This rice and chicken bake goes so well with our Cauliflower and Potato Curry.
Who doesn’t love easy, all-in-one dish meals? Delicious, non-fussy dinners, which don’t require a lot of washing up too. Win on all fronts if you ask me. If you are a fan of vibrant Indian flavours of ginger, garlic, coriander and turmeric, you will fall in love with this chicken and rice recipe. This dish delivers quite a punch without being too spicy!
Chicken and Rice
This classic combo exists in many world cuisines for a good reason. It’s delicious and satisfying! This particular recipe is my own invention. It draws on the flavours of Indian cuisine, my family loves so much, but it is not an authentic Indian recipe. It is however, scrumptious. So I truly hope you love it as much as we do.
The Flavours
I combined my favourite spices, typically used in Indian curries, and infused Basmati rice with the mix. I also replaced part of the water, the rice is cooked in, with creamy coconut milk. Then I topped the rice and pea combo with browned chicken thighs and baked everything together until the rice was fluffy and the chicken is juicy and perfectly done. The end result blew past my expectations. Creamy, fragrant rice, which gets its flavour from a variety of spices and the chicken juices, and its yellow colour from turmeric. The spices you will need are cumin, coriander ginger, garlic, turmeric and chilli powder for a touch of heat. I used Kashmiri chilli powder for a milder taste. If you can’t find it, replace with paprika.
Recipe Tips and Notes
I used skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs in this recipe but they could be replaced with skinless boneless chicken thighs or even breasts. If you do use skin on chicken thighs, they absolutely have to be browned first to avoid unpleasant skin texture later on. There are quite a few spices in this recipe, which might be challenging if you don’t normally use them in your everyday cooking. If that is your case, simply replace them with 2 Tbsp of fresh curry powder. Your recipe might not taste exactly the same but it will be a fair substitute. By “fresh” I mean curry powder that is not past its due date. Even though spice mixes don’t spoil, they lose their aroma and potency quickly. I added frozen peas to my recipe but you can replace them with green beans, broccoli or any other vegetables you like.
More Chicken and Rice Recipes to Try:
Spanish Chicken and Rice Indonesian Coconut Chicken and Rice Slow Cooker Thai Chicken and Rice Soup
