Chicken & Lemon Rasam with Spinach Pilau rice

The boy has the beginnings of a cold. You would think he was in the final stages of pneumonia. He claims to be too weak for anything but soup, so we are having a chicken rasam. I think the spicy kick will help.

175g red lentils

1.2l chicken stock

½ tsp turmeric

100g potatoes

5 cloves garlic

3cm cube ginger, peeled

1 chicken breast, skinned

1 ¼ tsp salt

Black pepper

3tbsp oil

1tsp ea cumin, cayenne & coriander

2tbsp lemon juice

When he’s unwell the boy will happily listen to Radio 4 in bed, so it’s what I have in the bedroom. Unusually our flat layout has the bedroom just off the kitchen.

Pour the chicken stock (we’re not using home made) into a large pan, along with the lentils and turmeric. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes with lid ajar.

Peel and dice the potatoes and add these and continue simmering for another 30 minutes. The boy shouts from the bedroom that he’s getting hungry. Tell him he has to wait, unless he’d like to nibble on a raw potato.

Using a mini processor, blend the garlic and ginger into a paste with 4 ½ tbsp. water. Get it into a paste. I do feel for the boy as our mini processor is incredibly loud. Perhaps I should have used the pestle and mortar.

Dice the chicken into 1cm pieces. Put it in a bowl and season with ¼ tsp salt and some freshly ground pepper. Toss to mix.

When the soup base is done, roughly blend – I use a stick blender as I think you can control it better. Unfortunately it means disturbing the boy’s radio listening again. Pour into a bowl and add the remaining salt.

Clean out the pan and then add the oil and the garlic ginger paste. Add the cayenne, cumin and coriander. Very gently fry it off until lightly browned. The aroma brings the boy padding into the kitchen in his pyjamas. Tell him you need about 15 minutes. You probably need less than this but manage his expectations.

Add the chicken dice and stir for 2 or 3 minutes, until they turn white. Add 250ml water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 3 minutes to cook the chicken. Pour in the lentil soup base and add the lemon juice. Taste and add more lemon juice if needed. I usually do.

Serve with Palau rice and a sharp pickle. I like to serve the pickle on the rice and then have alternate spoonful’s of soup and rice.

I considered letting him have this in bed before remembering we are currently using a white duvet!

Spinach Pilau Rice

I’m using a rice cooker, but adapt this to your usual method. Put washed Basmati rice and water in the cooker and add 1tsp turmeric, some broken cinnamon bark and 4 cardamom pods to the water. Keep the cinnamon in big pieces so it’s easy to fish them out. Grind in some fresh black pepper and a pinch of salt. Add a handful of thawed frozen spinach and mix in with the rice so the shreds distribute nicely.

Cook in the usual way. I’m adding a few drops of yellow food colouring, but only because the boy is unwell and will like it to look like it came from an Indian takeaway.

When done, remove the spices. Add a little butter, and serve in a bowl with some hot mango or lime pickle on top.