Chicken Kabsa — Spiced Basmati Rice

What you’ll need

Ingredients

Ingredient amounts make 4 servings. Nutrition below is for one serving.

• 700 g Raw boneless skinless chicken thigh
• 300 g White basmati rice, weighed dry
• 150 g Onion, peeled
• 250 g Tomatoes, trimmed
• 30 g Tomato paste, no added salt
• 25 g Olive oil
• 12 g Garlic, peeled and minced
• 3 g Ground cumin
• 3 g Ground coriander seed
• 1 g Ground cardamom
• 1 g Ground cinnamon
• 1 g Ground turmeric
• 1 g Ground black pepper
• 4 g Fine salt
• 1 Whole dried lime, pierced; remove before serving
• 750 ml Water, plus extra for washing or soaking as directed

Make it

Instructions

1. 1

   Rinse the rice until the water is less cloudy, drain and set aside without soaking. Chop onion and tomato; cut chicken into 4 cm pieces. Pierce the dried lime in several places.

2. 2

   Heat all the oil in a heavy pot. Cook onion for 8 minutes until golden. Add chicken and cook for 5 minutes, turning; stir in garlic, tomato paste and ground spices for 1 minute, then add tomato, dried lime, salt and 750 ml water.

3. 3

   Bring to a boil, cover and simmer gently for about 15–20 minutes until chicken reaches 74°C. Lift chicken and lime out. Pour the remaining contents through a sieve into a measuring jug, reserving every cooked solid and the liquid.

4. 4

   Measure 550 ml cooking liquid: if there is more, boil it down separately; if less, top up with hot water. Return the liquid, cooked vegetables, chicken and lime to the pot. Stir in the drained rice and bring back to a gentle boil.

5. 5

   Cover tightly and cook over very low heat for 18–22 minutes, until rice is tender and liquid absorbed. If still firm, add 30–50 ml boiling water and cook covered 5 minutes more. Rest off the heat 10 minutes; remove the lime, fluff and divide all rice and chicken equally into four portions.