinnamon alone also works and is still very good.
- Ground beef: pure beef is what you want here. If only mixed beef-and-pork is available, it works fine too — the spices carry it either way.
- Rice: any everyday long-grain rice does the job. Rinse it under cold water until the water runs clear before cooking — this stops it going gluey.
- Pine nuts are lovely but pricey. Slivered almonds are a much cheaper topping, or just leave the nuts out entirely.
- Don’t lift the lid during the simmer or the rest — the trapped steam does the cooking.
- Serve with plain yogurt on the side and warm pita or flatbread — the cool yogurt against the warm spice is traditional and makes it a complete meal.
- Leftovers keep in the fridge for about a day; reheat with a splash of water under a lid.