033 / 75 · Rice, noodles and pasta
Lemon Chicken and Pea Rice
2 rice bowls, each with 125 g cooked rice, 80 g chicken and 70 g peas · Active 15 min · Cook 11 min · Total 30 min
Print recipe · PDFThis is a reheating meal, not a guide to cooking raw chicken or dry rice. Start with commercially ready-to-eat rice and fully cooked chicken, keep them cold or unopened until needed, and give frozen peas their own complete cooking process. Lemon, a little dill and olive oil make a light finish. Heat the assembled bowl thoroughly and eat it straight away.
Keep the ingredient histories clear
A newly opened ready-to-eat rice pack is different from an unknown carton of takeaway rice. Use a product whose label permits bowl reheating, and follow its opening and use-by instructions. Chicken must likewise be commercially fully cooked and ready to eat. Neither should have already gone through a home reheating-and-cooling cycle.
Stir where the rice clumps
Separate the cooked rice grains with a fork before they enter the microwave. The measured stock loosens the mixture and helps heat move through it, but it does not replace stirring. Turn chicken from the center toward the edge at the halfway stop, then use a thermometer after the covered stand. Lemon zest supplies aroma without an unmeasured oily dressing.
Ingredients
- 250 g (9 oz) commercially ready-to-eat cooked long-grain rice from a newly opened shelf-stable pack, with label directions allowing microwave-bowl reheating
- 160 g (5⅔ oz) commercially ready-to-eat fully cooked plain chicken, refrigerated until use, cut into 1 cm/⅜ in pieces
- 140 g (5 oz) frozen peas, with microwave directions suitable for the actual portion
- Water for the separate pea stage as directed by its packet, drained and not retained as meal liquid
- 80 ml (⅓ US cup) ready-to-use lower-sodium chicken stock
- 5 ml olive oil (1 tsp)
- 15 ml lemon juice (1 tbsp), seeds removed
- 1 g finely grated unwaxed lemon zest (about ½ tsp)
- 0.5 g dried dill (about ½ tsp)
- 0.3 g ground black pepper (about ⅛ tsp)
Set out
1000 W microwave with turntable, Kitchen scale and measuring jug, Knife and board, Spoon, Oven mitts, Two serving bowls, Microwave-safe meal bowl, at least 2 L/about 2⅛ US qt measured capacity, about 20 cm/8 in inside diameter and 9 cm/3½ in deep, Second microwave-safe pea bowl, at least 1 L/about 1 US qt measured capacity, Two microwave-safe vented covers, Fork, Sieve, Food thermometer, Fine grater and citrus juicer
Allergens
No major US allergen identified in the base ingredients. Check labels and substitutions.
Make it
- Cook the frozen peas in the separate 1 L bowl according to their complete actual microwave-package process for this portion, including water, cover, stirring and stand. The plan allows about 6 minutes for a suitable packet; use any longer label process and extend the total. Drain the cooked peas.
- Use a fork to separate all 250 g ready-to-eat rice in the 2 L meal bowl. Add the ready-to-eat chicken, fully cooked drained peas, all the stock, oil, dill and pepper. Stir thoroughly and cover with a vent. Do not heat a partly used unknown rice pack or raw chicken by this method.
- Microwave at 1000 W full power for 2 minutes. Stir the bottom and center, turning the chicken pieces through the rice. Cover with a vent and cook 2–3 minutes more. Follow any longer minimum bowl-reheating process on the rice or chicken label and extend as needed. All parts must become steaming hot.
- Stand covered for 2 minutes. Stir and check several places, including a central chicken piece, for at least 165°F/74°C. If a spot is cooler, continue in 30-second bursts, then repeat the covered stand and check. Stir in the lemon juice and zest. Divide all ingredients equally between two bowls and eat now.
Only one reheating session
The final stir, temperature check and any immediate corrective burst are one continuous finish. They are not permission to cool and reheat the meal again.
No raw substitutes
Dry rice, raw chicken and merely thawed frozen peas cannot replace the explicitly prepared ingredients in the written time.
Ingredient labels
Check ready-to-eat rice, chicken and stock labels for wheat, soy, milk or celery. The tofu variation contains soy; no allergen-free claim is made.
A useful detail
The 30-minute plan allows 10 minutes of preparation, a 6-minute allowance for the separate pea process, up to 5 minutes of assembled-meal heating, the 2-minute covered stand and 7 minutes for draining, checks and serving. It is one continuous reheating session in a 1000 W microwave. Longer actual package directions or endpoint bursts extend the plan.
Another way
- Use 160 g/5⅔ oz plain ready-to-eat firm tofu in place of chicken and vegetable stock in place of chicken stock. Soy becomes an allergen; the rice reheating and eat-now boundary remain unchanged.
- Replace dried dill with 3 g/about 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley, mixed in with the lemon. No extra parsley garnish is needed.
Keep it well
This rice-and-chicken meal has been reheated; make only what will be eaten now and do not cool it for another reheating. Keep unused, unmixed ingredients under their original package deadlines at 40°F/4°C or below when refrigeration is required. Do not reset a cooked-rice or chicken clock by mixing it into a new bowl. Discard served portions left out beyond 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F/32°C.