Name: One-Pot Chicken and Rice
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1 pcs onion; 3 cloves garlic clove; 0.5 pcs green courgette; 0.5 pcs aubergine; 1 pcs red pepper; 400 g chicken thigh fillet; 3 tbsp olive oil; 0.5 tsp dried oregano; 0.25 tsp chilli flake; 2 pcs tomato; 2.5 dl arborio rice (risotto rice); 5 dl chicken stock, diluted

UntrainedChef

Tips from the kitchen

Get the chicken properly browned before you add the vegetables. If you crowd the pot too early, it steams instead of colours, and you lose a lot of the base flavour the rice will cook into.
Arborio rice absorbs liquid differently than regular long-grain. Check it at 18 minutes. If there's still a lot of liquid sitting on top, give it another couple of minutes with the lid off. If it looks dry before the rice is cooked through, add stock in small splashes, not all at once.
The aubergine and courgette will cook down quite a bit. Cut them a little bigger than you think you need to, so they don't disappear completely into the rice.
Let the pot sit off the heat for 5 minutes before serving. The rice keeps cooking from the residual heat and the texture settles nicely.

Ways to vary it

Swap the chicken thigh fillets for bone-in thighs if you have them. They take longer, around 25 minutes covered, but the stock gets a bit more depth from the bones.
A handful of frozen peas stirred in right at the end adds some colour and cools the dish down fast enough for kids who can't wait.
If you want it a bit more Spanish in character, add a pinch of smoked paprika with the oregano and swap one of the tomatoes for a spoonful of tomato paste.

Storage & leftovers

Keeps well in the fridge for up to 3 days in a sealed container. The rice firms up overnight, so when reheating add a splash of water or stock and warm it slowly on the hob with the lid on, stirring once or twice. It freezes fine, though the vegetables soften a little more after thawing.