Spicy chicken and saffron rice
Ingredients
- Sauce:
- 1/2 c chopped onion
- 1.5 T fresh lemon juice
- 2 T oil
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 t ground cardamom seeds
- 1/2 t ground cinnamon
- 1/4 t ground allspice
- The rest:
- 2 chicken breasts (boneless skinless)
- 100 g rice (long grain white)
- 30 g butter (2T)
- 1/2 cinnamon stick
- 1 cardamom (pod, seeds roughly crushed)
- 2 black peppercorns (roughly crushed)
- 1 T pistachios
- 1 T dried blueberries (or currants)
- saffron (a good pinch)
- 100 g Greek yogurt (optional, to serve)
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 175C/350F/Gas 4. Lightly grease a baking dish. In a bowl, whisk together all the sauce ingredients.
2. Put the chicken breasts in the baking dish and spoon the sauce over them. Place in the oven for 20 minutes, until cooked and golden.
3. Meanwhile, rinse the rice. Melt the butter in a deep ovenproof pot. Add the cinnamon, cardamom, and peppercorns; stir for a few minutes before adding the drained rice, pistachios, and blueberries/currants.
4. Pour enough water over the rice to cover it by 1/2" (1cm), season with salt, and stir in the saffron threads. Bring to a boil, cover with a lid, and place in the oven for 15 minutes.
5. To serve, divide the spicy rice onto 2 warmed plates and place a chicken breast on top of each. Serve with a bowl of Greek yogurt seasoned with salt and pepper.
Notes
SJ Note 6 June 2012: This was okay. Of course, it wasn't spicy-hot, it was spicy-flavorful - an attempt at it, anyways. I'll try it again, because the flavor combination was different for us, and I like it, but I'll up the flavor by doing a brine first and cooking it on the George Foreman grill instead of in the oven. The onion came out pretty much raw after just baking it, but I think grilling it will make that outside stuff tastier. We'll try it again.