Came across this dish whilst I was browsing some cookery sites looking for inspiration as hubby fancied a one pot rice meat dish... I’m always paranoid of trying a one pot rice dish incase the rice gets over cooked... so I came up with a cheat version and it turned out perfectly well...
4-5 chicken thighs
1 1/2 cup rice (soaked for at least 2 hrs)
2-3 onions (finely sliced and fried till golden)
2 onions chopped
1 cinnamon stick
2 cardamom pods
1 bay leaf
2 green chilli, slit
3-4 peppercorns
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
Lemon slices
1 tbsp ginger/garlic paste
Freshly chopped mint & coriander
2 aubergines, thinly sliced
1 stock cube
Olive oil & butter
Freshly crushed pepper & salt for seasoning
Method:
- Marinate the aubergine slices in olive oil, 1 tsp garlic powder, basil, oregano, salt & pepper. Mix well.
- In a pan, shallow fry the aubergine in olive oil, until golden brown..keep aside.
- Cut chicken into chunks and marinate in ginger/garlic paste, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Keep aside for 30 mins at least.
- In the pan used to fry aubergine, add the chicken and fry lightly to seal juices for few minutes. Keep aside as it will cook along with rice later.
- In a pot, heat oil, add the cinnamon, cardamom, peppercorns, cumin and bay leaf. Once it starts giving an aroma add the onions and mix well.
- Add in the chicken and drained rice, lightly mix. Don’t overdo it ask this will break the grains.
- Add 3 cups boiling water, stock cube, season with salt, add the lemon slices and cover. Cook for 5 mins.
- Once water is almost dry and holes appear in the rice, turn heat off and keep aside covered
- Grease a Pyrex dish, add layers of rice, chicken and aubergine. Sprinkle the chopped mint, coriander and fried onions as you layer.
- Place this dish in pre heated oven and cook for 20-30 mins on 180deg.
Tips
The traditional method involves add the meat and aubergine to bottom of pot and then rice on top.. so when served it is flipped.. but I tried layering it to get better consistency.
You can add pine nuts for garnish as well
