Chicken Saffron Pilaf

Hope your holiday weekend was a good one!  C and I spent the weekend at Lake Texoma, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised.  The lake was way bigger than I thought, and was really nice.  I'll share pictures with you soon.  

I wanted to try this recipe so I could use more of the saffron I bought a while ago.  This is a healthy dinner, with many flavors.  All of them combined tasted awesome. 

You will be marinating the chicken in Greek yogurt, and you can use whichever brand you wish, I used Open Nature.

Mix together the yogurt, juice from a half of a lemon, cinnamon, salt and pepper in a medium sized bowl.  Cut around two boneless chicken breasts into bite size pieces, and marinate in the yogurt mixture for around an hour.  

While the chicken is marinating, soak the saffron threads in the vegetable stock in a separate bowl.

Over medium heat, in a large pan with a lid, melt the butter along with one tablespoon of oil.

I received this Traditions Coconut Oil to try as a sample, and decided to use it in place of oil in this recipe.  It did add a little coconut flavor to the rice, which I really enjoyed.

Add the basmati rice, and stir it to coat until glossy.

Pour in the saffron and stock into the rice.

Add the lemon juice and zest to the rice and bring the pan to a boil.  Then cover and turn the heat down to very low.  Cook like this for around 15 minutes, and the rice should have absorbed the liquid and cooked through.

While the rice is cooking, shake the excess yogurt off the chicken and fry the meat in a hot pan with the remaining spoonful or so of oil.  

When the rice is cooked, take it off the heat and add the chicken pieces.

While the chicken is cooking, toast the cashews and almonds in the oven for a couple minutes on a cookie sheet until fragrant.

Then add the nuts to the chicken and rice mixture.

Add parsley and salt to taste and serve immediately.  I really liked the light coconut flavor from the oil in the rice.  I also think the toasted nuts made the dish with the added crunch.  This was a pretty simple, and low fat dinner, that everyone will enjoy. 

See you back here tomorrow!

Chicken Saffron Pilaf

Adapted  from Technicolor Kitchen

Serves 6

4 boneless chicken breasts, cut into bit size pieces

3/4 cup plain yogurt, or Greek yogurt

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon saffron thread

4 cups vegetable stock

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

2-3 teaspoons vegetable oil

2 3/4 cup basmati rice

juice and zest of 1 lemon

1/4 cup cashew nuts

1/4 cup flaked almonds

small bunch of parsley, chopped

Marinate the chicken in the yogurt, juice from half lemon, cinnamon, salt and pepper for about an hour.

Soak the saffron threads in the vegetable oil.

Over medium heat, in a large skillet melt the butter with 1 tablespoon of oil.

Add the rice, stirring it to coat until glossy.

Pour in the saffron and stock.

Add the lemon juice and zest of one lemon and bring the pan to a boil. 

Cover and turn the heat down to very low, and cook for around 15 minutes.

While the rice is cooking, shake the excess yogurt off the chicken.

Fry the meat in a hot pan with the remaining spoonful or so of oil.

While meat is cooking toast the almonds in the oven, in a cookie sheet, until fragrant.

When the rice is cooked, remove from heat.

Add the chicken pieces, toasted nuts, and chopped parsley.

Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve immediately.