Chicken in Rice

A community recipe by cibele ruas

Not tested or verified by Nigella.com

Introduction

Rich main dish with easy to get ingredients: rice, chicken, onions, black pepper and garlic, vinegar, oil and butter. After you get the tricks of it, it is easy to prepare, and pleases all tastes.

Ingredients

Serves: 6

3 cups rice
1 chicken (cut into pieces)
4 tablespoons vinegar
4 sliced onions
4 cloves sliced garlic
1 pinch of salt (to taste)
1 pinch of black pepper (to taste)
1 red bell pepper (optional)
4 tablespoons butter (or margarine)
3 cups oil (to fry the chicken)
1 handful chopped fresh parsley
½ cup green olives (pitted - optional)

Method

Chicken in Rice is a community recipe submitted by cibele ruas and has not been tested by Nigella.com so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe.

Cut a chicken to pieces and season it with 2 tablespoons of vinegar and salt to taste.

I like to over season it, so that its seasoning will be enough for the rice also.

You may want to add some hot red bell pepper to give it a special flavour. Let the chicken stand for at least half an hour before frying.

Fry the pieces altogether in a large saucepan, in 3 cups of hot oil, stirring from time to time, with care, not to break the chicken parts, so that all the pieces get the same colour.

Let it brown, but REALLY brown - let them fry until they get quite dehydrate, and do not worry: they will rehydrate when cooking within the rice later...

Drain the oil, and add boiling water to slightly cover the pieces, letting it boil for about 20 minutes. Reserve.

In another large saucepan, large enough to accommodate the chicken and the rice (that triples the volume after it is cooked), brown the slices of onion - they take quite some time to get really brown, mostly dehydrated also - and be careful not to let them get past a deep brown colour, otherwise they will get bitter.

When the onions turn brown, pour in the uncooked rice, the drained chicken parts, reserving the sauce for the next step: mix all the ingredients in the pan, add the 4 cloves of garlic, and cover the chicken and rice with the rich chicken sauce (rice, when mixed with other ingredients, may take less water to cook, so just put enough sauce to slightly cover the mixture - if you do not get enough sauce, add some water, and stir).

Taste the sauce after mixing, and adjust the salt if needed. Put some black pepper and stir. Let simmer, covered, until the water is totally absorbed.

Taste the rice: if it is still hard, add more sauce and cook for some more time - in very low heat.

After it is ready, add the pitted green olives, if they please you, cover the pan and let it stand for 10 minutes, to settle the flavour.

It is ready to be served, and goes very well with a nice green leaf salad with Italian dressing.