Poppy O’Toole’s midweek spicy chicken and baked rice. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Mandy Thompson. View image in fullscreen Poppy O’Toole’s midweek spicy chicken and baked rice. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Mandy Thompson. Food Poppy O’Toole’s midweek timesavers: spicy chicken and baked rice, and Thai-style lemongrass fishcakes – recipe You’ll thank yourself for making these batch-cooking beauties to store in the freezer until the next busy worknight
Prefer the Guardian on Google I ’ve called this spicy chicken and baked rice “midweek”, but you can enjoy this baby all week long. Juicy, spiced chicken, fluffy baked rice and enough flavour to make you bin that takeaway menu and raid your cupboards instead. Then some fragrant, delicate fishcakes with a lovely, bouncy texture, which are such a winner for the freezer. Taking only 10-ish minutes to cook from frozen, they save you from hunger and distraction on a busy WFH day.
Prep 10 min Marinate 1 hr Cook 45 min Serves 8
200g G reek yoghurt Zest and juice of 1 lemon 50g harissa paste 1 tbsp garlic granules 1 tbsp dried oregano 2 tsp ground turmeric 1 tbsp ras el hanout 2 tsp ground coriander 2 tsp ground cumin Salt and pepper 16 skinless, boneless chicken thighs Olive oil 3 red onions , peeled and roughly chopped into large pieces 2 red peppers , deseeded and roughly chopped into large pieces 4 garlic cloves , peeled and minced or grated 2 tbsp tomato puree 400g basmati rice 1 400g tin crushed tomatoes 800ml chicken stock
Serving suggestions (optional) Sliced or pickled red onion Crumbled feta Flat-leaf parsley leaves In a bowl, combine the yoghurt, lemon zest and juice, harissa, garlic granules, dried oregano, ground turmeric, ras el hanout, coriander and cumin with a large pinch each of salt and pepper. Add the chicken thighs, give them a good mix to coat, then pop them in the fridge to marinate for at least an hour.
Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Meanwhile, put a glug of olive oil in an oven-safe saute pan on a high heat. Chuck in the onions and peppers, fry for two to three minutes, until colooured and slightly blackened, then add the garlic and fry for a minute more, until fragrant.
Turn down the heat to medium, squeeze in the tomato puree and cook for one minute, until the mix darkens. Season generously, then tip in the rice and toast for a minute. Pour in the crushed tomatoes and chicken stock, and bring to a bubble.
Put the chicken thighs on top of the rice – you want about half of each chicken thigh sitting above the level of the stock – then put the pot in the oven for 30 minutes, until the chicken is slightly charred and cooked through and the rice is tender. Serve immediately, piping hot, with the pickled red onion, feta and parsley, if you like.
To eat later, freeze in an airtight container for up to three months. To reheat from frozen, heat the oven to 190C (170C fan)/375F/gas 5 and reheat for 45–50 minutes, until piping hot throughout. Or defrost fully in the fridge overnight, then heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6 and reheat for 25–30 minutes, again until piping hot throughout.
View image in fullscreen Poppy O’Toole’s lemongrass and ginger Thai-style fishcakes. Prep 5 min Chill 1 hr Cook 15 min Serves 8
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