Egyptian green soup with chicken and rice (Molokhia)

1. Cover the whole chicken with water, add the quartered onion, cardamom, bay leaves, salt and pepper and simmer gently for 60 minutes, skimming; remove the chicken and strain the stock.

2. Joint the chicken, brush with butter and brown in a 220 °C oven for 10-15 minutes until the skin is golden.

3. Fry the rice in the butter for 2 minutes, pour in the salted water and cook covered for 15 minutes.

4. Bring 1.2 litres of the stock to the boil, stir in the molokhia and simmer for 5 minutes; don't boil hard, or the leaves will sink.

5. Crush the garlic and fry it in the butter with the ground coriander until golden; pour it sizzling into the soup (this is the tasha) and take off the heat immediately.

6. Serve the molokhia in deep bowls with the rice and roast chicken; anyone who likes can sharpen it with onion vinegar or lemon.

Tip: Molokhia (jute leaves) is one of Egypt's oldest and best-loved dishes, a soup with a slippery, silky texture. It's sold frozen and chopped in Middle Eastern shops; if you can't find it, finely chopped spinach gives a similar (though less silky) soup. Tradition says you should gasp loudly (the shahqa) as you pour in the garlic tasha, so it's sure to succeed.