South Carolina Chicken Rice Food

SOUTH CAROLINA CHICKEN & RICE

Steps:

• In a 6-quart stockpot, cook chicken in 2 cups broth over medium heat until a thermometer reads 170°, turning halfway through cooking. Remove chicken; set aside to cool. Add sausage, onion and remaining broth to stockpot; bring to a boil. Add rice. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 15-18 minutes or until rice is almost tender (mixture may be soupy)., Shred chicken; add to rice. Cook, covered, until rice is tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

CLASSIC CHICKEN BIRYANI

Steps:

• Step 1 In a medium bowl, stir together yogurt, lemon juice, oil, ginger, garlic, garam masala, turmeric, 1 tbsp salt, black pepper, cumin and paprika. Toss in chicken until well coated. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for at least 4 to 6 hours but overnight is best. Step 2 Preheat broiler on HIGH. Place chicken on lightly greased foil-lined baking sheet. Broil for 10 to 12 mins or until starting to brown. Step 3 Meanwhile, heat 1/4 cup ghee in large Dutch oven or saucepan set over medium heat. Add cinnamon stick, cardamom, cloves, star anise and bay leaves. Cook for 2 to 3 mins or until toasted and fragrant. Stir in onions and cook for 5 to 8 mins or until tender and lightly golden. Step 4 Stir in rice, remaining salt and saffron. Cook for 3 to 5 mins or until well coated. Stir in 3 1/2 cups water and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 15 to 20 mins or until rice is tender and absorbs most of the liquid. Add chicken juices from baking sheet into the rice and stir. Nestle in chicken pieces. Cover and cook for 5 to 8 mins or until rice has absorbed all the liquid. Step 5 Garnish with cilantro and mint before serving Recipe Tip: Remove bay leaves and whole spices if desired. For festive biryani, add frozen 1 cup peas in the last 5 mins of cooking. Serve with a dollop of yogurt. Garnish with sliced almonds, pistachios, dried chopped apricots, fried shallots and fresh thinly sliced chilies.

SOUTH CAROLINA STYLE CHICKEN STEW

Steps:

• Remove the skin from the chicken breasts (or start with boneless skinless breasts) and place them in a dutch oven or a soup pot. Add the chicken stock and enough water to cover the breasts and have at least 3" of liquid over them.
• Bring the liquid to a simmer and then poach the breasts for 15 minutes. Remove and set them aside until cool enough to handle.
• While poaching the chicken, slice the onions in half "pole to pole" and cut off both the root and tail ends. Peel the onions. Slice the onions pole to pole into 1/4" slices.
• Separate the onion slices and then add them to the liquid in the pot (the chicken has been removed by this time). Continue simmering to cook the onions until translucent.
• When cool enough to handle slice the chicken breasts into 1" cubes. When the onions are done cooking add the chicken cubes back into the pot.
• Add the evaporated milk.
• Cut the butter into 1 T pieces and add to the pot and let it melt.
• Do not boil the stew or the milk will separate!
• Serve with hot sauce.

CAROLINA PILAU (PERLOO)

Steps:

• Fry the bacon in a large skillet over very low heat, just until it reaches the crisp stage. Remove from pan, crumble and set aside. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat, then add the rice and stir, cooking slowly until rice is lightly browned.
• Add the boiling stock, stir, and bring back to the boil.
• Add chicken, vegetables, bay leaf, salt and pepper.
• Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes, or until rice, chicken and vegetables are done and liquid is absorbed.
• Serving Ideas : Sprinkle with crumbled bacon and parsley.

CAROLINA GOLD RICE

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil and butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat until sizzling hot (see Know-how, page 100). Add the shallot and cook and stir for about 2 minutes, until soft and translucent. Add the rice, season with salt and pepper to taste, and stir to coat with oil and butter. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the thyme and just enough broth to cover the rice by about 1/4 inch, stirring just once to combine.
• Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the rice is tender and all the liquid is absorbed. Remove from the heat and let sit, covered, for about 5 minutes. Serve warm.
• Often called the grandfather of long-grain rice in the Americas, Carolina Gold is a beautiful variety that was the star of the antebellum rice trade and a driving force in the creation of a distinct Southern culinary tradition. Despite these claims to fame, Carolina Gold fell by the wayside after the Civil War, along with the South's rice economy. It was half forgotten and nearly extinct by the time Richard Schulz, a Georgia surgeon and plantation owner, rehabilitated the grain in the 1980s. Thanks to his efforts, it is now once again commercially available from vendors like South Carolina's Carolina Plantation Rice and Anson Mills (see Sources, page 377).