Page title and description

Vaguely Middle Eastern poached chicken
Chicken
Vaguely Middle Eastern poached chicken
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
PT10M
Cooking time:
1h
PT1H
-
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.