Vaguely Middle Eastern poached chicken

Chicken

Vaguely Middle Eastern poached chicken

Name: Vaguely Middle Eastern poached chicken
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 4

Main Serves 4 1h 10 min

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

Prep time: 10 min

Cooking time: 1h

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.
Step 2
Periodically, push down the prunes and limes with a potato masher to release the flavours and juice.
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.
Step 4
Leave in the colander. Using the same water, cook the grains until al dente. Strain.
Step 5
Remove the chicken to one side and strain the broth through a sieve. Discard the solids.
Step 6
Return the liquid to the pan, bring back to the simmer and add the grains and kale.
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.
Step 8
Serve in bowls with whatever garnishes come to hand - chopped spring onions, coriander leaf, crispy fried shallots etc.