My daughter LOVES Nandos – every time we are in our local shopping centre she makes a bee line for the funky chicken restaurant which she cutely calls “Fernandos” and promptly orders their spicy rice. She’s not really bothered by anything else on the menu (other than the self serve froyo). Last time we were there she looked at me over her glasses and enquired why couldn’t I made spicy rice like “fernandos”. Well there is a challenge…
Given it’s Saturday I contemplated a trip to the mall, but she’s a bit under the weather today so I thought I might cheer her up by whipping up some homemade spicy rice. It was an experiment but hey – I think it might be better than Fernandos and it’s really simple too – here’s how I did it…
Ingredients:
- 1/2 a yellow & 1/2 a red pepper (capsicum for my southern hemisphere followers)
- 1 onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 chilli
- 2 spring onions
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 chicken stock pot capsule or cube
- 1 dessert spoon of turmeric
- a little oil
- sea salt & white pepper
- basmati rice (2 cups for 4 people)
Fill a large pot with water, add some salt and bring to the boil. When boiling add the rice, stock and the turmeric, stir through and simmer for 8 – 10 minutes, or until just cooked.
Chop the onion, peppers, chilli and one of the spring onions really finely (I whizzed mine up in the food processor) and crush the garlic glove. Heat a little oil in a pan and cook off the vegetables until soft, add the paprika, cumin and salt / pepper. Cook for a further 2 – 3 minutes over a gentle heat until cooked through.
By now the rice should be cooked, so drain and return to the pot, put the lid back on to steam any excess moisture off. This will stop it being wet, sticky rice. Then transfer to pan with the vegetables and gently through. Taste and season with salt & pepper if required. Just before serving stir through the remaining spring onion, finely chopped.
This rice can be made ahead and reheated. If you don’t like it too spicy simply add less chilli.
Not Posh Food 
Where do you add the chicken stick cube ?
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Hi Sam – well spotted, I left that out of the recipe – sorry about that! You put the stock in with the water when cooking the rice. Hope you enjoy it!
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Yummo , thanks so much . My husband and I are no longer Nandos virgins and popped our peri peri cherry 🙂 can’t wait to try this recipe
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What kind of chili do you use? Red or green?
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Hi Sasad I use a medium sized red chilli in this recipe. Enjoy!
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Hi! Thanks so much for the response. Do I have to soak the rice in water beforehand or no? Like I’ll be cleaning it but I am not sure if I should soak for a little bit.
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Hi no I don’t soak the rice, no need to if you are using a long grain or basmati. I do rinse it in a sieve until the water runs clear though. Most importantly don’t overcook the rice.
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If I wanted to add frozen peas how/when would I do this? Also could I omit the spring onions for regular, brown onions or will this alter the flavour?
Looks yummy, thanks for sharing!
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Hi! Yes you can add frozen peas, I would do that at the very end, just stir them through gently until they are just cooked. This will preserve the colour. You can omit the spring onions for regular onions. I favour the spring onions as I like a bit of colour through the rice, but it will not impact the flavour to use regular ones.
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I am wondering about the chili pepper, I assume you mean a fresh chili pepper, but what kind? Here in California we have many choices, jalapeno, serrano, pasilla, etc. What is the pepper you used?
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Hi Jody – great to hear from sometime in California! In this recipe it is what you call a Serrano chilli. I hope you enjoy it ❤️
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