This easy chicken rice recipe has been made by my family for at least four or five generations, and it has undergone some intense overhauls over the years. I don't know if or when my great, great grandmother started making it, my great grandmother undercooked the rice, my grandmother changed it and did a less than savory job of it, My mom used too much rice for my taste, and I have perfected it and will share it for you to try. Don't forget the spirit of the recipe, and make changes as you see fit.
what you will need
1 econo-package of drumsticks
1 tsp. vinegar
1 lb. carrots
5 stalks of celery
1 onion, any variety
2 c. Jasmine, basmati, or parboiled rice
4 c. Reserved stock from boiling drumsticks
4 tsp. Wylers chicken boulion(optional) or salt to taste
Sauce of your choosing for topping. I personally recommend House of Tsang peanut sauce, if you can find it, but if not you can probably order it online. My husband likes to use the Panda Express orange sauce ( blech) ...
Anyhow, first things first. Boil your chicken in a large stock pot, with the vinegar and 1/4 of your onion. Just plop the onion in: you can fish it out later.
1 tsp. vinegar
1 lb. carrots
5 stalks of celery
1 onion, any variety
2 c. Jasmine, basmati, or parboiled rice
4 c. Reserved stock from boiling drumsticks
4 tsp. Wylers chicken boulion(optional) or salt to taste
Sauce of your choosing for topping. I personally recommend House of Tsang peanut sauce, if you can find it, but if not you can probably order it online. My husband likes to use the Panda Express orange sauce ( blech) ...
Anyhow, first things first. Boil your chicken in a large stock pot, with the vinegar and 1/4 of your onion. Just plop the onion in: you can fish it out later.
Once it is cooked through, pull it out to cool, and reserve 4 cups of stock to cook with. Keep the rest around at least until the end of this meal, in case you find your rice too dry and want to add more in your process.
Get out another pan to make the rice in. I like to add my ingredients right into the pan to minimize dishes. At this point, add your 4 c. Stock to the pan.
Chop and peel your veggies while your chicken is cooling. These aren't uniformly chopped. Rustic is what we are looking for; not gourmet.
Add veggies to pan with stock.
Remove skin and bone from cooled chicken and add to pan. I like to allow my children to help with the chicken. They get to get messy, which is fun, and you learn a lot about anatomy dissecting muscle from bones.
Bring to a rapid boil and add salt or boulion cubes. Boulion cubes, as a general rule, do not qualify as real food. Glutamate is the problem child here. But it's delicious. So OCCASIONALLY, I crack and put some in. Yum.
It may look like there is not room for rice to cook, but I assure you there is.
Add rice, mix well, reduce to simmer, stir one final time.
Cover and cook about 25 minutes, checking occasionally for sticking. Don't over stir your rice. If it's sticking, it needs to be turned down more.
Let rest 5 minutes.
Fluff with fork and serve.
This rice is not low calorie. I use it to feed my husband, who works 12 hour days, and my growing children, and my nanny, who helps chase around my children. And keeps Oliver the Mini Aussie entertained. And cares for the rabbit livestock. And myself. I'm nursing a baby around the clock. If you eat this daily, you must be aware that it is a high-fat, high carb comfort food food from a Midwestern farm family.