Madhouse recipe : Yellow Rice with Chicken & Beans

Absolutely perfect for cooking in lockdown, this is a dish that can be tweaked to use up whatever you have in the cupboards and the fridge. You'll need rice, a bit of turmeric if you want a vibrant yellow colour, then whatever vegetables, tins of beans and meat leftovers you have. It actually tasted really good and the kids wolfed it down !

 Yellow Rice with Chicken & Beans

ingredients :

a splash of olive oil

1 onion

rice 

1tsp turmeric

half a red pepper

any leftover cooked meat (sausage, chorizo, chicken, beef, pork ... whatever you have)

a tin of red kidney beans (or I used mixed beans)

salt, pepper

1tsp chilli or paprika (optional)

Heat the oil in a large frying pan or saucepan. If using raw meat, chop it up and fry it off then reserve on a plate. Fry the onion and red pepper (I left out the red pepper as we'd run out) on a medium heat for about five minutes, stirring from time to time, until they soften.

Add the rice to the pan (for a family of three plus leftovers, I poured in enough to cover the bottom of the pan by about 2cm) and continue to cook, stirring frequently for 1 minute.

Add boiling water to the rice (enough to cover the rice by about 2-3cm) and stir in 1tsp of turmeric, plus the salt and pepper. Don't worry if you haven't got any turmeric - it just gives it a lovely yellow colour. You could opt for chilli, paprika or any other spices you may have instead. Stir and cook for 8 minutes (depending on the cooking time given on the box of rice).

Stir in the beans and the cooked meat. 

Continue to cook for about five minutes, until the water is completely absorbed and the rice is cooked. (If the rice is still a bit hard, turn off the heat and put a lid on the pan (or a plate over the top, if you haven't got a lid). Leave to sit for 5 minutes then stir.)

This is a great dish for using up leftovers. As well as being perfect with a variety of meats, you could even stir through any leftover cooked veggies - I think broccoli, spinach, peas, cauliflower and carrots, among other things, would work well with this. Feel free to have a rummage through your spice rack too - you could go for Italian seasoning (in which case, leave out the turmeric maybe), BBQ seasoning or add extra chilli/paprika if you want some extra zing in there !

Adding to the #KitchenClearout linky - come on over and see what you can make with your leftovers ! Feel free to link up your own recipes.