CRISPY CHICKEN AND RICE w PIMENTO CHILLI CRISP

Crispy chicken with fluffy rice and a bit of spice...

Welcome back to Unfiltered flavours!

I feel like everyone deserves to have a good chicken and rice recipe on lock. So heres a banging one for you to try out.

Chicken and rice is a staple dish in most cultures and this one here isn’t traditional or anything, but it’s really good! Its aromatic, its got loads of flavours, textures and the rice is the perfect fluffy vessel for soaking everything up. When I created this recipe, I thought about the flavours that I genuinely love. Pimento, ginger and spring onion are ingredients I use constantly and they really tie into my Jamaican roots and culture. I’ve always been a firm believer in food having no boarders, unless you put them there, which is why theres so many influences in this dish. Its all about respecting the produce!

good ingredients go a long way

Flavours: 

Now this dish here has got so much flavour, but you have to build it in layers. There’s minimal waste because the bones from deboning the chicken are simmered in the stock to give it some extra oomph. I also like to shred any extra bits of cooked meat I can get from the bone and add it to the rice, that way there’s little specs of chicken throughout. There’s no need to aggressively season these chicken thighs with multipe seasonings. Theres a time and place for that, the chilli oil and the rice need balance. All you need is salt and a bit of pepper, trust me. 

minimal waste, I purposely left extra meat on the bones to flavour the stock.

This chilli oil recipe is still in the works, but I’m very happy with this version so far. It’s adapted from my chilli oil recipe in my cookbook. This is more like a chilli crisp and you don’t need crazy amounts of it because the flavours are pretty concentrated.

Pimento chilli crisp A.K.A FLAVOUR BOMB.

Techniques/equipment: 

If you can, cook these chicken thighs in a stainless steel, carbon or cast iron skillet. The crust that develops from these pans and their ability to hold heat means you get the crispiest chicken possible. You also want to start your chicken thighs in a cold pan and gradually bring up the heat, this will enable you to render the fat out slowly. This is going to give you the CRISPIEST chicken and you won’t need to use a drop of oil! P.s save the fat from the pan, its liquid gold for cooking.

Lastly, contact with the pan. You want your chicken to have as much contact with the pan as possible. I use a chef press, it weighs 18 oz which is roughly 500g. I use chef presses for anything that requires searing, so I recommend them if you take your cooking super seriously. If you don’t have a chef press, a plate and a tin of beans will do the job too!

crispy golden chicken thighs, all you need is salt and a bit of pepper. Trust me!

Serves  2

Ingredients:

4-6 chicken thighs, skin on and deboned 

Salt and pepper 

Spring onion (garnish)

coriander (garnish) 

Rice:

350ml chicken stock 

Leftover chicken bones 

2 stalks of thyme

Leftover trimmings/chicken fat 

300g jasmine rice

1/2 a lemon grass stalk (or whole if small)

1-2garlic cloves, minced 

1 tsp fresh ginger, minced 

120ml coconut milk 

Pimento chilli crisp 

20g Chinese chillis 

1 tbsp chilli flakes 

2 star anise 

1 cinnamon stick 

2 orange peels

1 tsp flaky salt 

2 tbsp sesame oil 

1.5 tbsp dark soy sauce 

1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds 

5 garlic cloves, 2 minced and 3 thinly sliced 

1 medium shallot, thinly sliced 

2 tbsp pimento berries, toasted then ground 

400ml vegetable oil 

Scallion oil:

2 spring onions/scallions 

1 thumb of ginger 

90ml vegetable oil 

1 tsp sesame oil 

A pinch of salt/to taste 

Method 

Chilli oil 

1. So the first thing you want to do is blitz the Chinese chillies in a blender or spice grinder. You want the mixture to still be quite coarse and resemble the consistency of actual chilli flakes…you know the ones you buy from the supermarket with the seeds speckled throughout. 

2. Add your chillies to a heatproof bowl along with all the other listed chilli oil ingredients, minus the sliced garlic, shallot and oil. 

3. Slice your shallot down the middle, lengthways and thinly slice. Thinly slice your garlic cloves too and then place in a heavy bottomed pot with cold oil. 

4. start over low heat and gradually work your way up to medium–high, keep constantly stirring using chop sticks. This will take around 7-10 mins for them to be golden and you want to pull them when they’re lightly golden because they will continue to cook!

5. Carefully pour the oil directly into the sieve sitting on top of the bowl, this will catch the shallots and garlic. Leave these to cool separately.

6. Mix your chilli oil and then add in your shallots and garlic. I like to lightly crush them with my hands before adding. 

scallion ginger oil:

1. You want to thinly slice your spring onion/scallion and finely grate your ginger. Then place in a heat proof dish with a sprinkle of salt. 

2. Carefully heat your oil up and pour this directly over the mix. Let this bubble away before adding your sesame oil, then give it a mix and it’s done!

Rice and chicken

1. You want to ensure you trim your chicken thighs and remove any extra bits of skin and fat. We will use this to build a base of flavour for the rice.

   

   untrimmed chicken thigh.

   

   trimmed chicken thigh.

    

2. Add your chicken stock to a pot along with any bones and your thyme. Leave this to simmer (lid on) on a medium heat or until the bones are cooked and remaining meat can be pulled from the bone (around 30 mins)

3. Now add your chicken trim to a cold pot and gradually increase the heat. You want to render the fat out and cook the chicken bits until they’re crispy. This will take around 5 mins, then once done leave your chicken bits to drain on a paper towel (save them)

   

   This chicken CRACKling adds a little crunch to your dish at the end.

4. Use the base of your knife to squash the lemon grass, then chop until 3 bits. Mince your ginger and garlic too. 

5. If you didn’t get much natural fat from the chicken then simply add 1-2 tsp of cooking oil, then add your garlic, ginger and lemon grass. Allow this to cook on medium heat for a minute. Once fragrant add your rice and get it coated in them flavours, then pour your chicken stock over the rice and add your coconut milk.

6. Bring this to a boil and once you start to see the rice poking through, drop the heat to low and cover with a lid. Leave to cook for 17-20 mins, then remove from the heat and continue to let it steam until ready to serve

   

   When your rice looks like this, its time to add the lid and steam.

7. For chicken thighs, pat dry to remove any excess moisture then season generously with salt on both sides, like a steak! Then place skin down (skin needs to be in contact with the pan) in a cold pan and sprinkle with pepper. Gradually bring the heat up to medium and allow to cook for 7-10 mins (depends on the size). Leave the chicken o cook, don’t play with it. Check at the 7 minute mark if it’s golden and if so flip it over and allow to cook for another 3 minutes. Allow your meat to rest for 5 mins

8. To serve, add a portion of rice to a bowl. Remember the chicken skin/fat? mince that and crumble it over your rice. Then slice your chicken into strips and place on top of your rice with chilli oil and scallion oil. 

9. Garnish with spring onion, coriander and give it a good squeeze of lime juice or a drizzle of Chinese black vinegar for acidity (this cuts through the richness)

Love

Mr Grubworks