Rice in Spain is very appreciated and involved in any big family meeting, specially in the traditional meals of South Spain, where it is eaten directly in the cooking pan with a spoon, by all the guests, just like this Spanish chicken rice.
Rice is not just about paella, as it is usually perceived from abroad! It is accommodated in many different tasty ways such as rice in broth, baked rice or paella style rice, and combined with various meats, seafood or vegetables. One of my favourite dish ever is the creamy lobster rice.
This rice recipe is coming from of a recipe from a very good Spanish cooking book, offered by my grandmother, to which I added a few tricks I have learnt here in Spain.
In this recipe you need to use Ñora pepper, a kind of dry pepper that is found easily in Spain. It´s used widely in Valencia and Murcia, where I saw it used to give more taste to the rice. Be careful not to replace it with the chorecito pepper, another type of dry pepper that looks very similar but tastes completely different.
I like it because:
- It is a very easy to d o recipe, fully accessible to beginners if you want to impress people.
- It’s fast: mixing all ingredients in a pot and cook very slowly.
- It is a perfect dish for each season for a dinner with friends or family.
Tricks:
- You can use the typical paella rice or change it for a basmati rice or a thai rice, with the same time of cooking. I personally prefer the basmati rice, because it is tastier.
- The Sherry is a Spanish wine, originate from Andalusia and know as Jerez wine in Spain, the name of the city where it comes from. It is used in many Spanish recipes, and gives a light taste of nuts to the food.
INGREDIENTS FOR 4 PEOPLE:
Broth:
- 4 1/4 US cup (1 liter) boiled water
- 1 broth cube (vegetable or chicken)
- 2 dry ñora peppers
- a little bit of parsley
- 2 garlic cloves
Filling:
- 4 entire chicken legs (high and low parts, or 8 high part as you prefer)
- 1 tbsp olive oil (optional, it’s to fry the chicken at the beginning)
- 1 big onion
- 1 red pepper
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp dry Sherry
- 2 ripe tomatoes
- 4,2 oz (120g) green peas
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 US cups (400g) rice of your choice
- 1 laurel leave
- 1 doses saffron
- Salt, pepper, grounded coriander seeds …
SPANISH CHICKEN RICE WITH SHERRY RECIPE:
- Put the ñora peppers in a tall, narrow vessel with hot water in order to re-hydratate them, 2 cloves of garlic, the bouillon cube and the parsley. Let it rest like that while you follow the recipe.
- In a big pot, fry the chicken starting with the skin side. If the chicken has a lot of fat, you don’t really need to add oil.
- In the meantime, cut the onion, the rest of the garlic cloves and the red pepper in to strips.
- Remove the chicken from the pot, and add the onion and pepper strips and sauté them during 5 minutes over medium heat.
- In the meantime combine the mixture with the ñora pepper, and add more water so that you have 1 liter of broth. Cut the tomatoes in cubes.
- Add the xeres wine and deglaze, then add the chicken again, the rice, the tomatoes, the paprika, the broth, the laurel and the saffron. Make sure the mixture is covered with water. Add the seasoning: salt, pepper …
- Cover and simmer slowly for 20 minutes, and then half way through you should stir it gently. Add the green peas 5 minutes before the end.
The course is ready when almost all the water is gone. Sometime the rice can be crispy down the pot, which gives a nice taste.
Bon appétit!