Chicken Pilau

Fuel My Friday: Toulson’s Tasty Chicken Pilau

26 Oct 2018

She’s a European Champion and Gold Coast Commonwealth Games medallist, and now Lois Toulson has shared with us her winning one pot Chicken Pilau recipe!

Over to you Lois…

This recipe is super easy to make and all done in pot! It’s great for a Saturday evening when training is all wrapped up for the week and time to relax in front of the TV with really tasty food. It’s also great for freezing portions as meal prep if you’ve got a busy week ahead of you.

Firstly check you’ve got all the ingredients at home and before you start my top tip is to measure everything out…

50g butter

8 green cardamom pods

½ tsp fennel seeds

500g onions (thinly sliced)

40g garlic (crushed, chopped or even the lazy stuff from the jar works)

40g ginger

1kg chicken breast (chopped into chunks)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp coriander

2 tsp cumin

½ tsp chilli powder

1 tsp ground turmeric

400g chopped tomatoes

2 bay leaves

600ml chicken stock

400g basmati rice

Oven proof pan/dish with lid (this one is very important)


Time to get cooking!

  1. Get your oven on and heating up to 180C, if you don’t do it first you’ll have to wait even longer for this yummy meal.
  2. Get a big deep ovenproof dish or pan, stick it on the hob on a low heat and throw in the cardamom and fennel seeds. They need to fry on their own for about a minute and then you can chuck in the onions.
  3. The onions will need around 10-15 mins until they start turning brown and caramelising. Add the ginger, garlic and all the chicken and cook that until all the pieces of chicken are lightly coloured.
  4. Time to chuck in the rest of the ingredients except the rice and bring it to the boil on the hob, turn up the heat to max.
  5. Last major step, chuck in all the rice and seal with the pan’s lid and stick it in the oven for just over 40 mins.
  6. The sixth and final step is easy, fill your plate and enjoy!
The quantities and the recipe above should make enough for about seven servings or if you’ve got a hungry athlete at the table a few less.

If you give my Chicken Pilau a go then share your pictures on social, tagging me and British Swimming.