Helllooo, one-pot dish. This is an awesome take on the basic chicken and rice, taken up a level with turmeric, a great earthy, slightly bitter spice that goes really well alongside the cumin, curry and cinnamon in this recipe. The rice is flavored up with onion, fresh ginger and tomatoes, with some funk from fish sauce. With a little fresh lime to brighten this up, it’s such a simple dinner, and super delicious.

TW’s Tips

• Instead of bone-in chicken, I used boneless chicken breasts and cut down the browning time a bit to account for that. I bet this would be even better and more flavorful with skin-on, bone-in chicken though.
• If you don’t feel like using fresh tomatoes, a can of diced tomatoes would work in a pinch.
• I cooked this in a Le Creuset, which worked beautifully
• I served this alongside an eggplant/mint/walnut side — but a green salad would also work

Enjoy!

Turmeric Chicken and Rice

Ingredients

• One 4 1/2-pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground turmeric
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 plum tomatoes, chopped
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 cups jasmine rice
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
• 3 cups chicken stock
• Plain whole yogurt, sliced cucumbers, mint leaves and lime wedges, for serving

Directions

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. In a large enameled cast-iron casserole or Dutch oven, melt the butter and sprinkle with the turmeric. Add the chicken skin side down and cook over moderately high heat, turning once, until browned on both sides, 8 minutes total. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

Add the onion, ginger and garlic to the casserole and cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, curry powder, cinnamon, cumin and rice and stir constantly until fragrant, about 1 minute. Return the chicken to the pot, skin side up. Add the bay leaves, fish sauce and chicken stock and bring to a boil over high heat.

Cover and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Adjust the lid to cover partially and simmer until the rice is cooked, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Remove from the heat, uncover and let stand for 5 minutes. Serve with yogurt, cucumbers, mint and lime wedges.