![Baked Chicken Thighs](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/01/04/multimedia/LH-Baked-Chicken-Thighs-hzgq/LH-Baked-Chicken-Thighs-hzgq-mediumThreeByTwo440.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Weeknight Fancy Chicken and Rice
![Weeknight Fancy Chicken and Rice](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/10/25/dining/sb-weeknight-fancy-chicken/merlin_164331318_b2defe99-c033-4d56-b963-ffac99dd3371-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 50 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
Advertisement
Ingredients
- ¼cup ghee (or use unsalted butter)
- 1large yellow onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
- 6green cardamom pods, crushed
- 3whole star anise
- 1¼teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- 6garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1½teaspoons turmeric powder
- 1pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into ¾-inch pieces
- 2¼cups low-sodium chicken stock
- 1½cups basmati rice
- ¼cup chopped dried apricots
- ¼cup sliced raw almonds, toasted
- ¼cup chopped cilantro leaves
Preparation
- Step 1
In a medium saucepan with a lid, melt ghee over medium-high heat. Add onions, cardamom, star anise and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are soft and a very deep golden brown, about 15 minutes, lowering heat if necessary to keep from burning them. Add garlic and turmeric; cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes, or until very fragrant. Add chicken and cook for 4 minutes, stirring to coat chicken with the onion mixture.
- Step 2
Add stock and remaining salt, increase the heat and bring to a boil. Add rice, stir and cover. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the rice has absorbed liquid, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 12 minutes. Remove lid and fluff rice with a fork.
- Step 3
Transfer chicken and rice to a bowl, taking care to remove and discard cardamom pods and star anise. Garnish with apricots, almonds and cilantro. Serve at once.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
This was very tasty. I didn't have any star anise, so I added the standard cinnamon stick and bay leaf combo to the cardamom and also some cumin seed, coriander seed and mustard seed. The turmeric amount seemed skimpy, so I tripled that and am glad I did. I also added 2 sliced serrano peppers for some heat. One thing I might do differently next time is to add the rice before the broth and sauté it a bit before adding the broth, so that the rice grains don't stick together as much.
This is a simplified Chicken Biryani. The level of spice is for more timid Western tastes. You know what to do.
Cardamom pods can be bitter, so it's best to crush the pods, remove the seeds and discard the pods, using the seeds alone. They, and the star anise will be easy to remove after cooking if you wrap them in a piece of cheesecloth and tie it into a bundle with a piece of kitchen string before putting them in the pot.
My feeling is that this is an extremely under-seasoned recipe. Neither the cardamom nor the star anise have enough zip to elevate this beyond a very basic chicken and rice dish. Were I to cook this again, I would definitely want to add some chiles for a bit of heat, and perhaps some garam masala to amp up the spice.
As someone else mentioned, this is a simplified Chicken Biryani with the spices considerably reduced. Taking others' lead, I increased the amount of cardomom, tripled the turmeric, added cumin, and used Chinese 5-spice blend (which includes star anise) instead of the anise alone.but it was still too mild for me. Next time, some heat. As in all Indian cooking, you should remove the chicken skin. You must also wash (rinse) and soak the basmati for 30 minutes before adding it to the pan.
Is there something I can use as a substitute for the green cardamom pods?
Awesome dinner. Used 1 tsp garam marsala and 1 tsp ground cardamon with the onions, and skipped most of the salt.
Definitely worth it. Not difficult. Very tasty combination of spices. Have been using chicken thighs instead of breasts in all of my cooking with great results. I chop the thighs into 4 or 5 chunks, remove the skin and leave the bone. Result is always moist and flavorful. Not spicy and OK for just about everyone. The rice was perfectly cooked as well. I
had no apricots so I used dried quartered figs instead. Loved it.
Very easy and different enough from the usual chicken and rice to do now and again. Based on other comments, I used breast tenders cut in half and browned lightly before everything else, then set aside and added back when the rice was half cooked, so they were not dry. Also included about 2 tsp minced ginger, which was more than plenty. And used only 1 cup of rice which also increased flavor-fullness. Served with sliced mango and avocado, with lime to spritz all.
