Easy Nando’s style spicy rice! I love eating at Nando’s, their grilled chicken is just mouthwatering and definitely one of my faves. I’ll be sharing their peri peri chicken recipe soon which I tried and tested for some time now. As well as enjoying their main courses I absolutely love their sides, especially their spicy rice. This Portuguese style rice is brightly colored, tender and flavored beautifully. Unfortunately I don’t have any Nando’s restaurants around me so I only get to enjoy Nando’s when I’m visiting my family in England. After testing and trying out few recipes I was able to come up with a super simple, one pot, easy recipe for the rice and it pretty much does taste as good as the original Nando’s spicy rice. 

More about this easy Nando’s style rice recipe

This rice goes perfectly with any type of grilled food, I always have this rice as a side when I’m cooking grilled chicken or grilled lamb chops. You will find my grilled lamb chops recipe here too. Also this rice will go perfectly with Mexican food, enchiladas, tacos, beans. Other sides like coleslaw, corn on the cob, fries, potato wedges, and the list goes on. As well as the adults enjoying this rice the kids love it too. So it’s great to have around the table for the family with your mains and choice of sides to complement.

The type of rice which I use for this recipe is parboiled rice, I figured this might be the rice Nando’s also uses, just because I feel like parboiled rice has that similar texture. I’ve tried using other types of rice but the overall taste wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. 

The rest of the ingredients are are pretty basic and simple, which include onions, red pepper(my family prefers the taste without the pepper) turmeric, paprika, frozen peas and cilantro to garnish. 

So firstly I like to measure the rice out, rinse under water preferably in a sieve. Then have the hot water ready, so put the kettle on. Have the vegetables prepped, peeling and dicing the onion, dicing the red pepper and chopping up the cilantro. The rest of the steps are pretty much easy.

You need to heat oil in a sauce-pot, add in the diced onions, cook just for few minutes on medium flame until lightly golden in color. Add in the diced red pepper, cook for another minute.

Then add in the turmeric, paprika powder and give that all a good stir. Add in the rice, stir that up, followed by the frozen peas straight from the bag. Stir everything in well, pour in the hot water and salt.

Mix well and let the water come to a boil, as soon as the rice water comes to a boil, lower the flame all the way down, cover with a lid and simmer for 15 minutes(I like to use the smallest burner on the stove for this, so low flame on your small burner). 

After 15 minutes, turn the stove off, add in the chopped cilantro and give that a light stir. Put the lid back on and let stand for another 5 minutes. Serve warm when your ready to plate up. Enjoy this Nando’s style rice recipe with friends and family!

Any left over rice should be refrigerated and eaten within 48 hours.

Nando’s Style Rice

Recipe by Shema Course: SidesCuisine: PortugueseDifficulty: Easy

4

4-6

servings

Prep time

5

minutes

Cooking time

25

minutes

Easy Nando’s Style Spicy Rice

Ingredients

• 300 grams parboiled rice rinsed 

• 2 tablespoon of olive oil

• 1 small onion diced

• 1 red pepper diced

• 1 teaspoon turmeric

• 1 teaspoon paprika

• 1/2 a cup frozen peas

• 600 ml of hot water

• 2 teaspoons of salt

• Chopped cilantro to garnish

Directions

• Rinse the rice under water
• Heat oil in a sauce-pot, add in the diced onions
• Cook until lightly golden
• Add in the diced red pepper, stir, cook for another minute
  
  
  
• Add in the turmeric, paprika powder and give that all a good stir
  
• Add in the rice, stir that up, followed by the frozen peas
• Pour the hot water into the pot, with the salt, stir well and let the water come to a boil
  
• Then cover with a lid and simmer for 15 minutes on a low flame, preferably on the smallest burner
  
• Turn the flame off, uncover and add the chopped cilantro, lightly stir and cover with the lid, let stand for 5 more minutes
  
• Serve warm

Notes

• Any left over rice should be refrigerated and consumed within 48 hours.