Serves 4
Ingredients
- 250g white basmati rice
- 30g unsalted butter
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 380g pack chicken breast fillets, cut into bitesized chunks
- 1 tbsp Ras El Hanout
- 4 Medjool Dates, pitted and chopped
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 500ml fresh chicken stock
- 260g pack spinach
- Roughly chopped dill and lemon wedges, to serve
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6.
- Rinse the rice, then soak in a bowl of cold water until needed.
- Put the butter in a wide, shallow casserole dish (or roasting tin) and melt in the oven for 1 minute.
- Add the onion and garlic to the dish, then cook for 4 minutes, until slightly softened.
- Meanwhile, put the chicken chunks in a bowl, rub in the ras el hanout and season.
- Add the dates and spices to the onion mixture. Drain the rice and add to the dish, stirring to coat in the butter and spices; add the stock.
- Cover with foil or a lid and bake for 30 minutes, then use a fork to fluff up the rice. Stir through the spinach, then nestle the chicken into the rice and cook, uncovered, for a further 10 minutes until the rice is tender and the chicken is cooked through, no pink meat remains and the juices run clear.
- Cover with the foil again and stand for 5-10 minutes before serving with a scattering of dill and lemon wedges for squeezing.