🍗 Chicken over rice (tavuklu pilav)
Pilav üstü tavuk, also called tavuklu pilav, is buttery rice cooked in chicken broth with chickpeas and topped with tender shredded chicken. It is simple, filling and comforting. Street vendors sell it from glass-fronted carts, scooping it into a bowl or plate, often with a side of pickles and a sprinkle of black pepper.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 kg chicken legs or breast
- 300 g rice
- 200 g cooked chickpeas
- 30 g butter
- 1 onion, halved
- 1 bay leaf, salt, black pepper
Method
- Simmer the chicken with the onion, bay leaf and salt in 1.5 l water for 40 minutes, then remove and shred it.
- Rinse the rice, stir it in the butter for 2 minutes and add the chickpeas.
- Add 600 ml of the hot chicken broth, cover and cook on low for 15 minutes.
- Rest the rice for 10 minutes, then serve topped with the shredded chicken and black pepper.
How to make it lighter
- Use skinless chicken breast and skim the fat off the broth.
- Ask for more chicken and less rice — the chicken adds protein, the rice most of the calories.
- Halve the butter — 1 tbsp butter ≈ 100 kcal.
History
Rice with chicken and chickpeas is one of Istanbul's best-known street foods, sold from carts near ferry piers, offices and markets. It is especially associated with quick, cheap lunches and late-night meals in big Turkish cities.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →