Name: Riz bi Djaj (Lebanese Chicken with Rice)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Ingredients: 1 whole chicken, in pieces; 400 g long-grain rice; 2 onions, one quartered one chopped; 2 cinnamon sticks; 4 cardamom pods; 1 tsp salt; 50 g pine nuts; 50 g slivered almonds; 40 g butter; 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon; 0.25 tsp ground allspice

Instructions

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1Poach the chicken with the quartered onion, cinnamon sticks, cardamom and salt, 35 minutes.

2Strain and reserve 800 ml of the broth.

3Shred the chicken and brown the pieces in half the butter.

4Fry the pine nuts and almonds in the other half of the butter until golden — watch them, they burn fast.

5Sauté the chopped onion, add the rice, cinnamon and allspice, stir 2 minutes.

6Add the broth, simmer covered 15 minutes, rest 10.

7Pile the rice on a platter, top with the chicken and the nuts.

Chef's Tip

Poaching the chicken makes the broth AND the meat — one pot does both jobs.

More tips ↓

The rice cooks in that spiced broth: the flavor is built in, not sprinkled on.
Nuts fried in butter at the last minute stay crisp against the soft rice.

Riz bi Djaj (Lebanese Chicken with Rice)

Ingredients

Instructions

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