10 years ago, it was my first time in Saudi for business trip visiting our Saudi branch in the eastern province. It was lunch time and I was told that our driver would usually order us take out. I was offered chicken kabsa. I had no idea what it is, the driver’s description was its Arabic rice and chicken. So, “yeah, sure, lets have that”, I said. Then the driver asked “you want half or one?” I thought he was asking if I want one portion of half portion of a meal. Well I was hungry, I landed at 3 in the morning, haven’t had proper sleep because of the 9+ hour flight, and only had a slice of bread for a quick breakfast. Of course I chose one.

An hour later, the food came in a clear plastic bags for food. It was a single plastic bag. Filled with rice. Enough rice to feed an Indonesian family of four for a single meal. Then I saw the roasted chicken inside the cardboard box. I now understood the half or one question. It was a whole chicken. Well without the neck and head, but the rest is there. It turns out, when you order chicken kabsa, the common options are quarter chicken, half chicken or one chicken.

A picture of chicken kabsa that I snatched off google image search

So, that chicken kabsa became my lunch, dinner, next day’s breakfast and lunch. And I still had some leftover rice after that.