NOTE:

Hi there, if you’re here for the EASIER version of the Halal Chicken over Rice, scroll down to the middle/end of this post. This first post I am keeping here for my own reference, but the improved chicken and white sauce is at the middle/ end. I also included affiliate links to all the ingredients (minus the chicken-add your own ) to make this! In the newer version, there is no chopping at all.

After numerous attempts at making Halal Chicken over Rice from scratch, I’m happy to say I’ve found the closest recipe to NYC Style Halal Chicken Over Rice with White Sauce.

It was difficult to find a Halal Recioe that was simple and I’ve read and searched through many recipes and websites, and never found l one I consider to be a sure keeper, until about a year ago, through a Chowhound thread, via the comments below. Yes, it was that difficult to find. Many times, I find the comments from blog posts share recipes that are most doable and realistic to busy home cooks. I had nearly all the ingredients from that particular recipe at home already and it’s easy to make the marinade in the morning or evening and have it ready to cook later on in the day.

This recipe is easy and satisfying. I doubled the onions! It’s slightly caramelized onion brings out the chicken’s Unami flavor and flavors the chicken throughout in the duration of the marinading time. The yellow rice recipe someone linked to food network and the yellow sauce, was from another commenter as well, who linked the recipe to nibble dish. Try it out!

Here’s the Picture Walk:

The recipe I got from a Chowhound Thread for Halal Chicken over Rice, page 1 on the comments page via a comment from kookiecutter. I double the sliced onions in the marinade and I omitted the yogurt to make it dairy free. I’ll update this post if I ever do try it out with the yogurt in the marinade.

Chicken

Ingredients

6-8 chicken thighs or 8-12 drumsticks

3/4 tsp turmeric

2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp ground cloves

6 garlic cloves, crushed/chopped

3/4 tsp crushed ginger

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup greek-style yogurt ( I omitted)

2 whole onions sliced

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

3 Tbsp olive oil (1 tbsp for the marinade and other 2 tbsp to cook chicken with)

Steps

1-Put all ingredient together and 1 tablespoon of olive. Add salt and pepper to taste. It’s best marinated overnight. But I’ve made it several times marinading for just 4-6 hours and it still comes out delicious.

2- Put the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a heated pan. Make sure you skillet is pretty hot when you add the chicken and onion mixture. The timing of cooking the chicken would really depend on how large the pieces of the chicken are, the type of pan you used and if you looked the chicken on medium low or medium heat.

3-Break up the chicken once it’s been cooked by mashing/ shredding it with your spatula (just like how you may have seen it being done by the people who work in the Halal Carts). I find it kind of hard to over cook it and I love the different intensity of flavors that develop when it’s just fine and tender, as well as when it sits on the pan for awhile on low and dries up a little.

*Note:

If you don’t prefer your onions to be caramelized or slightly sweetened due to the caramelization, I would add the onions in to cook after the chicken had been seared on all sides or at least half way done cooking.

Yellow Rice

*Note

I was not able to pull up the recipe on Food Network for the Rice that was linked via that commenter, but luckily, they copied and pasted it onto the thread.

Ingredients

UPDATED on 5/25/20

An even EASIER VERSION of Halal Chicken over Rice!

About a year or more ago when I was first researching recipes to make Halal Chicken over Rice at home, there weren’t that many blogs or sources — and what I did find (first easy recipe above) was not the easiest to find either.

Today, there are so many sources on how people make their remakes of it. I was inspired by one of the first recipes I found via google this week. I am always looking for ways to improve and make things easier. It sounded great, but I combined it with my first recipe above and it came out pretty yummy! I’m used to the yellow chicken over rice and I love cumin, so I added both.

I love that the only thing I had to cut up were onions for the chicken marinade(and even that I would say is optional).

Here’s my adaptation of both- also, see below for an easier, but tastier (but fattier) white sauce!

Easier Halal Chicken over Rice adapted to a chop free version on Serious Eats

Chicken Marinade (I marinaded early in the morning and let flavors absorb room temperature as it wasn’t that hot earlier today)

2 lbs or 8-10 pcs of thighs, breasts or drumsticks (whatever combination you want should be fine).

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1 tbsp oregano (I used the dried ones on branches this time)

1.5 tbsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt (or just to taste- I used fine Himalayan salt)

1 tsp (or just to taste- but we love black pepper )

6 True lemon packets (or just squeeze lemon to taste- you can half the lemon here if you’d like- I may leave it out next time to see if it makes a big difference)

1/4 cup canola/ olive oil ( I think I’ll just do 2 tbsp next time since the thighs and drumstick was already plenty of fat- I would use the 1/4 cup if I were using chicken breasts only)

1-2 onions sliced (to be added after cooking the chicken halfway)

Steps

1- Just cook everything on medium slow fire in the stove! I added onions last after chicken we’re more than half way done (otherwise it might over caramelize the onions if put in too early on).

**Note- you can cut up / mash chicken with wooden spatula like they do at the Halal carts as you go.

**Tip- Take your time and don’t rush— when you see the Halal cart guys cooking their chicken, they look like they start cooking in the morning and it just continues to keep warm all day! Cook it slow and let the flavors seep and develop as you cook it- I spent about 45 minutes on medium low/low)

Yellow Rice- Same rice recipe from the first first recipe above (copied and pasted it below -below minus cinnamon- doesn’t really need it)

3/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch cinnamon (optional?
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-3 cups cooked long grain or basmati rice

**Note– I’ve since done the spices and butter straight in the rice cooker with the rice and drizzled residual chicken juices to mix through and it is just as good and much easier than frying the spices first .

Hot Sauce I read somewhere that the Halal chicken rice hot sauce contains harissa- and i’ve used it in the past and it’s good and spicy, but i never use enough and the rest goes bad in the fridge- this Tapatio Hot Sauce is pretty close to me and I use it often for beans, rice and mostly Spanish food — but it’s wonderful with Halal Chicken over Rice and it never goes bad because it goes so quickly!

White Sauce (I found an easier, thicker and improved version from here and adapted it by cutting down the mayo and adding fresh squeezed lemon juice instead of water– you can add water as well if you want the sauce a little less thick- I really love the freshness of fresh lemon here).

3/4 cup mayo (I used Hellman’s today)

1 tsp vinegar

1 tsp or more black pepper to taste

1 tbsp lemon juice (or water to dilute )

Salad (use whatever you like- pre-made salad bags are fine too )

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Pickles

Raw onions (optional)

Carrots (optional)

This is one recipe that I am so happy to have had “mastered.” We made a salad to go with it. Tomatoes in the salad to go with chicken over rice is a must! The slight pop of sweetness and tart of the tomatoes complement the flavors of the well spiced chicken and rice. My husband and I both had our share of Halal Chicken over Rice and he is a huge fan of this recipe! Enjoy and do share with us below what you thought of the recipe if you get to try it.

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