One pot chicken, brown rice and greens with a ginger and spring onion sauce

One pot chicken, brown rice and greens with a ginger and spring onion sauce

Dairy-Free Gluten-free Meat One Tray Realistic Dinners Rice & Other Grains

Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • Salt
  • 650g (4-6) chicken thighs
  • 5 tablespoon neutral oil like vegetable oil (2 tbsp for chicken + 3 tbsp for the sauce)
  • 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 40g ginger, finely chopped or grated
  • 6 spring onions, finely chopped (white and darker green parts separated)
  • 2 cups basmati brown rice (see notes below on types of rice – important!)
  • 2 cups - 500ml chicken stock
  • 1 ½ cups – 375ml water
  • 4 tablespoons soy sauce (2 tbsp for rice+ 2 tbsp for the sauce)
  • 2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (see note on substitute below)
  • 120g snow peas, thinly sliced lengthways (a big handful)
  • 1 pak choy or bok choy, roughly chopped (keep leaves and stems separate)
  • Handful of bean sprouts

Substitutions
Chinese cooking wine: If you don’t have Chinese cooking wine, don’t worry. Just add one more tablespoon of soy sauce and one tablespoon of water. It will still be delicious.

Method

Season the chicken thighs. Heat a large deep pan with a tight-fitting lid over medium heat. Add 2 tbsp oil. Brown the chicken thighs until they get some colour. You might need to do this in batches. Set the chicken aside.

Prep the spring onions. Slice up the spring onions. Set aside the darker ends for the sauce, and throw the white and very light green parts into your pot along with the garlic and half of your ginger (about 20g). Cook, stirring frequently for about a minute until fragrant. Use this opportunity to scrape off those lovely chickeny bits left from browning the thighs.

Add the rice and liquids. Add the rice and toss it around for a further minute before adding 500ml chicken stock, 375ml water, 2 tablespoon soy sauce, and 2 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine (see note below for replacement). Give the bottom of the pan a good scrape. Bring to a simmer, then nestle the chicken back into the liquid. Reduce heat to low, cover with a lid, and leave to cook for 45 minutes. No peeking! Seriously, this can disrupt the rice cooking and turn it from fluffy to soggy.

Check the rice. After 45 minutes, check your rice by lifting the lid slightly trying to avoid letting out too much steam. It should be tender with a bite, and the liquid absorbed. If the rice needs longer, cover and cook for another 10 minutes. If done, turn off the heat but leave the pot on the stove with the lid on. We will be using the residual heat to steam the greens.

Steam the greens. Quickly pile your snow peas, pak choy stems, pak choy leaves, and bean sprouts on top of the rice (note the order I do it here). Cover immediately to use the residual heat to steam the greens for 10 minutes. This also gives the rice time to relax and finish cooking too.

Make the sauce. Meanwhile, add the reserved green spring onion tops to a heatproof bowl along with the remaining ginger (20g) and 2 tablespoon soy sauce. Heat 3 tbs of neutral oil in a small saucepan until it's very hot and simmering. Carefully pour this over the spring onions and ginger. It will sizzle and bubble for a few seconds. Stir and set aside.

Serve. When ready, serve some of the sauce on top and on the side.

Lizzies Tips

A Note on Rice

Getting rice perfect in a one-pot dish can be tricky. This recipe uses basmati brown rice, which has a thinner husk and cooks quicker. It also doesn't get as sticky as the standard medium/long grain brown rice. Basmati brown rice is readily available in supermarkets. Using standard brown rice might make it stickier and require a longer cooking time. I haven’t tested this with white basmati yet, but it will likely need a tweak in liquid ratio and a shorter cooking time so keep that in mind.

I don't bother rinsing my rice. I know, I know. But if you don't rinse it properly until the water runs completely clear (which takes at least 8 times, and I never do), there's not much point. One-pot rice relies on the right quantity of liquid to rice, so rinsing it will add to the liquid and could make the rice soggy.

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