Grilled Chicken and Herb Fried Rice

I am a raving fan of Nando’s chicken.  I could eat the grilled chicken all the time. I think I'm more in love with the sauce that accompanies the chicken - love the spicy citric flavour! Nothing in the market matches it...

 

On Friday we got some grilled chicken home and they gave loads of sauce. Not knowing what to do with it I pondered and decided to use it to make more chicken! If you have ever wandered onto the Nando’s official website you can find a lot of recipes using their sauces and marinades. I decided I should have my own version as well with the left over sauce !  If it was the right season I would have loved to BBQ this recipe.

 

Ingredients
4 medium sized chicken breasts
Oil for pan grilling the chicken

For Fried Rice

3 cups steamed rice
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp vegetable cooking oil (you could replace this with olive oil if you prefer)
4 cloves of garlic finely sliced (round)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp red chilli flakes
2 tbsp tomato puree
¼ cup finely chopped fresh coriander
Salt to taste

For Chicken Marinade

8 tbsp Lemon Herb Nando’s Sauce
2 tbsp garlic paste
1-2 tsp red chilli flakes
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

5 tbsp tomato puree

¼ cup finely chopped fresh coriander
Salt to taste

Method

Chicken Preparation

·         Mix the ingredients of the marinade in a bowl and marinate the chicken for 3-4 hours

 

Marinating the Chicken

 

·         Heat a grilling pan, brush oil in it and cook the chicken breast about 2 minutes on each side of which the first 1 minute cook it with the pan lid on. To check if your chicken breast is done take a knife and push it through the thickest part of the chicken breast, if it goes through easily it’s done. Don’t be scared brushing a bit of marinade and oil on the breast whilst its cooking, it will help keep the chicken juicy.

 

Pan Grilling the Chicken

 

·         Once the chicken is cooked, you can heat the marinade in the same pan (ensure there are no burnt chicken pieces or marinade stuck to the pan, remove any without washing the pan) and add a splash of white wine and bring to a boil, to make a thick sauce which you could serve with the chicken.

 

Chicken on a bed of rice drizzled with the left over marinade sauce

 

 Fried Rice Preparation

·         Take a heavy bottomed pan and heat the butter. Add a quarter of the chopped garlic and sauté it till it changes colour. Add the tomato puree and cook for about 30 seconds on high flame. Add the lemon juice. Set aside.

·         In a small pan take the olive oil and heat it. Add the remaining garlic and sauté till its light-dark brown – crispy. Add in red chilli flakes before taking it off the fire.

·         Turn on the flame of the heavy bottomed pan, add coriander and salt and stir. Now slowly add in the steamed rice mixing continuously to avoid the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

·         Now add the burnt garlic and olive oil concoction. Switch of the fire and mix well. It’s ready to plate.

Plate the rice and chicken breast and enjoy. I had it with a little extra hot Nando’s Peri Peri sauce and it was lovely!!

Chicken With Herb Fried Rice before it was demolished !

 You could also serve this with a light salad - Mix finely chopped deseeded tomatoes, cucumber and red onions. Add lemon juice salt and pepper. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander.

Broccoli and Pepper Salad with Creamy Feta Dressing

I know I have not been very regular writing, but with a baby and work I really was struggling. Being a long weekend I decided to get back to my experiments.

Let me talk about a very versatile cheese Feta, widely used in a variety of dishes. My love affair with Feta started when my flat mate made me try the traditional Greek salad or “horiatiki”. It is the only cheese used in the traditional Greek Salad; though many would tell you can replace it with Paneer but clearly does not work!  The word “Feta” means “a piece” or “and a slice”. It is a Greek curd cheese made from sheep’s or goat milk ripened in brine. Typically this cheese is crumbly in texture though you also get the creamy variants in the markets. The creamy version which I use in this recipe makes great dips and spreads as well. Both these versions (creamy and crumbly) are easily available in gourmet stores. This salad is inspired from the traditional Greek Salad. Hope you enjoy this summer salad as much as we do ! It goes really well with grilled chicken.

 

Ingredients

1½ cups broccoli boiled
1 Red Bell Pepper cut into cubes
1 Yellow Bell Pepper cut into cubes
1 Tomato deseeded and cut into cubes

Dressing

1 tbsp thick yoghurt
6-7 tbsp Creamy Feta Cheese (add more if you like feta)
¼  tsp black pepper powder
1 tsp Red Chilli Flakes
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp Sumac powder or lemon juice
2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped and browned in olive oil
Salt to taste

 

Method

Put the ingredients of the dressing in the salad bowl and whisk together.

 

 

Salad Dressing Ingredients stacked in the bowl

 

Whisked Salad Dressing

 Add broccoli, peppers and tomato and mix well. Keep the tossed salad in the refrigerator for an hour for the salad to chill and dressing to be absorbed.

Salad is ready to eat !!

You could even add other boiled vegetable such as carrots and beans or even sliced black olives. Just ensure if you’re adding more vegetables you increase the dressing accordingly.

In case you don’t get the creamy feta you could mash the block feta. Suggest to taste the dressing before adding salt as Feta is a very salty cheese.  

 

Information on Feta Cheese, sourced from Vefa’s Kitchen, Bible on Greek Cooking