Baharat chicken over yellow rice
Rub spice into the thighs in the morning and this is a forty minute dinner. The rice cooks under the chicken and takes all the fat off the tray.
Method
Dry the thighs with a cloth, then rub in the baharat, crushed garlic and a good teaspoon of salt. Leave it in the fridge for at least an hour. Overnight is better and costs you nothing.
Heat the ghee in a wide pan and lay the thighs skin down. Do not move them for six or seven minutes. When the skin lifts away on its own it is ready. Take the chicken out and leave the fat in the pan.
Cook the sliced onions in that same fat on low heat until they collapse and turn sweet, about ten minutes. Scrape the brown bits off the base as you stir.
Crush the saffron between your fingers into a small cup of warm stock. Give it five minutes to turn the liquid orange before it goes anywhere near the rice.
Stir the washed rice through the onions for a minute, pour in the stock and the saffron water, and sit the thighs back on top skin up. Lid on, lowest flame, eighteen minutes.
Take it off the heat and leave the lid on for ten more minutes. Fluff the white rice with a fork, squeeze lime over the chicken and take the pan to the table.
Leave it out rather than replacing it with colouring. A quarter teaspoon of turmeric gives you the colour and none of the smell, and the dish is still good.