Tavuk Kapama

Saturday night, I’m coming for you - a delicious one tray chicken and rice dish, packed full of flavour - here’s my Tavuk Kapama. Enjoy. 

Ingredients:

250g easy cook rice 

3 tablespoons olive oil

3/4 teaspoon coarse black pepper 

1 teaspoon sea salt flakes

1 teaspoon Turkish red pepper flakes (pul biber)

1 teaspoon smoked paprika 

1 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon cumin 

2 tablespoon Turkish sweet red pepper paste 

2 onions (brown or red is fine) peeled and quartered

1 large red / green / orange / yellow pepper (capsicum) roughly chopped 

6 garlic cloves, peeled and bashed

8 chicken thighs

100g frozen peas 

3 bay leaves 

2 tomatoes, halved and thickly sliced

1 chicken stock cube / stock pot

600ml boiling water

To garnish:

Finely chopped parsley 

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180c Fan / 200c conventional 

Wash the rice under cold running water until the water runs clear, then leave to one side to drain.

In a small bowl, mix together the olive oil, pul biber, smoked paprika, oregano, cumin and Turkish sweet red pepper paste. Leave to one side. 

Add a little more olive oil to a deep tray / casserole dish and add the onions, peppers and garlic to the dish with 2/3 of the spice paste. Add the chicken thighs to the dish and give them a good coating in the spice paste in the dish, evenly spreading out the chicken, onions and garlic for optimal cooking. Season the chicken really well with most of the salt and pepper. 

Pop the tray in the preheated oven on the middle shelf for 30-35 minutes so that the chicken really starts to brown and crisp up.

Loosen the remaining spice paste with a little warm water and pour into a jug with a stick cube, topping up with enough boiling water to bring the liquid up to 600ml. Give it all a really good stir so that the stock cube and paste have all fully dissolved. 

Once the chicken has browned and crisped up take the tray out of the oven, remove the chicken thighs (temporarily) to a separate dish. 

Add the washed and drained Easy Cook Rice and the peas to the tray and stir it into all the juices. Carefully pour the 600ml stock mixture into the tray then pop the chicken thighs back to the dish, including any resting juices, on top of the rice, skin side up. Add in the bay leaves and tomato wedges season the tomatoes with the remaining salt and pepper and pop the tray back into the oven, turn the heat up to 190c fan / 210c on the middle shelf, for roughly another 30-35 minutes. until the rice is cooked through,

The rice should remain juicy and not dry out. 

Once the dish is cooked to perfection, remove from the oven and rest, with the lid on / covered with foil, for 10 minutes or so, so that the rice can soak up the remaining juices.

Sprinkle with finely chopped fresh parsley, a squeeze of lemon juice and some Ezme to serve.