Rice with Poultry

Keeping chickens is a universal human experience. That is an exaggeration, I am sure, but most of us have helped to feed somebody’s hens at some time in our lives. In urban Asia, people who may hardly ever see a rice field still have fowls free-ranging in their backyards. When I lived in Surrey, half my neighbours seemed to be building chicken runs, though their wire netting was usually not proof against the local foxes.

The human race as a group eats more poultry than it does red meat, and in the world there must be a vast number of chicken recipes. Many are variations on a few basic themes. Chicken soup is made all over the world, and with rice or barley is well known to be a powerful food for growing children, invalids, and everyone else in a properly conducted household. In this book, however, I am only trying to gather a few representative recipes from rice-growing or rice-eating countries. Rice is an essential part of some of these dishes, while others are normally served with rice.