- 150g brown basmati rice
- 1 onion
- 1 red pepper
- 1 chilli
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 blood oranges
- 2 chicken thighs & 2 chicken drumsticks
- ½ cucumber
- 250g cherry vine tomatoes
- 50g sweet salad mix
- 8 tsp olive oil
- 100ml cold water
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 300ml boiling water
- 1.
Heat your grill to its highest setting. Tip the rice into a bowl and cover with cold water. Set aside to soak. Peel the onion and chop into 8 wedges. Slice the pepper in half and scoop out the seeds. Pull the stalk from the chilli.
- 2.
Line a baking tray with foil and pop the onion, pepper and chilli on it. Drizzle the onion with 2 tsp oil. Drop on 1 unpeeled garlic clove Grill for 4-5 mins. Turn the chilli over and grill for another 4-5 mins till everything is charred. Meanwhile, heat your oven to 220°C/Fan 200°C/Gas 7.
- 3.
Pop the charred pepper halves and chilli in a bowl and cover with a plate. Leave for 5 mins to cool, then carefully peel off the blackened skin (don’t worry if some charred skin stays attached). For a less spicy dish, slice open the chilli and scrape out the seeds and white bits. Carefully squeeze the grilled garlic from its skin.
- 4.
Put the pepper, chilli, garlic and onion in a food processor. Add 1 tsp oregano and 1 tbsp vinegar. Squeeze in the juice from 1 blood orange. Add 100ml water. Season and blitz. No processor? Finely chop the veg and stir with the vinegar, orange juice and water to make a chunky piri piri sauce. Set aside.
- 5.
Rub 1 tsp olive oil into the skin of each piece of chicken and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Heat a griddle or frying pan till it’s hot. Add the chicken, skin-side down. Fry for 3-4 mins till the skin is crisp.
- 6.
Transfer the chicken to a roasting tin, skin-side up. Spoon over the piri piri sauce. Cut the remaining blood orange into 8 wedges and nestle them around the chicken. Roast for 40 mins till the chicken is cooked through.
- 7.
Meanwhile, peel the remaining garlic clove. Drain the rice. Tip into a pan. Add 300ml boiling water and drop in the peeled garlic clove. Cover and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down. Simmer for 25 mins till the water is absorbed and the rice is tender. Take off the heat. Set aside, lid on, for 5 mins to finish cooking. Dig out the garlic clove and squash it. Stir it back into the rice.
- 8.
Roughly chop half the cucumber. Halve the cherry tomatoes. Pop into a bowl with the salad leaves. Drizzle over 2 tsp oil and some salt and pepper. Toss to mix. Serve the chicken with the blood orange piri piri sauce, the garlicky rice and salad, with the orange wedges on the side for squeezing.