Persian spiced chicken with parsley rice

This Persian spiced chicken recipe for the next of my monthly Sydney columns for The Rocks newsletter, is not only simple to cook, and satisfying to eat but also healthy. The spices and lemon juice substitute for using salt in the cooking, and the spices add their own health giving properties to help us throughout the winter.

Persian spiced chicken with parsley rice

serves 4

Ingredients:
4 corn fed chicken breasts
2 onions, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon paprika
Large pinch of saffron threads
Juice of 2 lemons
2 ½ cups water
1 cup rice
½ bunch of flat parsley

For the chicken:
Slowly heat a frypan and add the olive oil, sliced onions and ground spices. Add the chicken breasts as the heat increases, turn when starting to brown. Once the onions are translucent, add the lemon juice, 1 cup of water and the saffron threads. Cover and slowly simmer for 15 minutes or so until just cooked through.

For the sauce:
Remove the chicken breasts from the pan and rest on a clean dish covered with alfoil (shiny side down).
Place the remaining ingredients from the frypan (onions, spices, lemon juice and water) in a blender and process until smooth. If necessary return to the pan to reduce and/or reheat before serving.

For the rice:
Put the remaining 1 ½ cups of water with a pinch of salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to the boil. Add the rice and cook until just tender (about 15 minutes). Drain.
Separate the parsley leaves. Roughly chop and stir the parsley through the rice.

Plating:
Put the parsley rice to one half of each plate. Slice the chicken breasts. Spoon the onion spiced sauce over each chicken breast. Works well on a shared platter or on individual plates.

The corn fed chicken breasts were supplied courtesy of the Game Farm.