← Nouns Cooking · Brazilian & Peruvian

Ingredients

• 1 kg bone-in chicken thighs and drumsticks
• ½ Lime, juiced
• 3 cloves Garlic, crushed
• 1½ tsp Salt
• ½ tsp Black pepper
• ½ tsp Cumin
• 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 400 g long-grain white rice, rinsed
• 1 tsp ground turmeric (açafrão-da-terra), or a pinch of saffron
• 1 tsp Tomato purée (paste)
• 120 ml dry white wine (or more stock)
• 3 Tomato, deseeded and diced
• 750 ml hot chicken stock
• 1 Bay leaves
• 100 g frozen peas
• 3 Spring onion, sliced
• 1 handful Parsley, chopped

Method

1. Rub the chicken with the lime juice, garlic, salt, pepper and cumin, and leave for 30 min (or up to a day in the fridge).
2. Heat the oil in a large, wide, lidded pot over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken skin side down for 8–10 min, turning once, until deep golden. Lift it out onto a plate.
3. Lower the heat to medium and cook the onion and pepper in the chicken fat for 5 min, until soft. Add the rice, turmeric and tomato paste and stir for 2 min, until every grain is glossy and yellow.
4. Pour in the wine and let it bubble away for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, hot stock and bay leaf, then nestle the chicken back in with any juices.
5. Bring to a simmer, cover, turn the heat to low and cook for 25 min, until the rice is tender and the chicken is cooked through (75°C/165°F at the bone). Scatter the peas over for the last 5 min.
6. Turn off the heat and leave it covered for 5 min. Fluff the rice, stir through the spring onions and parsley, and serve straight from the pot.

Tips

• In Brazil “açafrão” often means turmeric, which gives the same sunny colour as saffron for far less money.
• Serve with a green salad or vinagrete and a dash of chilli sauce; the crusty rice on the bottom of the pot is the prize.
• Cool leftover rice quickly, refrigerate within 1 hour and reheat only once, until piping hot.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

196 flavors Easy and Delish