Another one of my “no oil added” recipes . This is a one dish meal which is easy to make, fulfilling and nutritional. The benefits of saffron are innumerable and i have written about this time and time again. I created this recipe during my sons visit home. He loves wholesome , nutritive food and just loves rice that is cooked in chicken stock. In spite of me selling saffron there is no way i can get him to have some when he lives on his own , so when he comes home i try to give him some saffron in his food. This dish can also be frozen (see the picture ) and then heated up. This also makes an excellent tupperware meal. So… lets make something hearty and healthy today.
INGREDIENTS FOR 4-6
1 full chicken, cut into 10-12 pieces without skin
1 onion, halved
2 inches ginger, chopped roughly
10 cloves
1″ stick cinnamon
6 green cardamoms
2 star anise
2 bay leaves
1 black cardamom
2 teaspoons of cumin seeds
2 teaspoons of coriander seeds
1 teaspoon of green fennel seeds
1 teaspoon of salt or to taste
1 pinch of Nitu Didi pure spanish saffron
1 pinch of Nitu Didi pure turmeric powder
2 cups of basmati rice, washed and soaked for 30 minutes
6-8 green chillies, chopped fine
1 cup of fresh coriander leaves chopped ( i used my magical scissors for this)
6 cups of water
METHOD:
Put the water to boil in a huge pot. Once it comes to a boil add the salt and then add the chicken pieces and let it come to another boil. Once it boils you will see some foam on the top, please remove it all with a strainer or a spoon. Once its boiling without any foam, add the onion, ginger and all the spices except for the coriander leaves and green chillies. Boil this for 30 minutes till the chicken is done. Once the chicken is done take off heat. Remove the chicken from the fragrant stock and place in a baking tray. Strain the stock with a strainer. Put all the strained spices, cooked onion and ginger into a blender when cooled and blend into a paste ( i used my bullet to do this) Once blended put this paste back into the soup. You should have about 3-3.5 cups of stock, more or less. Put the stock in a good casserole dish ( i used my ceramic pan) and bring it to a boil. Add the rice and check and correct seasoning. While the rice is cooking, put the chicken pieces into a hot oven (240 degrees) and brown them a bit.  Cook till the rice is nearly done, and add the chopped green chillies and the chopped coriander leaves.
To serve… place the chicken pieces on top of the rice and be prepared to enjoy this amazing dish.
NITU DIDI TIP: If for any reason you have extra stock, you can freeze it. If for any reason you have less stock you can just add a bit of water. This all depends on the kind of chicken you are using 🙂
To buy my amazing pure spanish saffron, ceramic pans or magical scissors do visit my online store