Baked Cuban chicken and rice

Preparation time

less than 30 mins

Cooking time

30 mins to 1 hour

Serves

Serves 4

Spice up your rice with a sprinkle of paprika and a dash of rum.

By Simon Rimmer
From Something for the Weekend

Ingredients

For the stock

  • 2 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 2 tsp soft dark brown sugar
  • 2 tsp garlicpowder
  • 2 tsp onionpowder
  • pinch salt
  • pinch white pepper
  • 30ml/1fl oz olive oil
  • 1.5 litres/2 pints 13fl oz chicken stock
  • 50ml/2fl oz Cuban rum

For the chicken

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 350g/12oz chicken breast, cut into chunks

For the sausage mix

  • 125g/4oz spicy sausage, chopped
  • 2 carrots, sliced
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 1 garlicclove, sliced
  • 350g/12oz short grainrice
  • 4 tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • 1x 400g/14oz tin mixed beans
  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
  • 100g/3½oz unsalted butter
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve

  • Chilli sauceor garlic mayonnaise

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and butter a casserole dish.

  2. For the stock, mix the spices and seasoning together in a bowl and blend with the little olive oil.

  3. Stir the spice mix into the chicken stock and add the rum.

  4. For the chicken, heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the chicken. Fry until golden-brown then remove and set aside.

  5. For the sausage mix, fry the sausage, carrot, onion and garlic until soft. Remove and place in a bowl.

  6. Add the rice, tomatoes, beans, parsley and the butter to the sausage mix and season well.

  7. Put half of the mix into the casserole dish. Layer the chicken on top and cover with the rest of the mix. Pour over the stock and cover.

  8. Place in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the rice is cooked.

  9. Serve with chilli sauce or garlic mayonnaise.

Related Recipes

Escalope of chicken with rocket, sage and lemon

By Paul Merrett