Turmeric "Chicken"

So, we haven't had a chest freezer for over a year, not since it just died randomly one day...around the same time the fridge died. Now we just have the freezer over the new fridge, so we have to go through periods of eating through the freezer and just pulling things out to thaw if we need to put other stuff in (...like a bunch of on-sale ice cream, lol). So we had chicken drums in the fridge and I had to come up with a way to cook them.

We also have turmeric and fenugreek kicking around in our spice cupboard, so I went for an Indian themed supper. A brief internet search and I came up with another recipe to tweak.

Turmeric "Chicken"

serves 4 supposedly, lol

2 Tbsp oil
8 chicken drums
1 chopped onion
2 c basmati rice (or jasmine, which is what we had on hand)
2 cloves garlic, crushed (or chopped, depending on how you like your seasoning)
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger (or fresh if you have it)
1 Tbsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp fenugreek
1/4 tsp cayenne powder (or if you have it, powdered chili)
4 c chicken stock
3 Tbsp tomato passata (or 1 Tbsp paste or original recipe called for a chopped tomato finish)
salt! to taste (not in the original and I totally forgot to add it...so my rice wasn't over-salted as it can be, but the dish needed it)

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Season chicken with whatever you want (I used a buffalo chicken spice blend) and fry until golden on all sides.
While chicken is cooking, preheat oven to 350 F and lightly warm stock and passata.
Remove chicken from pan and saute the onion until light brown.
Mix all the spices in a small bowl so it evenly distributes when adding to the pan. (Don't want a lump of cayenne now, do you?)
Add the rice, garlic and spices and lightly toast.
Transfer to a large oven dish. (Original recipe said 4 L casserole, I went with a high 9" x 13" dish).
Put the chicken on top of dry rice.
Pour stock/tomato mix over the dish and put in oven for about 40 minutes or until the rice has absorbed all the liquid and the chicken is cooked, but not dry.

Luckily, there was some leftover rice for me to remember to photograph, lol. The nuttiness from the browning of the rice and the browned onion and garlic made it awesome, along with mixing my own curry powder essentially. The chicken had some seasoning from the spice on the underside (I didn't flip it, just set and forget) and it was a good idea to season before browning.

Enjoy!