Leftover chicken, good! Leftover rice, even better! As the name indicates, this dish is made with leftover chicken and rice. Leftover chicken mixed with vegetables, preserved lemon and spices, then topped with rice and herbs and cooked on low heat.
It is pretty easy, quick and tasty dish plus it is a one pot meal. Beside leftover chicken and rice, this dish also has a pretty decent amount of aromatic vegetables. Sauteed onion, carrot and celery mixed with chicken, milk, few spices and preserved lemon, topped with rice and herbs. It is a fully flavored meal, credit goes to preserved lemon and herbs. The best thing about this lemony leftover chicken and rice dish is that no person will ever know that this dish is made from leftovers as it is loaded with big and fresh flavors.
This dish is especially good when you had a rotisserie chicken for a dinner and you have some leftovers. Next day you just have to cook rice (If you don’t have leftover rice) and in a few minutes another simple dinner is done. Rotisserie chicken is an easy meal plus sometimes it is cheaper than the whole chicken. This recipe will also work with leftover turkey.
Lemony Left Over Chicken and Rice Recipe
Course: MainCuisine: FusionDifficulty: Medium6
servings15
minutes30
minutesLemony left over chicken and rice is a dish made from left over rice and rotisserie chicken mixed with sauteed aromatic vegetables and lemon.
Ingredients
3 cups of cooked chicken chopped or shred into chunks
4 cups of cooked basmati rice
1 large onion chopped fine
2 stalk of celery, chopped fine
3 large carrots, chopped fine
1/2 cup of frozen green peas, thawed
Hot green chillies finely chopped to taste
2-inch of ginger chopped fine
6 big garlic cloves chopped fine
1 cup of milk or coconut milk
2 tsp of garam masala or curry powder
1.5 Tbsp of preserved lemon (1 whole lemon)
Juice of half lemon
2 Tbsp of each parsley and cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp of oil
Directions
- Heat oil in a pan. then add ginger and saute for 40 minutes.
- Then add chopped onion, celery, carrot, garlic, chilies and salt. Let it cook for 5 minutes.
- Rinse preserved lemon to remove excess salt and chop it fine, then add it to the onion mixture. Mix well.
- Now add turmeric, curry powder, salt, pepper and saute for a minute.
- Turn down the heat and add in the chicken, peas and toss well so that every chicken pieces are nicely coated with spices and let it cook over low heat for 2 minutes.
- Then pour milk and cook on low heat for about approx. 6-8 minutes.
- Now spread the cooked rice over the chicken mixture and top it with parsley and cilantro.
- Put on the lid and cook in low heat for 10 minutes. Then switch off the heat and let it sit for another 5 minutes.
- Drizzle the lemon juice and carefully mix everything together. Lemony leftover chicken and rice are done.
Notes
- Though this dish is one pot meal but you can it with any salad you like.
