Tuesday, March 31, 2015

One-Pot Meal: Spicy Rice and Beans with Pulled Chicken

This is a crazy easy one-pot meal that you can make after work and have it ready in time for dinner. It’s also a difficult meal to ruin, as the main ingredients spend most of their time cooking in stock, which allows the flavors to combine and deepen. This recipe also makes A LOT of food, which means that you’ll have lunches planned for the following week.


My wife, who will periodically request a large pot of this for dinner claims that – like chili – it’s even better as leftovers.



Ingredients:
  • 1.5 tbs vegetable oil
  • 2.5 lbs chicken breast
  • 1 medium onion – diced
  • 2 cans diced tomatoes
  • 2 tsp chipotle chili powder
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp coriander
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • 2 cups (or more) chicken or vegetable stock
  • 1 can pinto beans
  • 1 can black beans
  • 1 can corn kernels
  • 2 cups 10 minute brown rice
  • ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • lime wedges for serving
Heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a large pan or stock pot. You want something with a wide bottom for the initial frying, and high sides for cooking the added liquid.
Dice the onion, and add it to the pan after the oil gets hot. Cook the onion until it gets translucent (about 3-4 minutes).
Remove the onions from the pan and scrape them into a small bowl, and set them aside.
Season the chicken breasts with a pinch of salt and pepper, and place them in the heated pan. Cook them on each side until golden brown (but not cooked through), about 4-5 minutes per side.
Once the chicken has a nice golden hue, return the onions to the pan with the chicken, and add the tomatoes and spices (chipotle chili powder-black pepper). Give all of these ingredients a good stir, which should adequately coat the chicken in the tomatoes, onions and spices.
Add the stock to ensure that the chicken is completely covered. With the pan that I use, this took about 2 cups of stock, but you can obviously add more if need be.
You’ll want to keep track of how much stock you add, because it will directly impact the amount of rice that you need to add as well.
Give it all a good stir, and allow the mixture to boil, cover it up, and then let it simmer on a medium-low setting for 20-30 minutes.
Open the cans of beans and corn and drain them of the excess fluids – you know, that weirdly viscous bean-liquid.
Uncover the pan, stir it up again, and then add the beans and corn to the mix. Again, bring it to a boil and reduce it to a simmer. Let it simmer for another 10 minutes or so, and then add the 10-minute rice. We usually prefer a stickier final mixture, so I tend to use slightly less rice than I should based on the amount of liquid in the mix – but it’s up to you. Experiment with it.
The chicken should also be ready to pull at this point. You may choose to fish out the cooked pieces of chicken and pull them individually (using two forks on a cutting board) at this point, or to wait until the rice is cooked, and pull the chicken as you serve it. This second method is usually the one that I use, as it saves a little time, and a few burnt fingers.
Again, stir it, cover it and let it cook according to the directions on your particular package of instant rice.
Considering mine was ten-minute rice, I let it cook for ten minutes.
Weird.
Stir the final product, and serve a few scoops with a squeeze of line and a pinch of fresh-chopped cilantro.

Enjoy!


taken by : http://lovefoodandbeer.com/2015/03/02/one-pot-meal-spicy-rice-and-beans-with-pulled-chicken/

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