Boxing Day Chicken

Boxing Day Chicken

Preperation and cooking time: 45 minutes

Serves one or two.

Ingredients:

1. Two free range chicken breasts (400g)
2. Three large mushrooms
3. Three regular tomatoes
4. A pinch of turmeric
5. A small bunch of coriander (10-15g)
6. A couple of sprigs of tarragon
7. Half a teaspoon of cumin seeds
8. Half a lime
9. A few drops of Fairtrade intense vanilla essence from Uganda
10. A large pinch of ground cinnamon
11. A knob of ginger
12. Two to four segments of garlic
13. Half a teaspoon of Rock salt
14. Some organic black pepper corns
15. Miscellaneous spices (cardamom pods, cloves, etc)
16. Half a glass of fine wine (Gevrey-Chambertin red 2008, Il Bruciato from Bolgheri 2009 red)
17. Olive oil for cooking
18. A pinch of dried oregano
19. A pinch of dried parsley
20. Basmati rice
21. (Optionally a medium green de-seeded chilli and a few chopped up spring onions)

Prepare the basmati rice by rinsing it and adding water to it in the pan two parts water to one part rice, let it rest in could water while you prepare the chicken. (alternatively rinse it and then add boiling water to it from the kettle in the same proportion) I sometimes cook it with a de-seeded chilli for added flavour.

If the chicken smells when you take it out of the packet, rinse it in water to clean it up. Rub the turmeric into the chicken then dice it by cutting it into small dice-size pieces on a large chopping board. Place these in a bowl.

Add the cumin seeds, half teaspoon rock salt, a few black pepper corns, oregano, parsley, ground cinnamon, fair-trade vanilla, miscellaneous spices etc. grate a large segment of garlic into the bowl and then grate the knob of ginger. Squeeze in half a lime. Chop up the coriander finely and also chop up the tarragon, add half the leaf section of chopped coriander to the chicken and half the leaf section of the chopped tarragon. Pour in half a glass of wine and mix everything up with you hands. Pour some olive oil on top when mixed up. Cover bowl with a plate.

Start the rice cooking on a high heat when violently boiling cover the pan with a lid and reduce to low heat and let rice simmer.

Chop up mushrooms and some garlic, add to deep pan with oil on medium heat and cook covered with rest of tarragon and the stalk section of the chopped coriander. (Optionally add a few chopped spring onions and a de-seeded chilli).

Bring frying pan to high heat, add lots of oil, put chicken pieces in the pan to fry for fifteen minutes keeping heat high and use lid to half cover pan.

Chop tomatoes and add to the remaining sauce from marinating the chicken’s and then add to deep pan with the mushrooms and simmers for fifteen minutes on medium heat.

Add the fried chicken to the tomato and mushroom sauce and leave to simmer until the rice is cooked and then add remaining chopped coriander leaves to the chicken.

Eat it with a glass of wine and have a desert afterwards.