Ginger chicken and rice (one pot recipe!)

• servings: 4 servings
• active time: 10 minutes
• total time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

4 tbsp oil

500g/ 1 lb chicken thighs (, boneless, skinless, cut into small bite size pieces (Note 1)

1 1/2 cups long grain rice (, NOT RINSED (Note 2)

2 cups chicken stock (, low sodium)

4 green onion stems (, white part finely sliced, green flopped part cut into 5cm/2" lengths)

1 1/2 tbsp ginger (, grated)

2 large garlic cloves (, finely minced)

4 - 5 slices ginger (~5mm / 0.2" thick, large enough to easily pick out later, no need to peel)

Mushrooms (use any you want – Note 3)

150g / 5oz shiitake mushrooms (, fresh, ~2 heaped cups, small halved, large thickly sliced)

150g / 5 oz oyster mushrooms (~2 heaped cups), small kept whole, large cut into 2 or 3)

200g / 7 oz king mushrooms (, halved then cut into thick slices 7mm thick)

2 pinches salt and white pepper (each)

Simple claypot sauce:

3 tbsp kecap manis (sweet soy) - Note 4)

2 tbsp fish sauce

1/8 tsp white pepper (sub black)

Directions

ABBREVIATED - Toss chicken with 1 1/2 tbsp sauce. Sear mushrooms in 2 batches, remove. SeaL chicken, add garlic, ginger and white part green onions towards end. Stir in rice, add stock and ginger slices, cover with mushrooms, steam 20 min. Rest 10 min, toss with sauce and green onion.

FULL RECIPE:

Sauce - Mix sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Toss chicken with 1 1/2 tbsp of the sauce, set the rest aside for drizzling.

Lightly sear mushrooms - Heat 1 1/2 tbsp oil in a large heavy based pot on high heat. Cook half the mushrooms with a pinch of salt and pepper until some of the mushrooms have a light tinge of golden on the surface, but don't try to cook them all the way through (we want to do that in the rice). Remove into bowl. Repeat with remaining mushrooms.

Seal chicken - Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil until hot. Add the chicken and stir for 1 minute, just until the surface is sealed but inside still raw. Add white part of green onion, garlic and ginger, stir 30 seconds. Add rice, stir briefly just to coat in oil.

Simmer liquid - Add stock and ginger slices. Bring to a rapid simmer. Scatter mushrooms across surface (add any pooled liquid too), then let it come to a rapid simmer again.

Steam 20 minutes - Put the lid on, reduce stove to low (or medium low, for weak burners). Cook for 20 minutes (do not stir) until the liquid is fully absorbed.

Rest 10 minutes - Remove pot from the stove with the lid still on and rest for 10 minutes.

Drizzle and toss - Drizzle remaining sauce all over, add green part of green onions. Gently toss until the green onion is mostly wilted. Serve!

Notes

1. Chicken – Because it’s cooked with the rice, thighs will stay juicier than breast though you can use breast or tenderloin if you want.

Other protein – Fish and prawns/shrimp would be lovely! See FAQ accordion above for directions.

2. Long grain rice works best for these types of one-pot recipes as the rice grains are less sticky than medium grain, jasmine and sushi rice which have a tendency to get a bit too sticky for my taste. Basmati will also work. Medium grain will also work quite well. Brown rice, risotto, paella and sushi rice are not suitable for the recipe as written.

Don’t rinse. It’s not required to avoid gluey rice because we use the right liquid-rice ratio. If you rinse, the rice will come out mushy and overly soft (because the waterlogged rice = extra water in recipe = softer / mushier rice). Don’t rinse! I promise it’s fine!

3. Mushrooms – Exact weight and mix of types doesn’t matter here, use about 6 heaped cups in total. Just cut them into similar thickness so they cook in the same time.

Other veg – See FAQ! Cabbage, broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower.

4. Kecap Manis (aka Ketjap Manis) – Indonesian sweet soy sauce with caramely flavour, has a syrupy consistency. Find it at most supermarkets in Australia (Woolworths, Coles, Harris Farms). Excellent shortcut ingredient when combined with fish sauce, makes a brilliant sauce.

Make your own: simmer 1/4 cup ordinary or light soy sauce and 1/4 cup brown sugar over medium heat until syrupy.

Leftovers keeps 3 days, or freezer 3

months.

Nutrition

• Calories: 520 kcal
• Total Fat: 17 g
• Saturated Fat: 2 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 13 g
• Trans Fat: 0.1 g
• Cholesterol: 95 mg
• Sodium: 897 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 63 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3 g
• Total Sugars: 10 g
• Protein: 29 g