This is my version of a very classic Gulf dish, traditionally made with chicken. It’s super easy to make but, sorry, it does involve a lot of ingredients. The spices each have a place and add an extraordinary depth of flavour. The dried limes are beautifully fragrant. A classic Persian ingredients, you can find them in most supermarkets and they add bucket loads if flavour.
Method
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Chuck in the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes until soft. Add the carrot, courgette and garlic. Mix well and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes to wilt a little.
- Tip the tomatoes, tomato puree, spices, dried lime, rice and a pinch of salt into the pan. Mix well. Pour over the stock and stir together. Bring to the boil, cover, reduce the heat to low and cook for 6 minutes.
- Arrange the prawns over the top of the rice. Cover and cook for another 8-10 minutes or until the stock is absorbed and rice is cooked. Turn off the heat and leave to stand for 5-6 minutes to let the rice full up and separate.
- Meanwhile, to make the salsa chuck everything into a mini blender and blend until smooth.
- Using a fork tip the rice onto a serving dish. Garnish with the pint nuts and parsley laves and serve immediately.
Ingredients
Serves 4
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 small carrot, grated
1 small courgette, grated
4 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tomatoes, finely chopped
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp baharat
½ tsp Turkish pepper flakes
A pinch of saffron
3 cardamom pods
1 dried lime
320g basmati rice
600ml chicken stock
300g raw peeled king prawns
15g pine nuts
A handful of finely chopped parsley leaves
Sea salt
Salsa
2 tomatoes
1 clove garlic
1 red chilli
½ tsp ground cumin
Sea salt
