One-Pot-Brazilian Chicken & Saffron Rice

Covid increases the awareness of remote working luckily. As a graphic designer, I was spending so much time on the computer; this was causing not having enough time for shopping or cooking. Eventually, I started to gain weight and eat junk food a lot. To stop this, I searched for an online food ordering service and decided to go with Gousto. I loved their branding and brand messaging, as well as their recipes. Since I’m Turkish and enjoy the Mediterranean diet, their recipes were the closest one to my taste. To keep everything in my archive, I’m writing their recipes in here too for future reference.

Recipe for 2

INGREDIENTS

• 320g chicken thighs, skin on
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground paprika
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Vegetable oil
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 brown onion
• 1 bell pepper
• 1 pinch of saffron
• 32g tomato paste
• 130g basmati rice
• 1 lemon
• 1 dried bay leaf
• 11g chicken stock mix
• 5g parsley
• 160g blanched peas

METHOD

1. Boil a kettle
2. Add the chicken thighs to a bowl with half of the ground cumin, half the ground paprika, and salt and pepper pinch. Give it all a good mix up until the thighs are evenly coated with the spices
3. Heat a large, wide-based pan (preferably non-stick with a matching lid) with a drizzle of vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the chicken thighs, skin-side down, and cook for 10 min or until the skins have browned and crisped. Once browned, turn the chicken and cook them for a further 2-3 min.
4. While the chicken thighs are cooking, peel and finely chop (or grate) the garlic. Peel and dice the brown onion. Roll the lemon with your hand on a hard surface (to release more juice) and cut in half. Deseed the pepper (scrape the seeds and pith out with a teaspoon) and dice. 
5. Transfer the browned chicken thighs to a plate and reserve the pan. It’s okay if they’re a little pink on the inside, they’ll get cooked more later. Return the pan to medium heat and add the diced onion and diced pepper with a pinch of salt and cook for 3-4 min. Add the chopped garlic, remaining ground cumin and ground paprika and cook for 1-2 min further or until fragrant.
6. Meanwhile, add the saffron to 350ml boiled water – this is your saffron stock. Once fragrant, add the tomato paste and basmati rice to the pan with the juice of ½ lemon and stir until the rice is coated. Add the saffron stock, bay leaf and chicken stock mix to the pan and give everything a good mix up.
7. Return the browned chicken thighs skin-side up to the pan. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to low and cook, covered, for 12-15 mon or until all the water is absorbed and the chicken is cooked through (no pink meat!). While the rice is cooking, roughly chop the parsley. Rinse the blanched peas under cold water and drain.
8. Pre-heat the grill to medium-high. Once all the water has been absorbed, add the rinsed peas to the pan and mix everything together. Put the pan under the grill for 2-3 min or until the chicken skins are crisp and golden – this is your one-pot Brazilian chicken & saffron rice.
9. Cut the remaining lemon into wedges. Serve the one-pot Brazilian chicken & saffron rice with the lemon wedges to the side. Garnish with the chopped parsley

Enjoy!