You know that feeling at the end of the day – the one when all you are fit for is the sofa. Ideally with a glass of wine in one hand and the other held out expectantly for a plate of food which someone else has cooked to be placed in it. I regularly feel like that and I am sure I am not the only one. Much as I love cooking and I do, I really do, there are times when I feel like I can’t be bothered. Invariably at the tired end of the day, possibly after a difference of opinion with one of my children, the house refusing to clean itself or the dog taking himself on a long unscheduled walk and having to be found.
These are the evenings when you need this recipe – easy, quick and totally restoring, Never mind my top 10 or top 5, this one is firmly on the podium in the top 3.
I must point out one thing, which you may have spotted already, it is not a looker. As they say though, never judge a book by its cover and in culinary terms, this is that book. I’ve tried prettying it up, sprinkling it with this or that but it doesn’t work. Moreover it would be missing the point. This recipe is beyond simple, uses very few ingredients and is cheap. To zhuzz it up just for the sake of the photograph would be wrong.
I gave the recipe to one of my brothers ages ago and kept asking him if he had made it. I guessed not because I hadn’t heard the rapturous applause. Eventually (after some badgering from me I must admit) he cooked it for this wife – he says they now have it once a week. So do we, it really is that good.
So please take my word (and my brothers, and my husbands) for it and try this.
Claypot Chicken
1 tablespoon oil
1 onion, chopped
1 thumb of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
4 chicken thigh fillets, each cut into 6 pieces
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon soft brown sugar
4 tablespoons basmati rice
250ml chicken stock
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and gently soften the onion. Add the garlic and ginger and stir for a couple of minutes. Put the rice, brown sugar and fish sauce into the pan, give it all a good stir followed by the chicken and the stock. Simmer gently for about 12-15 minutes until the rice and chicken are cooked. This is enough for two adults (although I think I could probably eat it all myself). Serve with a drop or two of chilli sauce if you like.