I have started thinking arabic food to be of less carb and I find arabic recipes can be transformed into low carb meals, which is why my new addition to my cookbook collection “when Suzanne cooks” has inspired me and made me try the second recipe from the book. well I really don’t follow the recipes exactly like I’ve mentioned before I use the recipe as an inspiration.
Suzanne’s recipe called for brining of the chicken which I couldn’t follow due to time restrictions which made me adjust the recipe to suit my schedule and taste buds.
I had all my ingredients for brining but no time. I went though the book and started following immediately. so I decided to slow cook my chicken and stuff it with fruit and nut rice.
wow that seems yummy while I type and it was delicious too.I never thought I’d fall for slow cooked chicken. I added a Maggie BBQ chicken mix over a tablespoon of olive oil that was on a pan over medium heat. I gave it a quick mix and put the full chicken on top coating the sides and top with the marinade mix and quickly covered the pot while turning the flame to very low.
that’s just two ingredients with a full chicken. my mom has always told me that you don’t need much water to cook chicken as the chicken meat has water sufficient to cook on it own. i never listened to her and add a lot of water to my chicken gravy with a greed for more gravy so that I can use the leftover gravy for dinner with some bread or string hoppers. finally I always end up with a very runny gravy which doesn’t tastes good as a thick Kurma type one.
so today I wanted to try slow cooking method with no knowledge of it and voila, it turned out super delicious and juicy, the sides had a golden brown crust and the chicken just came apart better than the store-bought ones (according to myself).
well I just slow cooked it for 40 minutes on a normal pot, unbelievably 🙂 delicious. For the rice I followed Suzanne’s recipe with some substitutes to the nuts I added almonds only with prunes, dates, raisins and pomegranates.
i stuffed the chicken with the rice and tried my hands on food styling with a baby crawling in my kitchen.
that’s the chicken sizzling in my pot over Maggie BBQ mix and olive oil. no that’s not all the olive oil you see, it’s the water that the chicken and slow cooking method which has developed a gravy.
the rice mix ready waiting colorfully to get into the chicken and hide before we devoured it.
the lovely stuffed chicken that made my saturday lunch colorful and delicious.
- my second time in slow cooking
- my first ever stuffed chicken
- my first ever chicken that turned out juicy with no gravy 🙂
this was my first ever slow cooked chicken on biryani masala with some yogurt and a full tomato and brinjal. This chicken was slow cooked for nearly one and a half hours and i guess its a bit over cooked yet juicy. so my lesson is that i better cook it for 40 minutes next time which is the perfect timing.
so here are a few of my food styling practical images.
finally I’ve learnt that slow and steady wins the race even while cooking 🙂
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