Poppy O’Toole’s midweek timesavers: spicy chicken and baked rice, and Thai-style lemongrass fishcakes – recipe | Food

I’ve called this spicy chicken and baked rice “midweek”, but you can enjoy this baby all week long. Juicy, spiced chicken, fluffy baked rice and enough flavour to make you bin that takeaway menu and raid your cupboards instead. Then some fragrant, delicate fishcakes with a lovely, bouncy texture, which are such a winner for the freezer. Taking only 10-ish minutes to cook from frozen, they save you from hunger and distraction on a busy WFH day.

Midweek spicy chicken and baked rice

Prep 10 min
Marinate 1 hr
Cook 45 min
Serves 8

200g Greek yoghurt
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
50g harissa paste
1 tbsp garlic granules
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp ras el hanout
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
Salt and pepper
16 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
Olive oil
3 red onions, peeled and roughly chopped into large pieces
2 red peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped into large pieces
4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced or grated
2 tbsp tomato puree
400g basmati rice
1 400g tin crushed tomatoes
800ml chicken stock

Serving suggestions (optional)
Sliced or pickled red onion
Crumbled feta
Flat-leaf parsley leaves

In a bowl, combine the yoghurt, lemon zest and juice, harissa, garlic granules, dried oregano, ground turmeric, ras el hanout, coriander and cumin with a large pinch each of salt and pepper. Add the chicken thighs, give them a good mix to coat, then pop them in the fridge to marinate for at least an hour.

Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Meanwhile, put a glug of olive oil in an oven-safe saute pan on a high heat. Chuck in the onions and peppers, fry for two to three minutes, until colooured and slightly blackened, then add the garlic and fry for a minute more, until fragrant.

Turn down the heat to medium, squeeze in the tomato puree and cook for one minute, until the mix darkens. Season generously, then tip in the rice and toast for a minute. Pour in the crushed tomatoes and chicken stock, and bring to a bubble.

Put the chicken thighs on top of the rice – you want about half of each chicken thigh sitting above the level of the stock – then put the pot in the oven for 30 minutes, until the chicken is slightly charred and cooked through and the rice is tender. Serve immediately, piping hot, with the pickled red onion, feta and parsley, if you like.

To eat later, freeze in an airtight container for up to three months. To reheat from frozen, heat the oven to 190C (170C fan)/375F/gas 5 and reheat for 45–50 minutes, until piping hot throughout. Or defrost fully in the fridge overnight, then heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6 and reheat for 25–30 minutes, again until piping hot throughout.

Lemongrass and ginger Thai-style fishcakes

Prep 5 min
Chill 1 hr
Cook 15 min
Serves 8

500g skinless, boneless cod, or haddock
200g shelled raw king prawns
3 tbsp green Thai curry paste
2 lemongrass stalks, bashed and roughly chopped
50g fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1–2 tbsp fish sauce, to taste
2 tsp palm sugar
1 tbsp light soy sauce
2 eggs
About 200g cornflour
Olive oil

To serve (optional)
Sweet chilli sauce
Pickled veg
Cooked rice noodles
Thai basil and mint leaves
Lime wedges

Tip the fish, prawns, curry paste, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, palm sugar and soy sauce into a food processor. Crack in the eggs, then blitz to a paste. Tip the mixture into a bowl and stir through enough cornflour to make a wet dough (you may not need all of it, so add the cornflour in batches).

Wet your hands so the fishcake mixture won’t stick to them, then weigh out 16 equal balls of about 70g each. Shape these into 2cm-thick patties, then arrange on a well-oiled baking tray – they will feel really wet, but that’s normal! – and refrigerate for at least an hour, to firm up.

Put a little olive oil in a frying pan on a medium heat, then, working in batches, fry the fishcakes for three to four minutes on each side, until cooked through, piping hot and golden. Serve with sweet chilli sauce, rice noodles, herbs and lime, if you like.

To eat later, freeze the raw fishcakes on a tray until solid, then transfer to an airtight container and freeze for up to three months. To cook from frozen, put a little olive oil in a frying pan on a medium-low heat, then fry the fish cakes in batches for about five to six minutes on each side, turning carefully, until cooked through, piping hot and golden.

• These reccipes are edited extracts from Poppy Cooks: The Actually Delicious Batch Cookbook, by Poppy O’Toole, published by Bloomsbury Publishing at £22. To order a copy for £19.80, visit guardianbookshop.com