I thought it was about time I dusted the cobwebs off the blog and posted a recipe, plus 96% of you requested this recipe on my Instagram story poll. And this is a great one. Quick, easy and just 5 ingredients! I’ve been watching Jamie Oliver’s Quick and Easy Food TV show recently and it inspired me to create this dish for dinner. If you haven’t heard of the show or watched it, I suggest you drop what you’re doing right now and check it out. He shares insanely easy meals, that are all 5 ingredients (plus some pantry basics) and all pack a good hit of flavour. The recipe I’m sharing today, was inspired by his baked rice and tikka roast chicken. One of the things I like about the show recipes is that he’s not afraid to use short-cuts in the recipes, I know that can be a no-no for some, but we’re all busy people and this makes the idea of cooking achievable. His mission is to make eating real food easier for everyone and I think this show (and book) does the trick.
It’s always difficult finding something the kids will eat, but this one definitely ticked all the boxes. This Tandoori Chicken Rice was a hit, we ate it for dinner, lunch and dinner again the next day. Yay for leftovers! It has 5 main ingredients and is quick to throw together. I used a store-bought tandoori paste for this recipe, but if you prefer you can make your own. The other 4 ingredients are rice, red onion, chicken and frozen peas, it also contains some pantry staples like salt, water and oil.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that I have recommended.
This dish is best made before you plan to eat it, as reheating the rice in the oven or keeping it in there for too long will dry out the chicken. So I recommend starting this 30-40 minutes before you serve. If you do plan to cook this earlier, you could leave the baking stage until the very end or reheat in the microwave or stovetop with some additional water.
Pre-heat your oven to 180c.
Cut your chicken into 1inch cubes, keeping them all a similar size.
Follow your tandoori paste instructions to marinate your chicken (in my case it was 4 tablespoons of tandoori paste to 500g of chicken, I used the Patak’s brand).
Set your chicken aside to marinate as you prepare the other ingredients.
Finely chop your red onion.
Place the oil in an oven-safe pan.
Add your onion to the pan.
Cook the onion until it starts to soften.
Add the chicken to your pan and brown on all sides,
Once the chicken is browned add in your rice and salt.
Give this a quick stir through and add 3 cups of water.
Place your pan on a high heat and bring the water to a boil.
Once your water starts bubbling, add in your peas.
Place in the oven for 15 minutes or until the rice is cooked through and fluffs up.
Serve as is or with some greek yogurt.
Notes
If your children don’t like peas, you can swap this out for another vegetable. You can also cook this on the stovetop, by following the directions of cooking rice with the absorption method, which should be on the packet of rice. You can top the rice with some greek yogurt tanginess.
Maroccan food is a favourite in our house, in fact I think I could put it at the top of my Mr Munchies favourite type of cuisine. His birthday means baking a cake and making Moroccan, yip that’s all he needs for his birthday. I married a good one.
On the day, I made Moroccan Lamb stew (a dish I make often) and I tried this Chicken Tagine, it was yummy but I think the stew is our favourite. Lamb seems to be much better suited to Moroccan flavourings. I’ll have to bring you that recipe the next time I make it, I didn’t get a chance to take photos on the day.
Yes, if you read my posts you’ll know Mr Munchies’ birthday was over a month ago, better late then never, right? If you like Moroccan Cuisine too, try this one out (PS. you don’t really need a tagine, but gosh does it look good in photos)
Start off by marinating your chicken in the garlic. Get a pan heating on the stove (you could use a tagine base), add in the oil and the chicken and let the chicken brown over a medium to high heat. Once the chicken has browned add in the onion and cook until soft. Add in all the spices up to and including the can of diced tomatoes in the ingredient list and let cook on a high heat until the liquid starts to bubble. Add water and carrots, let cook for 15 minutes. Add in zucchini and chickpeas. Place a lid on the pot and let it all cook for a further 15 minutes or until the vegetables and chicken are tender. Throw in olives. Sprinkle with coriander to serve.
