A great chicken and rice recipe

If you are looking for a delicious and easy chicken with rice meal, this west African recipe is perfect for you. Unlike many recipes, this one is very flexible regarding ingredients and guarantees a tasty dish. Read on the following article to know more about that great chicken and rice recipe.

Jollof chicken and rice

Jollof rice is a traditional west African dish. It doesn't have a fixed set of ingredients, so you can always substitute one vegetable for another. The only constants are chicken, tinned tomatoes, onions and rice.

Ingredients

- Eight pieces of chicken (breasts or chicken thighs, cut into small pieces) - 400g of Basmati rice - Three tablespoons of oil (vegetable or olive) - One chicken or vegetable stock cube plus 600ml of water, or 600ml of chicken stock - Two onions chopped - One tin of chopped tomatoes - Three tablespoons of tomato puree - One red or green pepper chopped - Three cloves of garlic, 100g each of okra - Green beans, peas, mange-tout and baby sweet corn, carrots or cabbage (basically whatever vegetables that you have in hand).

Method

- Heat two tablespoons of oil in a large pan over a medium heat, and then brown the chicken in batches. - Once browned all over, remove to a plate. - Add the remaining oil to the pan, fry the onions and peppers until the onions are soft, but not browned. This should take four to five minutes. - Then, add the garlic and fry for another minute. - Stir the rice into the pan, and add the tomato puree and the tinned tomatoes. - Stir and reduce for three minutes. - Crumble the stock cube over the pan and add the 600ml of boiling water, or add the 600ml stock made to the pan. - Add the chicken and whatever vegetables that you are using. - Seal with a lid or cover with foil. - Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. - Remove from heat and allow the dish to stand for ten minutes before serving. - Serve with green salad.

Final note

This versatile Jollof rice recipe can also be given added zing by adding chopped chilli peppers at the onion stage, or by adding ginger or curry powder to the tomato puree. Remember, you don't need to have all the ingredients listed above, as long as you have chicken, rice, onions and tomatoes, feel free to experiment with the rest.