Chicken Sharkaseya

Ingredients

5 white toast slices, crusts removed 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped 1/4 cup whole walnuts 5 tbsp butter 1/2 tsp dry coriander 1/4 tsp nutmeg 3 cups chicken broth Salt and pepper, to taste 1 kg boneless chicken breasts, skins removed 1/4 cup crème fraîche 2 cups short-grain rice, cooked Method 1) Start by preparing your sauce. In a food processor add bread, garlic and walnuts. Blend until it has a fine texture. 2) In a cooking pan, melt 3 tbsp of butter and add bread walnut mixture, seasoning with dry coriander and a pinch of nutmeg. Sauté until the mixture starts to turn very light golden. Pour in 2 1/2 cups chicken broth and whisk to make sure the sauce is very smooth. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. 3) Chicken in this dish is traditionally poached but try pan frying it for a depth of flavor. Rub chicken breasts with salt, pepper and a good pinch of nutmeg. In a cooking pan melt 2 tbsp butter and sauté chicken until cooked. Chicken breasts should take around 10-12 minutes to perfectly cook. Make sure you DO NOT overcook your chicken breasts or they will be dry. 4) Once chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan and set aside. Deglaze the pan with the remaining 1/2 cup of chicken stock. Add the deglazing stock to the sharkaseya sauce as it will enrich its flavor dramatically. 5) Return the sauce to heat and add the crème fraîche. Cook over very low heat just to warm up the sauce. 6) To assemble the dish, place cooked rice in a dish. Ladle some of the sauce over the rice and top with chicken. 7) Garnish with roughly chopped walnuts for more texture and a lovely nutty flavor. Recipes in this section provided by Sara Abdel Salam. A dedicated foodie, Abdel Salam is a food and menu specialist and consultant. She holds an MBA from the Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport but works as a professional food stylist and photographer (check out her portfolio on www.pinterest.com/saraasalam/my-cooking-mania) and as a TV chef on Tahrir channel’s Feha Haga Helwa. In 2010 Sara started Sara’s Kitchen (ww.facebook.com/KitchenSara), today one of the largest recipe-sharing communities in the Middle East with over 55,000 fans and followers. In 2012 she co-founded Beram & Tajine, the Middle East’s first Egyptian/Moroccan e-magazine, with Assia Othman. Browse the nine issues produced so far at issuu.com/beramandtajine. You can visit Abdel Salam’s youtube channel at www.youtube.com/user/matba5sara?feature=watch.