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Chicken Rice Pilaf with Peas

Everything in one pan: chicken browned, rice toasted in the same fat, then simmered until the grains stand separate.

Chicken Rice Pilaf with Peas. Everything in one pan: chicken browned, rice toasted in the same fat, then simmered until the grains stand separate.
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Prep 15 minCook 35 minServes 4

Ingredients

Why metric?

Metric avoids regional spoon ambiguity. US uses 5 mL tsp, 15 mL tbsp and 240 mL cup. Small masses stay in grams unless a verified recipe conversion exists. More on measurements

  • 500 g boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 3 cm pieces
  • 320 g basmati rice (dry), rinsed
  • 1 onion, chopped (150 g)
  • 200 g carrot, diced
  • 150 g frozen peas
  • 3 garlic cloves, chopped (15 g)
  • 700 ml reduced-salt chicken stock, (700 g)
  • 30 ml extra-virgin olive oil (27 g)
  • 3 g ground cumin
  • 12 g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • 2 g iodised table salt
  • Ground black pepper, to taste

Method

  1. Warm half the oil in a wide pan with a lid over medium-high heat and brown the chicken in two batches, 3-4 minutes each. Crowding the pan steams it and you lose the browning that flavours the whole dish. Set it aside.
  2. Add the rest of the oil with the onion and carrot and cook 8 minutes, then stir in the garlic and cumin for a minute.
  3. Add the rinsed rice and stir it for a minute so every grain is coated in the fat.
  4. Return the chicken, add the stock and salt, bring to a simmer, cover and cook on the lowest heat for 15 minutes. Do not lift the lid: the trapped steam is what cooks the top layer of rice.
  5. Stir the peas in for the last 3 minutes, then take the pan off the heat and leave it covered for 10 minutes.
  6. Fork it through with the parsley and plenty of pepper.

Serve

If onion or garlic is one of your own triggers, leave it out — the browning on the chicken and the cumin carry the dish without them.

Tomorrow

Reheats well with a splash of water under a lid.

Safety and storage

Cook to
75°C / 167°F in the centre (poultry, including minced poultry)
Keeps
2 days refrigerated below 5°C
Reheat to
steaming hot, at least 75°C

The Food Safety Information Council table gives poultry, whole or minced, as 75°C in the centre. Colour and clear juices are not a reliable test. Check the thickest part with a thermometer.

Cooked rice and pasta keep two days rather than three, so this dish takes the shorter time. Cool it fast: split large amounts into shallow containers as soon as it stops steaming, and have it in the fridge within two hours. Reheat once only, until steaming hot right through, at least 75°C in the centre.

Where these temperatures come from

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