Filipino Chicken Paella

INGREDIENTS 

• 4 organic chicken thighs skin on
• Salt and pepper
• Flour for dusting, use gluten-free flour if you want it completely wheat-free
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tsp Spanish paprika
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 ½ cups jasmine rice, uncooked
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 2 plum tomatoes, petite diced
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1-2 Red yellow or orange sweet bell peppers, seeded and diced
• 4 oz Spanish Chorizo sausage, sliced

INSTRUCTIONS 

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and then dust with flour.
• Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or large skillet and then fry the chicken until golden brown on both sides. Transfer the chicken pieces to a baking tray (9 x13 baking dish) and into the oven for about 20 minutes.
• While the chicken is cooking in the oven, prepare the accompanying vegetables.
• Using the same pan where the chicken was cooked, sauté the onion and garlic and cook until the onions are soft, about 3-4 minutes. Add the paprika and turmeric. Stir-fry just until aromatic, less than a minute.
• Add the uncooked rice and chicken stock and mix. Bring to a boil. When it begins to boil, turn off the heat. We will continue cooking it in the oven.
• Remove the baking pan from oven. Distribute the rice mixture in the pan where the chicken is cooking. If it’s easier, simply remove the chicken pieces first then spoon the rice spreading it all over the pan then return the chicken pieces. Continue to cook in the oven for about 15 mins. The rice should be almost dry at this point.
• As the rice and chicken is cooking, add a little oil to the dutch oven or skillet you used previously. Fry the chorizo until it changes its color.
• Once the timer is done, take the baking pan out of the oven, then add the remaining ingredients (diced tomatoes, frozen peas
• diced sweet peppers) and the fried chorizo, distributing them evenly all over the rice.
• Return to the oven and bake for a further 10-15 minutes or just until the chicken is tender and the rice has fully absorbed the stock.
• Serve with a wedge of lemon and squeeze on top of the rice just before eating, if desired

NOTES

Note: You may add the chorizo with the other ingredients (bell peppers, tomato, etc.) and let it cook in the oven. However, it may become slightly chewy though it does add more flavor to the rice done that way – it’s up to you.

Instead of cooking the chorizo with the chicken, you may (after adding the rest of the vegetables to the pan), heat a little oil and fry the chorizos until brown and crispy. Simply add at the end just before serving.