Chicken and Yellow Rice

Learn how to make this chicken with yellow rice duo. A combination of boneless chicken thigh pieces, seared and seasoned and tossed with vegetables and brown rice cooked in curry powdered for a signature yellow hue. 

If you are looking for a dish that comes together with ease then this chicken and rice duo has your name written ALL over it.

While it isn't a quite a one pot meal because the chicken needs to be seared and set aside, it is very easy to put together and perfect for a weeknight meal.

The great thing about this dish is that you can literally ADD anything to it. Add any of your favourite vegetables, herbs, spices, you name it!

We like to keep things simple and have a few go to ingredients that pretty much work for this recipe each and everytime.

The emphasis is on always using a selection of vegetables, it doesn't really matter which ones but 3-4 is a good range for a recipe like this one.

It helps to balance out the ratio of chicken and rice to vegetables and a great way to incorporate your 5 a day.

Ingredients you will need

• Chicken - You will want to use chicken that is skinless and boneless. I used skinless and boneless chicken thighs or chicken breast, if you want meat that is leaner.
• Chicken stock - You can use vegetable stock instead but I feel like chicken stock works even better.
• Brown rice - This is a more nutritional dense rice, basmati to be precise.
• Carrots/kale/cho cho and bell peppers - These are my selection of vegetables, you can of course add more or use less but I do recommend choosing atleast three.
• Olive oil - for sauteing.
• Raw cane sugar - Used for browning the chicken.
• Onion/scallion and garlic - These are the base ingredients.
• Thyme and chado beni - Both are fresh herbs, fresh is beast!
• Scotch bonnet - A whole scotch bonnet is used for warmth and flavour NOT heat.
• Curry powder - I like to use my trusty homemade curry powder for flavour and to colour the rice.
• All purpose seasoning/black pepper and pink salt - to enhance the flavour.

Recipe preparation

This recipe is incredibly easy to prepare, you can season the meat and chop up the vegetables (kale, cho cho, bell peppers and carrots) if you want to overnight.

Although, the chicken doesn't need to be marinated overnight, seasoning ahea of time helps to reduce the amount of cooking time.

Boneless and skinless chicken thighs still has a small amount of fat that needs to be trimmed off but that particular meat is more flavoursome so I usually recommend to use it if possible.

Simply trim off the excess fat when you are washing the meat as per Caribbean custom.

Once the meat has been seasoned, you will need to brown it by melting the sugar until it dissolves and turns DARK brown.

This step is crucial to get right because it can affect the overall taste.

If you add the meat too soon and you run the risk of the chicken tasting rather sweet.

If you add it when the sugar turns BLACK AND BUBBLING this will result in a bitter after taste.

Precision is key, but you can by pass this step altogether by using my homemade browning sauce instead.

If you want to do that if you're a novice or simply don't feel confident in doing what is known as the "burnt sugar" method then add the browning (2 tablespoon, only if you are using my homemade version or 11/2 teaspoon of storebought) to the chicken when you are adding the all purpose seasoning, black pepper and pink salt.

The chicken will extract its own juices, you want to lock that liquid into the chicken as it will enhance the taste.

Do so by increasing the high until the liquid evaporates, this will take several minutes so be patient.

The chicken is then removed and set aside because we don't want to loose its own unique flavour by mixing it with the other ingredients, adding it towards the end helps to keep that colour and flavour.

The curry powder is cooked for just under a minute, this bring out its flavour and gives the rice that yellow hue as it cooks.

The vegetables - onion, garlic, scallion, kale, carrots, cho cho and bell peppers are cooked until they soften and the herbs - chado beni and thyme are added.

The rice, stock and scotch bonnet are added last, if you want your rice fiery now is the time to cut into or prick the scotch bonnet, as the heat is in the membrane.

Keeping it whole omits the heat, so keep that in mind.

Once the pot comes to a rolling boil then the heat is reduced until the rice is fluffy and soft.

It takes 30-45 minutes for brown rice to cook, this is a ROUGH guide, you will have to use your own judgement by checking the rice grains, they should be soft.

If the rice is hard to the liquid has evaporated then add some water (¼ cup) and check it's readiness every 10-15 minutes.

When the rice has cooked, just remember to do a taste test, add any additional seasoning.

I find that extra pink salt and black pepper is needed just before removing the thyme stems and scotch bonnet.

The steps

• Place the chicken in a medium sized bowl.
• Season the chicken with the all purpose seasoning, black pepper and pink salt.
• Heat the oil in a large non stick pot on medium heat.
• Add the sugar and immediately stir until it turns dark brown (very important, NOT BLACK nor should it be bubbling) ). This will take a few minutes so patience is key!

• Once the sugar has darkened, add the chicken and cook the chicken until it becomes brown (this should take 15-20 minutes).
• During the given time, the chicken should extract its own juices, you will want to increase the heat and cook on high heat until the liquid evaporates being careful not to burn the chicken.
• Once the chicken is seared, remove it from the pot and set aside.
• Meanwhile, add the rest of the olive oil and curry powder to the pot on medium heat and cook the curry for about one minute.

• Proceed to saute the onion, scallion and garlic until soft and translucent. You may need to add additional olive oil.
• Add the bell peppers, carrot and kale and stir to incorporate with the onion/garlic mixture.
• Add the thyme, chado beni and brown rice.
• Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a rolling boiling.

• Cover the pot with a lid and simmer for roughly 30 minutes. The rice should be soft and fluffy when cooked, check it with a fork, if it is not cooked, leave for additional 10-15 minutes, adding more liquid (¼ cup) if needed.
• Once cooked, remove the lid to fold in the chicken and put the lid on and leave to heat through for a few minutes.
• Remove the lid again and do a taste test and add any black pepper and pink salt to taste.
• Remove the scotch bonnet and thyme stems prior to serving.

Notes and tips

• Any leftovers can be refrigerated and eaten within 2 days.
• Alternatively, you can freeze any leftovers for up to 3 months.
• Make sure you are using low sodium/gluten free chicken stock and be mindful of the salt levels in the overall recipe
• This is the link that you need for my All Purpose Seasoning and Browning Sauce.
• Keep in mind the cooking time for the rice is a rough guide, what is important is that the rice is SOFT and fluffy, it shouldn't be hard or mushy.
• If you need to add any additional liquid, add water and only ¼ cup at a time, checking the rice every 10-15 minutes.
• If you rice is too soft then you can leave the lid off to evaporate the liquid or refer to my How To Fix Rice guide.
• The burnt sugar method can be intimidating, if you concerned about ruining the browning process, simply add 2 tablespoon of my Homemade Browning Sauce (2 teaspoon store bought) add this to the chicken when you are seasoning it and brown the meat without melting the sugar (burnt sugar method).
• You can add additional vegetables, if you want to or stick to the ones that I'm using.
• If you want your rice to be fiery, then prick or cut into the scotch bonnet.
• It is crucial that you cook off any excess liquid as the chicken is being browned as this will lock in and enhance the flavour.

More chicken dinners to try

• Garlic Butter Chicken
• Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken
• Caribbean Chicken and Cabbage
• Trinidad Stew Chicken
• Moros y Cristianos (With Mojo Chicken)
• Peanut Butter Chicken
• Haitian Stewed Chicken
• Cajun Chicken Breast with Zoodles
• Creamy Coconut Curry Chicken

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