I don’t know how to cook rice.
There. I said it.
Unless of course, there’s a rice cooker involved. Leave me in the jungle with a pot and uncooked rice and I just might starve. I’m not proud of this.
If you drink smoothies every day, would you use the mortar and pestle to make ’em? I don’t think so. Chinese people and rice… well, you ought to know our relationship. We need a rice cooker. Yes, I’ve just compared cooking rice on the stove to making smoothies on a mortar and pestle. Go figure.
The only time I’ve come across cooking rice over fire was when I was camping. Once. Yup, I’ve only camped once. Story of my life really. Anyway, in my mind, the rice should’ve burned at the bottom, but it didn’t. It was kind of miraculous to say the least.
So I thought it was high time I cook rice without a rice cooker. I suppose my rice cooker deserves a break.
The stove still seemed a little intimidating to me. So I went for the oven instead. And if I may say so myself, I did a terrific job. Nothing burned.
To celebrate my success at being a self acclaimed pro at cooking rice in the oven just after one try, I decided to cook some more rice. This time upping the difficulty by adding chicken and flavoring the rice even. As the saying goes ‘if you succeed, try again and again and again to wallow in successes after successes’. I’m sure you know there’s no such saying. I made it up.
Second attempt? Well whaddaya know. One Pan Spanish Rice & Chicken was a success. Chicken marinated in a delicious rub is seared beautifully and rice infused with so much flavor…. gawd the rice is so good… that no matter how much rice you thought was enough, it never will be.
Does this mean I’m going to sell my rice cooker? Not a chance. But at least I’d survive in the jungle. Somewhat. If there was an oven in the jungle. And chickens.
If you like one pan rice, you’re going to love this One Pan Malaysian Claypot Chicken Rice. An uber popular Malaysian street food of succulent marinated chicken, flavor boosting Chinese sausages, mushrooms and rice cooked in chicken broth.
Also, if you haven’t already, check out my last post Baked Salmon With Wasabi Soy Almonds. 5 ingredients, 10 minutes. Need I say more?
How do you cook your rice?
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- 5 chicken thighs
- Chicken Rub
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1½ tsp garlic powder
- 1½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp allspice powder
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp chili powder
- ½ tsp ground cloves (or 7-8 whole cloves)
- ½ tsp ground fennel (or less if it's seed)
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 8 baby bella mushrooms, sliced (about 2½ cups)
- 1 cup frozen green peas
- 1½ cups long grain or basmati rice
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp dried basil
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp chicken rub spice
- Pinch of sugar
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 2½ cups chicken stock or water
- Sprinkle salt generously on the chicken. Reserve half teaspoon of rub for the rice. Sprinkle rub generously on the chicken. Let the chicken sit in the rub while u let it come to room temperature (about 30 minutes).
- Preheat the oven to 375 F.
- Over medium high heat, preheat a 12" cast iron pan. Add a coat of oil to the pan. When the pan is almost smoking, place the chicken skin side down and sear the it for 3 minutes. Flip and sear for another 3 minutes. Set aside. Be wary as it'll burn easily because of the rub. Remove any burnt bits from the pan.
- Over medium high heat, add a thin coat of oil. Fry the onion until soft. Add the garlic and mushrooms. Fry until the mushrooms has soften. Add the peas, rice, bay leaf, salt, basil, oregano, chicken rub spice and sugar. Fry for a couple minutes.
- Add the tomato paste and chicken stock. Stir to combine. Place the seared chicken (skin side up) on the rice. Cover then pan and bring the liquid to a boil. Once boiled, transfer the pan to the oven covered and bake for 30-40 minutes or until chicken is done and rice is cooked. The thickest part of the thigh should read at least 165 F. Remove from the oven and let stand covered for 5 minutes. Fluff and mix the rice. Serve immediately.
2. If the chicken is not done and the rice looks dry, add a little more broth and continue to bake until chicken is cooked through.
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27 comments
Hello, Was wondering if the pan stay covered when placed in oven? Also can it be covered with aluminum foil? Thank you!
Hi there Julie. Yes the pan stays covered when placed in the oven. Aluminum foil is fine to use. Make sure to use some mittens to seal it around the pan as tight as you can. Enjoy!!
Hey!
I’m a complete beginner to cooking non vegetarian dishes. How do you know if chicken is cooked without a thermometer? And how can you tell if it’s under cooked or overcooked?
Thanks! 🙂
Hey Akshita. Truly, the best and safest way is using a meat thermometer. I suggest investing in one. It’s not very expensive and it’s so useful. But for now, you can try these methods to see if the chicken is cooked.
1. Pierce a hole on the thickest part of the chicken. It should easily go in and if the juice that comes out runs clear, then it’s cooked through. If the juice is pink, then it’s not cooked through.
2. Touch the tip of whatever you’re using to pierce (fork or skewer). If it’s super duper hot, it’s probably cooked through.
With regards to overcooking, well I suppose the only way to tell is when you bite into the chicken. Hope this helps.
Thank you so much!
