Saffron Chicken

Submitted by Para_chan

"This is one of my favorite recipes that I got from my mom. It's so good. [edit]I've changed the proportions of rice to water so that it'll cook correctly."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 5mins
• Ingredients: 15
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 2 boneless chicken breasts
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup rice
• 1 (3 ounce) package onion soup mix
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon sage
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon saffron (or turmeric)
• 2 cups water
• 1 (8 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
• 2 large carrots, cut into strips

directions

1. Preheat oven to 375º.
2. Melt butter in skillet. Cook chicken breasts until mostly cooked.
3. In a large measuring cup (1 quart), mix onion soup mix, spices (feel free to sub whatever spices/seasoning and amounts that you want.) and can of cream of mushroom soup. Fill measuring cup with water to the 1 quart (4 cup) line.
4. In large casserole dish, add rice and carrots. Add partly cooked chicken on top of rice and carrots. Pour soup mixture over chicken and rice.
5. Cover casserole with aluminium foil.
6. Cook for 45 minutes, or until rice has absorbed almost all of the liquid.

Reviews

[Tinkerbell]

UPDATE: All 5 stars! I didn't plan to try this recipe again a full year from the first time, but that's just how it worked out. :) I'm so glad I did though! The new water to rice proportions are spot on & again, the flavor was outstanding. I have wanted to make this again just to get a photo that does the recipe justice. It's FANTASTIC! October 28, 2008: 5 stars for flavor! It was quick & easy to prep & get into the oven, but that's where the troubles started for me. I followed the recipe exactly as written (except I used cream of onion soup) & after 45 minutes the rice was still uncooked. I put it back in the oven for 20 minutes. Not cooked. I added 1 cup of water & 10 more minutes. Slightly cooked rice now, so this time I added another cup of water & another 10 minutes. That was 85 minutes in the oven & the rice was still only half cooked. There may be an error in rice or water amounts in the recipe. I'm not sure what went wrong here but I do know that even with crunchy rice & dry chicken, my family was asking me to make it again before we'd even finished eating. And my toddler sat at the table 20 minutes longer than everyone else asking for more, more, more. I'll make anything again if that girl will eat it! The flavor is delicious & that especially makes it worth trying again. I think I will try adding an extra cup or two of water at the start next time. Thanks for sharing your mom's recipe, Para_chan! Made for Fall 2008 PAC-O.