Treasure chest of Jewelled Rice

This is a treasure chest of glistening jewels and healthfulness.

There are many recipes for Jewelled Rice, but they all have in common the ingredients of rice (!) and the jewel colours from dried fruits like cherries or cranberries, and saffron and pistachios.  This recipe is from Jamie Oliver, so while it's probably not that authentic, the flavours are spot on and it's really easy to make.

Speaking of being easy to make (and where there's simplicity - I'm there), I served the rice with a pomegranate and walnut chicken. It's another straightforward effort made even easier because it's on the page following the jewelled rice in jamie magazine.  What's another word for lazy? C'est moi!

Jewelled rice

serves 4

Ingredients

200g red, wild, brown or basmati rice, cooked

1x400g can of lentils

75g pistachios, chopped

100g dried cranberries or dried sour cherries, chopped

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Large bunch of mint, leaves picked and roughly chopped

2 tblsp fried onions

Extra-virgin olive oil

Method

1.  Place the lentils in a large bowl with the cooked rice, pistachios, cranberries and lemon juice, and season well with salt and pepper.

2.  Add the mint and a drizzle of olive oil, then toss to mix.

3.  Serve sprinkled with the fried onions

Pomegranate and walnut chicken

serves 4

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs, fillets or with bone in

3 tblsp pomegranate molasses

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tblsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 tsp crushed garlic

2 red onions, quartered

50g walnuts

Handful of rocket leaves

Method

1.  Preheat oven to 200C/400F.  Place the chicken in a roasting tray and pour over the molasses. Season well, then sprinkle with the cinnamon and olive oil.  Add the garlic, onion and walnuts and toss.  Cover with foil and roast for 20 minutes.  Remove the foil and roast for a further 15 minutes until the chicken is golden, sticky and cooked through.

2. Scatter the rocket leaves over the chicken before serving.

recipes adapted from jamie magazine

Some of the colourful ingredients, including dried cranberries, pistachios, red onion and lemon (juice).

The chicken before and after cooking, moist with pomegranate molasses, garlic and walnuts.

The cinnamon spice in the chicken and jewelled rice bring a Middle Eastern flavour to the meal

The rice is served with fried onions on top.  I used brown rice and its nutty flavour goes well with the cranberries, mint and lemon

A colourful dish is so easy to eat!