Chicken shawarma-style rice bowls
Warm-spiced, crispy-edged chicken over fluffy rice with a lemony chopped salad, like your favorite takeout bowl but fresher.
- 45 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $2.81 a serving
- 630 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups basmati rice
- 1½ lb boneless chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
- 1 cucumber
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- ¼ red onion
- ¼ cup fresh parsley
- ½ lemon, juiced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ½ cup hummus (optional)
From your pantry
- 2¼ cups water
- 2 tsp salt, divided
- 1½ tsp ground cumin
- 1½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 5 tbsp olive oil, divided
Each serving has about 630 calories, 40 g protein, 61 g carbs and 25 g fat, and costs about $2.81 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No basmati rice? Jasmine rice or long-grain white rice works.
- No boneless chicken thighs? Chicken breasts or chicken tenderloins work.
- No cucumbers? English cucumbers or mini cucumbers work.
- No red onions? White onions or yellow onions work.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice until the water runs mostly clear, then put it in a with the water and ½ tsp of the salt and over high heat.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low, and cook for 15 minutes without lifting the lid, then turn off the heat and leave it covered while you cook the chicken.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Dolly’s tip: Set the timer and walk away. Everything else happens while the rice cooks.Mix the cumin, paprika, turmeric, cinnamon, garlic powder and 1 tsp of the salt, then rub the chicken with 1 tbsp of the oil and the spice mix.
Dolly’s tip: Turmeric stains fingers and counters, so use a spoon or wash your hands right after.the cucumber, the tomatoes, the red onion, and the parsley.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Halve. Halving means cutting something into two equal pieces. Even halves cook at the same speed, so one doesn’t dry out while the other finishes.
How you’ll know: The two pieces look like mirror images of each other.
Thinly slice. Thinly slicing means cutting slices about an eighth of an inch thick, roughly two coins stacked. Thin slices cook in seconds and soften fast, which quick dishes need.
How you’ll know: A slice bends a little when you hold it by one edge, and slow, steady cuts beat fast ones.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large over medium-high heat until it , then lay in the chicken.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Medium-high heat
Cook for 5 to 6 minutes without moving it, until deeply , then flip and cook 5 to 6 minutes more, until it reads 165°F.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 11 min
Dolly’s tip: The spices darken fast. If they look close to black, turn the heat down to medium.Food safety: Chicken is done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
Move the chicken to a cutting board and let it for 5 minutes.
Rest. Resting means letting cooked meat sit for a few minutes before you cut it. It keeps cooking gently, and more of the juice stays in the meat instead of running onto the board.
How you’ll know: Loosely covered with foil, it stays hot, and very little juice runs out when you slice it.
Timer: 5 min
Shake the lemon juice, garlic, the rest of the oil and ½ tsp of the salt in a lidded jar for 15 seconds, until it looks creamy.
Dolly’s tip: Two parts oil to one part lemon, plus salt, is the whole formula. Taste it on a piece of cucumber and add salt until it pops.the cucumber, tomatoes, onion and parsley with half the dressing in a bowl.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
the chicken, fluff the rice, and divide both among four bowls with the salad, then with the rest of the dressing and add a scoop of hummus.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Drizzle. Drizzling means pouring a thin, slow stream over the top of something. A thin stream spreads a little flavor a long way.
How you’ll know: You see thin lines across the food, not a puddle collecting underneath.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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