Spiced Chicken with Pomegranate and Lamb Rice

This meal sounds complicated and probably time consuming – let me firstly tell you it isn’t either of those things, we’re talking less than half an hour from start to finish and you’re serving something that looks absolutely great.  Now I’m not a fan of fruit and meat but again, trust me, this works – and it really works!!  The pomegranate seeds just add that final finishing touch and make the dish look absolutely lovely.
 

The whole thing is syn free which makes it even better!

This is for four but it’s very simple to scale to your needs:

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts (remove any visible fat)

Smoked paprika

Tikka powder

Fry light

500g 5% lamb mince*

Boil in the bag rice (I used two)

Garlic to taste (maybe use 2 cloves - again depends on your taste)

Red onion

Peas

To garnish:

Fresh pomegranate seeds

Fresh coriander

Method:

Boil water for your rice

As the waters boiling chop your onion 

Put your rice in and turn down to simmer, my rice takes 15 minutes

Heat a large pan or wok and spray with fry light (I use the garlic one)

Put your lamb mince and onions in the pan, add garlic and some tikka powder (a good teaspoon) and start to brown

Place chicken breasts in a separate frying pan and sprinkle with smoked paprika and tikka powder to taste.  Turn so the seasoned side is face down on the pan and cook on medium.  You want the chicken to be cooked through but not dry.  While the chicken is cooking season the other side.  Wait until the chicken is sealed and cooked on the first side before turning.

With about 5 minutes to go, add the peas to the lamb mix

When your rice is cooked add to the lamb mix and mix thoroughly

Slice the chicken on an angle and put back in the frying pan, you’re just sealing the cut areas and making sure you get all the yummy tasting cooking herbs and spices

Now you’re ready to serve

Pile the rice mixture on a serving plate and place the cooked chicken on the top

Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and fresh coriander, serve immediately

You can serve this with syn free garlic bread!

Syn free spiced chicken with mince rice and pomegranate seeds

*Getting 5% lamb mince is not easy.  There are a couple of things you can do:  Go to the butchers and buy lean lamb and have them mince it for you or buy supermarket mince and drain it off during cooking – I usually do this as there isn’t a good butcher near me and add a few syns to the meal as it’s not a perfect method.  You can pre-cook the lamb mince, drain during cooking and add ice cubes, this will make the fat congeal and you can skim it all off leaving you with 5% or less mince