Chicken with Basmati Rice and Sweet Raisins

Name: Chicken with Basmati Rice and Raisins Recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Chicken drumsticks 4; Basmati rice 1 cup (180 g); Hot water 1.5 cups (300 ml); Onion 1; Carrot 1; Sweet raisins 0.5 cup (70 g); Olive oil 3 tbsp; Salt, ground black pepper, curry powder to taste; Preserved lemon (rind) optional

☆ Rate it

45 mins

What can you make with rice? Probably the first thing that comes to mind is pilaf. Pilaf is an Asian dish, not a European one. Pilaf (Persian: پلو) is a very ancient, typically Eastern composite dish made of rice and, as a rule, meat.

Rice was grown as far back as ancient China, but pilaf is unlikely to have come from China, given how rice is cooked in modern Chinese cuisine. It more likely comes from India or Persia.

Pilaf is not native to European cuisines. Italian risotto, Spanish paella, Creole jambalaya are all rice dishes with meat and vegetables, cooked by a technique called absorption cooking. But the method, the look and the character of these dishes are nothing like classic Asian pilaf.

Every national cuisine has its own recipe. Nobody ever said that pilaf must be made only with meat. Sweet pilaf, pilaf with poultry or fish are quite common. And in an ordinary pilaf the amount of carrots can often far exceed the amount of meat. So it is an open question whether it is pilaf with meat or pilaf with carrots.

It isn’t necessary to cook pilaf in a kazan over a fire, although that is the classic way. In a modern city this is practically impossible in everyday life, except for a trip out of town (to a dacha, a village and so on). To make a simple pilaf-like dish for lunch, chicken with rice, vegetables and raisins, all you need is an ordinary deep frying pan and less than an hour.

More with chicken and rice

Chicken Risotto with Parmesan

1 h 10 min

Pilaf with Chicken Giblets

1 h

Chicken Wing Plov in a Pan

50 min

Chicken Meatballs

1 h

Amich: Armenian Stuffed Chicken

1 h 30 min

More chicken legs recipes

Ingredients

2 servings

Chicken drumsticks 4
Basmati rice 1 cup (180 g)
Hot water 1.5 cups (300 ml)
Onion 1
Carrot 1
Sweet raisins 0.5 cup (70 g)
Olive oil 3 tbsp
Salt, ground black pepper, curry powder to taste
Preserved lemon (rind) optional

Step-by-step recipe

Turn on cook modeKeeps your screen from turning off while the recipe is open

Chicken

Chicken drumsticks are very convenient for portioned cooking. They are sold by the piece and have plenty of meat. Chicken with rice, or rather chicken drumsticks with rice, will keep you full all day, given how nourishing the dish is.
Prepare the chicken drumsticks: I advise chopping off the protruding bone and removing the skin, so that only the red chicken meat is left. Season with salt, pepper and curry powder to taste. Chicken with rice goes very well with curry.
Fry the drumsticks until golden: in a deep saucepan or frying pan, heat 3 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat and add the drumsticks.
Fry for about 10 mins.

Vegetables

Fry the onion and carrot until soft. Peel the onion and carrot. Cut the onion into thick strips and the carrot into large cubes. Don’t chop them small or grate the carrot. Add the onion and carrot to the browned chicken.
Keep frying everything together for 5-6 mins, until the vegetables are soft.

Rice

Fry the rice with the raisins: add the rice and the rinsed raisins to the chicken and vegetables. I recommend basmati rice: it stays fluffy, cooks beautifully and suits this dish perfectly.
Fry everything together for a few minutes, so that the rice grains are coated with a film of oil.
Cook the rice: add 1.5 cups of hot water (300 ml) and cook over low heat. The usual ratio of rice to liquid is 1:2, but basmati absorbs a little less, and the chicken and vegetables will give some extra moisture, so the chicken and rice turn out very well.
A small digression. This was the first time I tried adding preserved lemon rind to rice. Preserved lemons are used in Maghrebi, Lebanese and many other North African cuisines. I never imagined it would taste so good. Try adding preserved lemon: it gives a wonderfully light aroma and a subtle, pleasant flavor. It turns out preserved lemon is good for more than a bite after tequila. Chicken with preserved lemon rind impressed me.
Chicken with rice cooks until the rice is done. Basmati is usually ready in 15 mins, once the liquid has been fully absorbed.
Let the rice finish under the lid: once the liquid is fully absorbed, stir everything and let the chicken warm through under the lid for about 5 mins with the heat off. The steam will bring the rice to full readiness. The rice will be perfectly fluffy.

Serving

Put the rice with vegetables and raisins on plates and top with the chicken drumsticks.
By the way, if you used preserved lemon rind, cut it into very thin strips and garnish the dish with them. Chicken with rice and preserved lemon is something else!

Calories and macros

900 kcal

Serving ≈ 490 g

Protein36 g16% of kcal
Fat36 g36% of kcal
Carbs104 g47% of kcal

100 g184 kcalProtein 7.4 gFat 7.3 gCarbs 21.2 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

Enjoyed the recipe? Pick me as a preferred source on Google, and you'll see my recipes more often in search. Choose on Google →

How did you like this recipe?

Thanks for rating!