RSS

Greek-style chicken and rice in Instant Pot

Before knowing the Instant Pot, I thought there would be nothing to impress me in terms of cooking devices. I am not too keen to fill in my kitchen with appliances that I use once a year. This is actually a reason why I hesitated so much in buying it. I had an old pressure cooker that I used rarely and mainly for soups. The strongest point that actually convinced me to buy it was the simplicity of using it. One pot to make all inside, reduce the number of dishes to clean and the time invested in cooking.
Since then, Instant Pot was my main way of cooking soups, stews, side dishes, meat and even some cakes.

This is a Mediterranean-style dish and I arrived to make it a couple of times already. Both the meat and the rice are cooked in stages and the result is absolutely delicious. The "cherry on the cake" is the yoghurt sauce that cuts any heaviness of the dish. 


Ingredients (for the 8qt size pot):

  • 1kg chicken breast (cut into 2 cm slices)
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • salt, pepper
  • 1 big onion (diced)
  • 3 celery ribs + leaves (chopped)
  • 1 garlic head (minced)
  • 1200ml chicken stock (or water + 1 tablespoon of chicken stock powder)
  • 600g Thai rice (washed)
  • 4-5 bay leaves
  • 400g frozen peas
  • 3 tablespoons dried herbes de Provence (oregano + thyme +rosemary+basil mainly) - can be substituted with any of its ingredients
Yoghurt sauce:
  • 1 cup yoghurt
  • 1 garlic clove (minced)
  • juice and zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 teaspoon dried herbes de Provence

Directions:
  1. The sauce can be prepared in advance or during the cooking time of the rice. Just mix all the ingredients together in a bowl or a jar.
  2. Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper.
  3. Put the olive oil in the Instant pot and heat it with Saute option.
  4. Fry the chicken breast slices for a few minutes until they get a light brown layer. Stir them from time to time.
  5. Remove the chicken breast to a plate.
  6. Add the onion, celery and garlic to the remaining oil from frying the chicken and use the Saute option to lightly soften them.
  7. Add then the chicken stock, bay leaves, rice and Province herbs. Stir.
  8. On top, add the chicken breast back into the pot without stirring.
  9. Close the lid and set the Instant Pot to High Pressure and 4 minutes. At the end do a Quick release.
  10. Open the lid, remove the chicken from the top and place it on a plate. Remove also the bay leaves.
  11. Add in the frozen peas stir and put a lid on. I usually do not put the original lid but a glass lid. Leave it for 5-10 mins for the peas to cook.
  12. Serve with the yoghurt sauce.
Recipe inspired from "Mediterranean Instant Pot", page 120.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)