Moroccan may seem a little foreign, but honestly most of us already have all these ingredients in our kitchen pantry. Give it a try, you won’t be sorry. Serve it with cous cous, or rice, totally up to you. I prefer cous cous, much more traditional.
Just over six months ago we embarked on a journey to the subcontinent. My husband, son and I left in late December to make a few stops along the way. Phuket and Kuala Lumpur were on the cards before getting to India, a country neither of us had been to, despite our Indian heritage. This was not a holiday by any means, our sole purpose was to attend the wedding of Abdullah’s sister (my wonderful sister in law), Aasiya. What we never expected was to leave feeling humbled, grateful and renewed.
India is an amazing place with amazing people and beautiful sights. One of the most enjoyable parts of our trip was definitely the wedding and the functions that preceded it. And coming a close second was the food, there is honestly nothing like Indian food, so intricate in flavour and colour. My favourite dish in India was anything that had paneer (an Indian cheese, looks like a block of fetta, texture and taste of cottage cheese).
It’s something I always order in an Indian restaurant here and usually cook with the frozen bags at home. As in India has a high population of vegetarians, paneer is extremely popular, and depsite having over 20 paneer dishes while in India, not one of them was the same, there was paneer in different types of curries, paneer with marinates that were grilled, paneer balls, crumbed paneer, paneer stuffed in chillies and vegies, and too many more to mention. Even after all that, I wasn’t sick of the paneer, and forunately for me, on my last day in India I watched an Indian chef on TV make paneer from scratch, I couldn’t believe how easy it was.
Since our trip, I have made paneer countless times, and there’s nothing like the fresh stuff, I’ll never go back to frozen again. I will be doing a recipe on how to make paneer from scratch sometime in the near future. For now, here’s a recipe using paneer.
Paneer Malai** Tikka
500g paneer
1/2 bunch corriander
3/4 tsp salt1 tsp ground cumin
1 whole green chilli
1 tblsp lemon juice
1/2 cup cream (**malai is an Indian term for cream)
Cut the paneer into cubes and set aside in a bowl. Grind all ingredients except for cream in a blender, once blended into a paste mix in cream. Pour over paneer and leave to marinate. Cook off on a medium to high heat in a about 1 tblsp oil. Serve with naan bread.
Variation: This recipe works well with chicken, just substitute the 500g paneer with 500g chicken pieces.
India is a definite must see and it’s a place I’m sure we’ll be visiting again. For now, enjoy some photos from our trip.
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Try out this paneer malai tikka recipe, great with chicken as well. Oh and Happy 6 month Anniversary Aasiya and Salim!
Tandoori it is… This had to be my first recipe, it’s the easiest, yummiest thing I like to make. Normally I use chicken, but in this case I decided to use chicken and paneer for a vegetarian option. I was surprised, it actually turned out quite well with the paneer. What is paneer? It’s an Indian cheese, that is basically a hardened cottage cheese.
Ingredients
1 kg boneless chicken (I used 750 g chicken and 200 g paneer)
115 ml tomato paste (about 4 tablespoons)
2 tblsp yogurt
1 tblsp lemon juice
2 tblsp oil
1 tsp garlic
1/4 tsp ginger
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground red chillies (chilli flakes are a good alternative)
Method
Mix all the ingredients together and marinate chicken and paneer. You can use it straight away, but if you have the time, leave to marinate for a few hours. You can use this recipe for a roast marinade, you can fry the pieces or with cut up vegetables on skewers. I used red onion, red and green capsicum. A tandoori meal needs a cooling accompaniment such as a raita (cucumber yogurt) but my beetroot version is an absolute hit… It goes well with almost anything, and works wonderfully as a dip with bread and crackers.
Beetroot Yogurt
2 medium beetroot (or half a can of beetroot)
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
If using fresh beetroot, boil them until cooked (about 30-60 minutes). If using whole beetroot, grate them. If using sliced beetroot, chop finely and mix in with yogurt. I know it seems too simple, but trust me, it doesn’t need anything else.
Tandoori skewers and beetroot yogurt… flavoursome, healthy… Yum!
