Chicken gjuveč

Method

1. Salt the chicken and brown it in oil in a wide pan until the skin has good colour. Lift it out.
2. In the same fat sweat the finely chopped onion, then add the peppers cut into strips and the garlic. Give them five minutes.
3. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the paprika, then add two grated tomatoes. Return to the heat and cook until the sauce thickens.
4. Stir the washed and drained rice through so every grain is coated in the fat. That is the step that keeps the rice separate rather than sticky.
5. Tip everything into a gjuveč or deep baking dish, level it and pour over the hot stock. The ratio is roughly two and a half parts liquid to one of rice.
6. Lay the chicken on top skin side up, add the bay leaf and arrange the third tomato in rounds. From here on nothing gets stirred.
7. Bake covered at 190 °C for 40 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 20–25 minutes until the rice has drunk the liquid and the chicken has crisped.