Persian chicken rice is my new favourite—cooks in one pot, easy-to-fetch ingredients, tastes awesome, and lunchbox friendly!
If I were to choose only one spice to cook with, no doubt cumin is my top choice. In Chinese we call cumin ‘孜然’, and my very first encounter with cumin was a lamb skewer in Beijing. It plays magic to get you hooked up with it! Unlike Indian food, where you need at least several spices to make a meal, Persian food is more ‘single origin’, and I like it a lot — easier, yet delicious.
I learnt this Persian Chicken Rice recipe in Samin Nosrat’s book — SALT, FAT, ACID, HEAT. She often requested her mom to cook this adas polo in her upbringing. While Persians use lentils in the rice, I use the chickpeas that sit quietly in my fridge. It ends up tasting fantastic!
Cooking Notes
- Cooking time: In Samin’s recipe, she cooks the onions for 25 mins. I halved mine, and the onions are tender enough. Similarly, the chicken is cooked for 40 mins in the original recipe; I speed it up to 15 mins, and the result is still great.
- Salt: The amount of salt I use seems a bit out of mind, but it was required to properly season the rice. I once tried to make it look ‘healthier’, but it ended up bland, dull and boring.
- Lentil or Chickpea: I tried both; yet to find anyone who is more superior. Both are earthy, but chickpea is more creamy, and I like the chickpea broth more.
- Cucumber yogurt: Use more cucumber if you want — I find it quite refreshing to eat with this flavourful rice. Samin would add toasted walnut too, but I’m too lazy, so I just skipped it.
Persian Chicken Rice with Chickpea Recipe
It’s straightforward to cook, but seasoning is the key. Keep on tasting while you cook, and remember to season the broth generously and bravely to properly season the rice!
Ingredients
Serves 3
For the Rice
- 6 small-sized chicken thighs with bone
- 1 heaped tsp salt
- 1 heaped tsp cumin powder
- 5 g butter
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
- pinch of salt
- ¼ tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 150 g Basmati rice
- handful of raisins
- 600 g cooked chickpeas with broth
- 2 tsp salted chicken bouillon
- ½ tsp salt
- Herbs for garnish
For the Cucumber Yogurt
- 150 g plain yogurt
- 1 small glove garlic, finely grated
- 5cm long cucumber, finely diced
- 1 tbsp mixed and chopped herbs
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- pinch of salt
How to Make
- First, prepare the chicken. Marinate it evenly with salt and cumin; leave it in the fridge for ideally 6-8 hours.
- Set a large heavy pan or casserole over medium-high heat, and add enough oil to pan-sear the chicken with skin side down until golden. Then flip to the other side to continue. It doesn’t have to be cooked through at this stage. Just browning. Remove the chicken to a side.
- Continue with the same pan; remove excessive oil if desired. I like to fully utilise the flavourful chicken fat. Turn the heat to medium-low and drop in the butter. Add the onions, cumin, turmeric and a pinch of salt to cook until really softened. The longer you cook, the sweeter it is. I cooked mine for about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Meanwhile, make the cucumber yogurt. Put all the yogurt ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Chill before serving.
- Back to the pan, increase the heat to medium-high, and add in the rice and raisins. Stir well. Pour in around 350 g broth and chickpeas, add ½ tsp salt and the chicken bouillon. Have a taste. It should be salty that you feel slightly uncomfortable. But don’t worry; it will season the rice well.
- Place the chicken on top of the rice with skin side up. If you want the chicken crispy, wrap the lid with a cloth to prevent the condensed steam from dripping back on the chicken and making it soggy.
- Cook the rice on a low heat for about 15 minutes. Then remove from the heat and let it stand with the lid on for a further 10 minutes.
- Fluff the rice with a fork, garnish with chopped herbs and serve with the cucumber yogurt.