I will use your tips until I get a thermometer! 🙂
I just made this and my husband went crazy for it. Wow! Even my kids loved it.
Lol Stephanie. Thanks. You made my day. But really, the flavor is so good. I’m glad your family enjoyed it.
My parents used to make baked bell peppers stuffed with spanish rice when I was a kid. I HATED it because it was basically rice and tomato sauce. No flavor and rather….well…gross. This makes me want to end my spanish rice strike. And my kids will eat ANYTHING so I KNOW they will love it!
Haha. Brittany, you’re lucky your parents made you eat rice. Mine made me eat bitter gourd. Although I did develop a weird liking for it now. But yes, the rice is amazing (unless you don’t like tomatoes). But don’t sweat, there’s still the chicken which is even more amazing.
For this recipe, do you mean chili powder (which I think already has cumin in it, typically) or chile powder? Also… I always find that my brown rice comes out kind of mushy from the rice cooker. Any advice?
Hi Emily. It’s great that you highlight this. Korean chili powder and Malaysian chili powder only consist of ground dried chilies and no other spices. However, for this recipe (and all the other recipes that has chili powder as the ingredient), it means the chili powder with the other spices (cumin, allspice, garlic..etc) in it.
Regarding your brown rice turning mushy, I’m no brown rice expert, but from experience, there are several reasons why this is the case.
1. Too much water per rice has been added. Rice is super sensitive. Just a tad much water or inaccurate measurement of rice and it’ll become mushy. Not enough water, and it’ll become too hard.
2. The type of rice cooker also makes a huge difference. I’ve always used Zojirushi rice cookers and they make perfect rice (brown or white) every single time. They have the setting in there so I don’t have to do the guesswork.
3. The brand of rice. Some rice just aren’t delicious. They could claim that they’re premium or high quality or even organic but they still lack the light chewiness. I once bought a brand of Jasmine rice and no matter how I cooked it, it always turns out mushy. That never happened to me before. So, the brand is to blame.
4. Short grain vs long grain rice has different results even with the same amount of water.
Hope this helps.
I wanna make this very soon!! It sounds so good!
I hope you love it!
Made this tonight for my wife and I. It was amazing. I’ll make it again when my parents come to visit. I had to buy some of the spices. Any other good recipes with cloves/ coriander/ all spice?
Thank you so much for this recipe.
Hi Stephen. I’m thrilled that you love this dish. The flavors are amazing indeed. As to the spices:
1. All spice: Maple Mustard Meatballs recipe on my blog. So far, that’s the only post that has allspice. But really this spice can be used in a lot of other things. Add a pinch to rubs or seasoning mix for roasting meat or vegetables (eg. jerk seasoning). Add a pinch in quick breads, muffins, cakes, pies or even bbq sauce or food that’s cooked slowly and braised like soups and stews.
2. Cloves and Coriander: South East Asian dishes use these two spices a lot. But at the same time, they also uses plenty of other spices as well and may cause extra headaches if you don’t have them. :p Check out tandoori wings, beef satay, chicken biryani, beef rendang, roasted spiced chicken and spicy tomato chicken.
3. Coriander is more widely used in western dishes. Check out the cajun dishes, the thai green curry, pasta sauce, millet patties, curried beef stew, couscous & peri-peri chicken.
Just use the search function on my website to look for these names. Alternatively, you could go to Curious Nut facebook page, look through the pictures to find the recipe, click on the corresponding link to bring you to each post. I hope this helps.
OMG, those meatballs! Need to make them too 🙂 I love everything with maple syrup…
Lol. I love maple syrup too.
Hi! This looks delicious. I just purchased a “sazon” spice. Do you think I could make this dish using that?? I’m itching to try it!
Hi Dana,
I suppose it depends what’s in the sazon spice. Different brands have a different mix. Also, how much salt is in the premix spice. You may need to adjust some seasoning or you may not. Try it out and see. Good luck.
I’m lost without my rice cooker. I honestly cannot make rice on the stove top without it either a) burning and sticking to the bottom or b) turning into mush. So I totally get it. This recipe looks tasty though!
Thanks Adelina. Not using the rice cooker kinda feels ‘why wash clothes by hand when there’s a washer to do it for you’. :p
Good for NOT using the rice cooker, the result seems very good to me 🙂
I may suggest to Hoang, my partner, to have a ‘no rice cooker day’ too. He cannot live without :)))
Lol thanks Emanuele and good luck! We rice cooker users get pretty attached to them.
I love my rice cooker. Cooking rice the traditional way can be a little tricky. I tend to always add just a little too much water. This Spanish rice looks amazing. With all the herbs and spices, it is a dish bursting with flavor.
Thanks Thao. The flavor is pretty amazing. I hope you do try this some day.
I love using my rice cooker too.. and rarely do cook rice over the stove or in the oven. You definitely have inspired me to try something different with this recipe – I can’t say I’ve ever made a recipe quite like this spanish rice either!
I hope you try it… like I did. I promise it won’t seem too daunting after the first time. It’s quite liberating actually. 🙂