This delicious one pot slow cooker wonder is so easy and quick to throw together. The chicken and rice go really well with the fragrant spices, sweet apricots and velvety super green spinach. I dolloped a tablespoon of fresh live yoghurt on the top and it worked really well. Plates were empty so I’m guessing it was a hit with the kids!
I like to use chicken thigh meat because I think it has better flavour, especially from an organic chicken. You could also use chicken breast if you prefer but the breast does create a slightly drier texture. I also like to use the unsulphured dried apricots which are darker in colour and sometimes brown rice for this recipe.
You will need the following ingredients:
Ingredients
1 tbsp of coconut oil or ghee
1 finely chopped onion
4 chopped garlic cloves
2tsp of cumin seeds
2 tsp of ground coriander
2 tsp of tumeric
1 cinnamon stick
A small handful of chopped dried apricots
1 1/4 cups of basmati
3 chopped up chicken breasts or 6 chopped up thighs
700ml of vegetable stock
3 cubes of frozen spinach
Live yoghurt to serve
Set the slow cooker to high (2 -3hrs cooking time) or low (4-5 hrs cooking time) depending on the length of time you have to cook the meal. I like to prep my meals late morning or around lunchtime so that everything is ready for dinner around 5pm.
Add the coconut oil or ghee to the slow cooker and let it melt. Add in the onion, garlic, spices and chopped apricots and give it a stir around to coat everything evenly.
Add the chopped up chicken meat into the rice mixture and stir evenly to coat in the spices, apricots and rice. Add in the hot stock, frozen spinach cubes and stir once more.
Pop the lid on and leave to cook for the required time as above – high setting (2 -3hrs) or low setting (4-5hrs).
Serve with fresh greens or other seasonal vegetables and add a dollop of live yoghurt on top to serve.
Grate two courgettes into a bowl and add 1/2 cup of wholemeal flour, finely diced red pepper and you could also add a tin of sweetcorn. I didn’t have in the cupboard so I skipped this but would probably add it in next time for a little sweetness. Season with salt and pepper and clump into little balls, fry in coconut oil in a non stick pan. Serve with salad. We had these topped with cream (soy cream) spinach sauce (recipe in the sides section) fried mushrooms and chipotle hot sauce! We also had potatoes cooked in cauliflower cream on the side too!
