What: Chicken with Carmelized Onion & Cardamom Rice
Where: Jerusalem
Who: Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

This recipe alone is worth the price of the book. It is hands-down one of our favorites from Jerusalem.  Warm and tantalizing with it’s exotic spices, comforting with it’s simple poultry and grain, sweet with its barberries (or currants) – it’s just one wonderful dish.

I used currants, increased the cinnamon to 3 sticks, and used 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom in addition to the whole cardamom called for.  The authors call for salt and pepper, but did not specify an amount.  If you do not use enough salt, the chicken will certainly be bland and the spices will not blossom properly on the tongue. I used 1 teaspoon salt per pound of chicken (this is a always a good rule of thumb for any meat), and another 1 teaspoon for the rice. Also, since my tongue wanted just a hint more sweet, I added 1/2 teaspoon of Super Sweet to the rice before cooking.  You could also use 1-2 teaspoons honey or sugar.  The browning and the cooking all happened in my 7.5 quart dutch oven.

The fresh herbs – cilantro, parsley, and dill – freshen the whole dish, and the Greek yogurt is the perfect thing on the tongue to cut the weighty spice and savory.