Middle Eastern style poached chicken
Chicken
Middle Eastern style poached chicken
A warming bowl of tender poached chicken tossed with grains and greens. Prunes combine with dried limes to give a lovely balance of sweet and sour to the meat. You don't need to stick to kale here – chard, spinach and spring or winter greens would all hit the spot. Served garnished with something sharp – chopped spring onions, coriander, parsley or thinly sliced red onion.
Ingredients
- ½ a chicken, breast, leg and wing separated, or two legs
- 10 cardamom pods
- 2 dried limes (broken)
- 4 dried mushrooms
- 8 allspice berries
- 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 onion, quartered
- 10 prunes
- 1.5 litres chicken or veg stock
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 350g curly kale
- 150g pearled spelt or barley or quinoa or bulghur wheat
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Put the chicken, cardamom pods, limes, mushrooms, allspice, garlic, onion, prunes and stock in a large saucepan, bring to the simmer and cook for 40 minutes.
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Step 2
Periodically, push down the prunes and limes with a potato masher to release the flavours and juice.
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Step 3
Meanwhile, bring a pan of salted water to the boil, chop up the kale and blanch for 3 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon and cool under the cold tap.
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Step 4
Leave in the colander. Using the same water, cook the grains until al dente. Strain.
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Step 5
Remove the chicken to one side and strain the broth through a sieve. Discard the solids.
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Step 6
Return the liquid to the pan, bring back to the simmer and add the grains and kale.
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Step 7
Pull/chop the chicken into biggish pieces, discarding the skin. Return to the broth in the pan, adding the lemon juice and zest, and some salt and pepper. Simmer for another 5 minutes.
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Step 8
Serve in bowls with whatever garnishes come to hand - chopped spring onions, coriander leaf, crispy fried shallots etc.
