Chicken with apricots and tamarind on herby rice

Chicken with apricots and tamarind on herby rice is a quick and healthy meal. It is ideal to make when you are in a hurry.

As a busy working mum I am always on the look out for tasty and healthy recipes that are quick to prepare. Recently Tilda got in touch with me and asked me if I would like to try making one of their new gluten-free recipes. Tilda Basmati is naturally gluten free and provides the ideal base for a gluten free recipe. I was sent a selection of six of Tilda’s new recipes to choose from. These were:

• Lamb and quince meatballs with Basmati and Wild (using Tilda Wholegrain Basmati & Wild Rice)
• Spicy rice and Vegetable bake (using Tilda’s Pure Basmati Rice)
• Chicken with apricots and tamarind on herby rice (using Tilda Wholegrain Basmati Rice)
• Warm chickpea and feta quinoa and rice salad (using Tilda Steamed Brown Basmati & Quinoa)
• Salmon on broad bean rice (using Tilda Steamed Pure Basmati Rice)
• Chicken, hazelnut and prune salad (using Tilda Steamed Brown Basmati Rice)

You can find all these recipes on Tilda’s website. I decided to make chicken with apricots and tamarind on herby rice, mainly because I was intrigued by tamarind which I have never used before.

Tamarind is a fruit which comes from the tamarind tree (strangely) and tastes a bit like a date but is slightly sourer. It is one of the main ingredients in Worcestershire sauce which I didn’t know. Unfortunately when trying to source the tamarind paste that the recipe called for, I was unable to find it. When I asked in the supermarket they looked at me blankly.

Next time I need tamarind paste I will definitely have to call at Mmm .. Glug.. in the Grainger Market, an exotic emporium with a great range of food products and spices. They managed to save the day when I was looking for peppercorns in brine for my steak with peppercorn sauce and seem to stock everything you might need for recipes.
Luckily this time I found that if you don’t have tamarind paste then you can substitute a mix of lime juice and brown sugar. This will replicate the sweet and sour flavour but not have the same depth of taste. I had both of these in the cupboard so I used these instead. I also used white wine instead of white wine vinegar and chicken breast instead of chicken thighs, but it was still very tasty.

The resulting dish was lovely, full of taste and flavour. Apricots are underused in cooking but add a richness and sweetness to a dish. The lime juice added a hint of bitterness that worked really well. One idea I did like was the herby rice. I have a lot of coriander and parsley in my garden at the moment, it seems to be taking over a corner. I had never thought of chopping this up and adding it to plain rice but it makes for a really nice flavour.

The dish was quick to make as well, it was just a case of chopping the ingredients and cooking them down together. Rice is always quick to make, it is just a case of boiling until it is ready. This meal would be ideal for a mid week supper when you want to do something quickly but still have lots of flavour.

Chicken with apricots and tamarind on herby rice

Chicken with apricots and tamarind on herby rice

1 tbsp olive oil 2 chicken thighs 1 orange pepper 50g dried apricots pinch dried chilli flakes 2 tbsp white wine vinegar 200ml chicken stock 1 tsp sugar 1 tbsp tamarind paste juice from half a lemon 2 thyme sprigs 120g Tilda wholegrain basmati Handful of coriander and also parsley, chopped

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Serving Size 2

Ingredients

• Season the chicken thighs with salt and black pepper and sprinkle with chilli flakes
• Heat the oil in a frying pan with a lid. Brown the chicken for five minutes and set aside
• Add the chopped pepper and cook for a couple of minutes until soft.
• Add the stock vinegar, apricots, tamarind, sugar and thyme.
• Return the chicken to the pan bring to the boil then cover and turn down the heat.
• Simmer for 20 minutes.
• Cook the rice for 25 minutes then drain.
• Stir the herbs into the rice then add the chicken to the top with some of the juices from the pan.

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If you are looking for other ideas using rice then this jasmine Rice with ginger soy turkey is also delicious.

I was sent some rice in order to create the recipe, my opinions are my own.