Turkish Chicken with Fragrant rice a Herby Olive Relish

Turkish spiced chicken with a herby olive relish

Serves: 2

Ingredients

For the chicken

• 2 chicken breasts

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tsp cumin

• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

• salt and pepper, to taste

• lemon wedges, greek yoghurt, and a side salad to serve

For the rice

• 1 cup brown/wild rice ( or a mixture of the two), rinsed and drained, to remove starch

• 1 knob butter ( about 15 g)

• 2 tsp olive oil

• 480ml chicken stock

• juice of half a small lemon

• zest of half a small lemon

For the Relish

• 1 large garlic clove

• 3/4 green chilli

• 3/4 red chilli

• 35g olives ( any colour will do )

• 10g parsley ( you can use coriander as well )

• leaves from 4 sprigs of mint

• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• squeeze of lemon juice

Method

Mix the ingredients for the chicken in a medium bowl. Cut the chicken into chunks and toss in with the marinade. Cover and allow to rest in the fridge for an hour or overnight.

For the sake of the photo, I chopped the chilli, but in reality just throw all the relish ingredients into the blender until it resembles a choppy paste. Put in a bowl and set aside.

- Meanwhile squeeze the lemon juice grate the zest off and place in a saucepan with the rice and water.

- Heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan. Once hot, add the rice and stir so the butter and oil coats all the rice. Cook until it's changed colour and worked its way through all the rice.

- Add the stock, lemon juice and zest and bring it to a boil before reducing and simmering until cooked, stir occasionally and add more water if it gets too dry.

- Allow it to cool a bit so when you fluff it up the rice with a fork, it won't go mushy

-When ready, fry the chicken over medium-high heat until cooked and serve with the relish, rice, side salad, and a blob of Greek yoghurt to compliment the flavours. Flatbreads or pitta could be used instead of rice if you like.