Chicken with soy sauce and Turkish style rice pilav

Rice and chicken is always a good combination. I decided to combine two recipes from different cultures and create my own recipe. Soy sauce has been used by Chinese since 3th century. Pilav has a place in Turkish history since Ottoman empire, espcially in Ottoman Palace various kinds of pilav was served to Sultans.

Note: This recipe is for one person only

Ingredients

Chicken with Soy Sauce

• 1 thin sliced chicken breast
• Sunflower, vegetable, or canola oil
• 1 dessertspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 dessertspoon wheat/corn starch
• 1 teaspoon sesame
• 1 teaspoon black seeds
• Oregano
• Fresh dill
• Water

Turkish Pilaf

• ½ cup of white rice
• 1 dessertspoon of barley noodles
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• Sunflower, vegetable or canola oil (but it is best with butter)
• Water

Preparation

Cut the chicken breast in small pieces and fry it on a pan with very little oil. In a small cup combine, soy sauce  balsamic vinegar, starch, sesame, black seeds and oregano. Add a little bit water and mix. After the chicken is roasted add soy sauce and cook about one minute more in low heat. Take it to the plate. I prefer to put fresh dill on top of it, but you can use any kind of fresh herbs.

To prepare rice pilaf, first wash the rice in a bowl and use a strainer to filter the water. Take a pan with a lid and put some oil in it together with noodles, cook them on medium heat until noodles get darker.

Then add the rice to the pan, but be careful rice should contain very little water. Otherwise it will be dangerous.  Roast rice and noodles in low heat less than one minute, then and warm water (not too hot or too cold) and salt. The most important thing in making pilav is to put just right amount of water, if you put more it will be very soft, if you put less it will be very hard. So how will you know that you put right amount? It is not so difficult, it should be right above the rice. Like in the picture:

Remember, you need to add more water if you roast rice longer. Close the lid and cook it until there is no water left. Now you can turn off the heat and mix the rice with a wooden spoon.  

Put a paper towel under the lid and wait for 20 minutes. Like the picture on the right. Your rice will be ready after 20 minutes.

Enjoy!