I didn't have cardamom pods so I substituted a teaspoon or so of ground cardamom. With that and the star anise it was quite flavorful. I wonder whether those who found it underseasoned were using older anise. Hot pepper would have taken it in a less desirable direction, I think. I sauteed some zucchini and onions with cumin and turmeric as a side.
I added golden raisins at the end and the fam - after at first being confused by raisins in "fried" rice - absolutely loved it. This may become a staple.
NOTE: go easy the on the onions in the first step so that they don't caramelize, thus discoloring the dish.
From most helpful notes: add 2 diced serranos. Sub cinnamon stick for star anise. Add extra 1/2 times more spices including 1 tsp garam masala. Sauté rice first to separate grains. Check cooking time and liquids on bazamati and compare to recipe.
It’s very important to rinse the rice and soak it with cold water for a few hours or warm water for 1/2 hr. With brown rice I add mong lentil or brown split lentil, takes longer to cook also needs more broth( lentil has to be boiled, half way cooked and rinsed before adding to the mix) , hopefully
MW = microwave
It might be clear if you didn't substitute "mw" for English.
Lots of prep but it was pretty easy. The flavor is kind of mild. I was hoping for something a little stronger. I didn't have star anise so I used a little bit of cinnamon. I will make it again and will probably use thighs instead of breasts. It was kind of dry. All in all, a pretty yummy dish.
Add a Serrano plus maybe a little bit of Cinnamon and ginger???
This dish is a keeper! I didn’t have fresh cardamom pods so I used dried cardamom seeds and it worked! I also use chicken bone broth instead of just the broth and the dish is more umami. Some comments above suggested triple turmeric and adding Serrano pepper slices. I will do this! I am also thinking about using chicken thighs instead of breast next time to add moisture in the meat. I may even try the thighs with skin so that the fat will make the rice less dry.
I’ve made this recipe as it’s written and it’s fantastic though I do agree it’s very light on the spice. I would go as far as to say you could double all of the spices. The best thing about this recipe is that it’s very adaptable. If you don’t have cardamom or star anise you could substitute coriander, garam masala, ginger, any number of things. In other variations, I’ve added chilies to the onions, made a topping of fried shallots, made a yogurt, cucumber sauce. Really solid versatile recipe.
2 tsp garam masala 1/2 tsp cayenne make cauliflower
Excellent. Tossed in some spinach and added cumin and coriander. Level of effort is more Sunday night than weekday.
I loved this. Happen to have green cardamom pods which elevated the flavor nicely. Used anise seed in place of star anise. A squeeze of lime on top was nice.
This recipe turned out great and I will make again! Slight changes were made as noted, double the turmeric, used cinnamon stick as recommended in other notes, used 1 teaspoon of ground cardamom and added a 1/2 teaspoon of dried Serrano chili pepper. When the recipe was done, I folded into the rice/chicken mixture some steamed peas and sliced carrots.
I added sautéed asparagus (oil and clove of garlic) chopped up. Delicious addition!
This came together really nicely. I made lots of modifications based on others’ comments: I doubled the recipe to get more meals/leftovers out of it for the same effort. I added a good amount of cayenne pepper, chili powder, and hot curry powder. I added a handful of figs. I wanted more veg so I added about 1.5 c shredded carrot. I didn’t have chicken so I used frozen shrimp, which I quick-thawed under cool running water. I added the shrimp at the very end.
It was a tad bland. I had to add a lot more salt, and next time I make it, I will definitely double the alliums. Otherwise, the flavor profile was right on.
Hi All, when substituting spices/herbs it would be helpful to be more specific, indicating how much you added of each spice -1t., 1/2 t. etc. I couldn't find star anise and substituted using some of the suggestions in the reviews but had to guess at the quantity. Thanks!
This was easy and tasty but I found a bit dry so I added a glob of greek yogurt and it was much better. The night before we had cooked the NYTimes recipe for red curried lentils with sweet potato and spinach which as also delicious. The third night we decided to combine the two leftovers. Fabulous! The combination was better that the two original recipes. Still added the dollop of yogurt and some roasted pistachios and shredded coconut.
Triple turmeric?
Really good except for a strange burned flavor that I couldn’t identify. Cardamom, maybe?
Advertisement