Pot Curry

Chicken + spices + lack of dishwasher + idle streak = Pot Curry. Chicken, curried, and with rice, in one pot. It really is a stroke of genius, although I say it myself and one of the more fruitful consequences borne of my loathing for washing up. All you need to buy is a chicken and the rest is usually lurking on the shelves at home. There is one small technical issue that I should mention – the cooking of the rice.

Rice, like poached eggs, is one of those things that I have never quite got the hang of. I mean I can cook them, but you know some people seem to just have the knack; a blasé slosh of water and a vague mention of about ten minutes and what do you know, they lift the lid on perfectly steamed white fluffy rice or a pert little poached egg with a wobble in all the right places. The how-to of these culinary basics gets an inordinate amount of air time; everyone professes to have their own little secret which they are willing to impart on a strictly tit-for-tat basis, as if they are about reveal the path to eternal youth. Well let me tell you, I have tried them all – rinsing the rice, swirling the water, vinegar in the water, oil in the (rice) water, cold water, lots of water, an inch of water, barely any water, and I have concluded it is pot luck, quite literally, nothing more than a big watery game of chance. When you next see someone nail it, rather than letting that jealously bubble up inside, remember - they have merely happened upon the winning ticket following an unseen but lengthy run of less-impressive losses. Anyone that can do it twice in a row, answers on a postcard please.

So you will need:

1 healthy looking chicken

Cumin seeds, coriander seeds, chilli flakes/dried chilli, a couple of teaspoons of each

4 cardamom pods

3 or 4 onions

3 or 4 cloves of garlic and a big hunk of ginger chopped roughly (you can keep that fiddly skin on).

1 lemon

Basmati rice for 4/5 people (quanitites of rice is another enigma I am yet to solve, I shall leave it up to you)

Raisins or sultanas

Fresh coriander

Spring onions (not essential)

Flaked almonds (not essential but nice)

Olive oil

S+P

An oven proof pot / pan / dish or relatively deep roasting tray and big enough to fit a chicken and the rice.

Chop up the onions into quarters and put them, the garlic cloves (whole), cardamom and ginger in the bottom of your receptacle of choice with a little olive oil. Crush your coriander and cumin seeds and chilli in a pestle and mortar and with a bit of oil rub over your chicken, halve the lemon and put it inside the chicken. Sit the chick on the onions and garlic and pour in a little water, a couple of eggcup-fuls, to the bottom of the tray/pot. Roast in the oven like you would your average chicken for about an hour at about 180 degrees.

Now is the tricky bit – the rice. Rinse it (I think with basmati this is important), and carefully put it around the chicken. Pour as much boiling water as you deem fit over the rice, (but not the chicken) - the water needs to be hot otherwise you really muddle the oven temperature. On my last go at this, I poured enough water to cover the rice with maybe an inch of water. This may seem a lot but the complex chemistry of rice gets (even more) complicated when its sharing its bed with a chicken and in an oven rather than on a hob. Gently stir the rice to lift the onions / garlic and ginger off the bottom of the pan and return to the oven for 30 minutes. Again this sounds a lot, but as I said rice is tricky.

Whilst waiting for the rice to do its thing, you could toast your almonds in a dry pan, roughly chop your coriander and if you really want to show off, soak your raisins in some hot water. This isn’t so essential if you are using sultanas as they tend to be softer anyway, but raisins can sometimes be a bit chewy which is great in muesli but not so good in rice. Pouring hot water over them and leaving them to soak for ten minutes softens the little blighters up a bit. You might also want to check up on your rice occasionally – we all know how difficult it be sometimes.

After half an hour, your rice should be looking like you’re one of those people with the knack. Not only that but the rice will have made friends with all the other stuff in the pan and be bursting with chickeny spicey goodness. Lift the chicken out of the pot and let him rest for 5 – 10 minutes. If, for some totally inexplicable reason your rice isn’t quite ready, this is the ideal opportunity to surreptitiously pour in a bit more water and give it another few minutes.

When all parties are ready decorate your rice with raisins/sultanas, almonds and coriander, give it a bit of a stir to mix in the onions, garlic and ginger and carve your chicken. Serve with a dollop of yoghurt, a green salad and some mango chutney.