Nandos Platter

Hi my lovelies,

I was craving Nandos the whole of lockdown and even when the lockdown was lifted, I could never get a table! So I thought instead of getting my hopes up every single time, I'll make my own at home. It's so simple and quick to make and tastes just as good if not better than going to Nandos.

In terms of what chicken to use, you can use whatever pieces you like/what you would normally go for in Nandos, I went for chicken niblets and thighs but you can choose whatever you like. This meal will come out nicest if you marinate your chicken for a few hours before cooking, even overnight if you have time!

In this post, I'll give you the recipe for the chicken and rice because I was cheeky and used store-bought chips and coleslaw but feel free to make your own.

Ingredients

500g chicken

Salt & pepper to taste

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder/granules

1/2 tsp mixed herbs

100 ml Nandos marinade (50ml for seasoning the chicken & 50ml to baste the chicken whilst it's cooking (I used medium)

For the rice:

1/2 an onion finely chopped

1/2 a pepper finely chopped

4 garlic cloves finely chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp turmeric

150g basmati rice

300ml chicken stock

Juice from the cooked chicken

Directions

• Wash and dry your chicken

• Score your chicken pieces so that the chicken can absorb as much marinade as possible

• Season with all seasonings mentioned above and 50 ml of the Nandos marinade cover and put in the fridge to marinate

• When you're ready to cook the chicken, set the oven to 200C, put the chicken on a rack with a tray underneath so that the juices can fall into the tray and cook for about 30 minutes - 1 hour depending on how big the chicken pieces are

• Halfway through cooking brush Nandos marinade on your chicken

• Wash the rice and set to the side

• Add some oil to the bottom of a deep pan and bring to a medium heat

• Add the chopped onion and pepper

• Cook for a few minutes till they get soft

• Add the chopped garlic and seasonings and cook for about 30 seconds

• Add your rice, chicken stock and bring to a boil

• Once you've brought it to a boil, lower the heat so that it's simmering and cook for about 10 minutes or until your rice is ready (my cooker goes from 0-9 so to bring it to a boil I put it on a 9 then I lower it to 4.5 for the 10 minutes)

• When the rice is ready take it off the heat and add some of the chicken juices from the baking tray to the rice.

• Plate everything up and serve!