Halal Cart-style Chicken and Rice with White Sauce
A riff on the Serious Eats' classic. Spiced chicken with saffron rice, white sauce, herb oil, sumac and pickles.
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This is a riff on the ever-so-popular Halal-cart Style Chicken from Serious Eats. That recipe is perfection. But after making it over and over, as you obviously would with that recipe, you start adapting and changing it to make it all your own. This is the current version that’s on repeat at our house.
When looking at the full recipe, it may seem like a lot of parts, but it’s really just a bunch of dumping, mixing, and then letting things sit. The only real cooking part is grilling the chicken and making some rice. The whole thing really comes together when you plate it up. The sauces, spices, and tang from the pickles all work together so well. It’s like magic. The ultimate chicken and rice plate.
Ok, now onto the recipe…
Ingredients
Chicken
4-6 chicken thighs or 2 large breasts I usually go boneless here, but use whatever cuts of chicken you like.
1/4 C olive oil
1 lemon juiced
1 tsp honey
1 tsp ground corriander
1 tsp ground cumin
pinch Salt
black pepper
Rice
1 1/2 C rice medium or long grain
2 1/4 C water
pinch Saffron
1 tbsp chicken base optional - I like "Better Than Bouillon"
1 tbsp butter
salt if needed, your chicken base may already be sufficiently salty
Pickled Onions
1 red onion Red onion is idea for that intense color,but any onion works
1 C white distilled vinegar rice wine, apple cider or even red wine will work in a pinch
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 C water
pinch salt
Herb Oil
1 C olive oil get a really good extra virgin one
3 springs fresh mint
10 springs fresh parsley
10 springs fresh cilantro
pinch salt
White Sauce
1/2 C mayo
1/2 C plain yogurt
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp white distilled vinegar
salt
pepper
To Serve
dried sumac
dill pickles or any other pickled vegetables you have
fresh pita
lots more fresh herbs
Instructions
Instructions
Marinate Chicken
Mix chicken and all your marinate ingredients together and let sit for at least 30 minutes but a few hours is better. Don’t let it marinate for more that 4 hours. The acid from the lemon juice will start changing the texture of the meat, and not in a good way. And, if you’re marinating the meat any longer than 30 minutes, keep it refrigerated!
Cook Rice
Wash your rice and combine everything in a pot with a tight fitting lid. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 - 20 minutes until all water is absorbed. Turn off heat and let sit for 10 minuted with the lid on. Fluff with a fork and serve.
Or, do what I do and use a trusty rice cooker. I love this one from Aroma. It’s pretty basic, affordable and works great.
Pickle Onions
Thinly slice onions and add to a jar or airtight container. Add in vinegar, sugar, salt and water. You want to make sure you have enough liquid in the container so the onions are covered. Top it up with a little extra vinegar if you need to. Mix it around a bit so all the sugar and salt is dissolved. You can eat these in as little as 30 minutes, but I like to make a batch and have it sitting in the fridge for whenever I want to use them. Plus, the longer you let them sit, the more vibrant color you’ll get.
Make White Sauce
Mix everything together until fully combined. Check for seasoning and adjust if needed. Sauce should be tangy and slightly sweet, you want a balance.
Make Herb Oil
Blend all your herbs together with the olive oil. Season with salt. The final sauce should be very intensely flavored and will be the consistency of a pesto.
If you want your sauce to stay a super vibrant green, blanche the herbs first and make sure to squeeze out any excess water. I was using this up in about a day or two, and I was impatient, so I just blended them fresh.
Grill Chicken
Grill chicken till cooked through. Let rest for 10 minutes and then slice to serve.
Serve
To serve get a few spoonfuls of rice on your plate. Scatter over some sliced chicken and then drizzle with your white sauce and herb oil. Scatter over some pickled onions, a generous handful of fresh herbs and a good pinch of dried sumac. And be sure to serve some extra pickled things on the side. Here I used some classic dill pickle spears, but if you have pickled beets, pepperoncini, pickled turnips, whatever. Use ‘em. The sour briny flavor goes so well with the white sauce and the fresh herbs. Oh, and some warmed fresh pita would be a good idea as well.
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