Spicy

Here is the next recipe I made for teaching myself to cook. It is called Cilantro Chicken and Rice - found on the AllRecipe.com site. You can see the original post by clicking here. 

Here are the ingredients for your convenience:

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 (10 ounce) package yellow rice
• 1 (28 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
• 1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chile peppers, drained
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Dredge chicken in flour to coat. Place chicken in the skillet, and cook just until browned on all sides; set aside.
2. Stir onion, bell pepper, and garlic into the skillet. Cook 5 minutes, until tender. Pour in chicken broth. Mix in the yellow rice, stewed tomatoes, pinto beans, black beans, corn, diced green chile peppers, and cilantro. Season with salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil. Return chicken to skillet. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes, until rice is tender and chicken juices run clear.

Nutritional Information 

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 440 | Total Fat: 10.5g | Cholesterol: 61mg

I love how AllRecipe gives you the calorie, fat and Cholesterol breakdown. Not that I watch - but still, it is nice to know. 

When I made this, I halved the chicken, cut it into cubes and skipped the dredging in flour. I as well halved the rice, beans, corn and did not add any salt. For the can diced chilis - I could not find this so I bought 5 chili peppers. I lastly, only added a pinch of Cayenne pepper rather then the 1/4 tsp.

The meal was delicious - but it was spicy! I am really glad I cut back on the Cayenne pepper and that I only put in 5 chilis. Mr Hunter had two servings so I know it was good (yeah me!). I had to serve it with bread and milk. Honestly, I did not need the bread myself - but if you do not like spicy/ hot food, skip the chilis and cayenne for this one and I think you would still have a very nice meal.

For the left overs, I added the left over beans and corn that I had not added (I was going to make chili for tomorrow, but there is so much of this left over - no need). That should take out the extra heat that I find can result of spicy food eaten the next day. 

Any idea as to why things get hotter in the fridge overnight? Is it just that all the ingredients soak up the spice so you do not get the relief?  

If you make this, let me know what you think!

Cheers,

Carolyn