Casbah Chicken with Orange Infused Basmati Rice

Submitted by ciao4293

"If you want amazing flavor with little effort, this chicken is for you. Very easy and quick to prepare, but the results will have you wanting to lick your plate. The cinnamon, cumin, cayenne and orange flavors make this dish, and will leave you wanting more."

 

• Ready In: 25mins
• Ingredients: 16
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• Orange Basmati Rice

• 1 cup basmati rice or 1 cup other long grain rice
• 2 cups cold water
• 2 teaspoons chicken base (like Better Than Bouillon,or 2 tsp chicken bouillon granules)
• 1 tablespoon finely shredded orange zest
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt

• Chicken

• 4 medium boneless skinless chicken breast halves, pounded thin
• 2 tablespoons butter or 2 tablespoons margarine
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1⁄4 cup chopped green onion
• 2 teaspoons finely shredded orange zest
• 1 cup orange juice (2 large or 3-4 medium oranges, But you don't need to use fresh squeezed)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1⁄4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1⁄4 teaspoon cumin
• 1⁄8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons raisins, coarsely chopped

directions

1. In a saucepan, bring the water to a boil over high heat.
2. Add the rice, chicken base or bouillon, 1 Tbsp orange peel and the 1/4 tsp salt.
3. Return to boiling, cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for 15 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and keep covered.
5. Lightly sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.
6. Melt the butter or margarine in a skllet over medium heat, then add the olive oil.
7. Cook the chicken for 3-5 minutes on each side, remove from pan and keep warm.
8. Add the green onions to the pan drippings and cook over low heat for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
9. Add the remaining ingredients.
10. Turn heat back up to medium high and add the chicken back to the pan.
11. Cook for 5 more minutes, stirring frequently.
12. Fluff the rice with a fork.
13. Spoon rice on serving dishes, and top with chicken.
14. Spoon sauce over chicken.

Reviews

[moxie]

Ok, I know this is going to sound like the ultimate white trash review, but here goes. I had all the ingredients for this, was all ready to go, and then realized my husband had taken the last 2 oranges to work. Did we have frozen oj? Nooooo. But we had Sunny Delite. So I put a splash of that in with the rice and tossed in some lemon zest for good measure. Ditto for the sauce, although I left out the brown sugar because Sunny Delite is like 99 percent sugar anyway. Despite all that, the dish was excellent! The picky kindergartener ate a whole plate, which is unheard of, and DH and I loved it, too. I will make it again with real oranges someday, I promise. Or maybe not. Because Sunny Delite chicken was pretty awesome. Thanks, L!!!

 

[canarygirl]

Absolutely fabulous! The orange and spice combo is just awesome! I made a couple of adjustments...for one, I cubed the chicken and sauteed for a little bit longer, and added a couple of cloves of mashed garlic. The chicken was juicy, tender, and soooo flavorful! The orange rice complimented the chicken beautifully! My whole family loved it! Thank you for a fabulous recipe, Leeannr! :)

 

[Narshmellow]

I made this recipe exactly as listed, though I used currants instead of raisins that way I didn't have to chop them up. Still the same thing in my mind. It really was an excellent and beautiful dish. You would think it would be spicy or sugary. It's not. The flavors blended so well together that really the only distinguishable flavor was orange. Five of us ate it (all adults, and two of them picky; one picked off the currants and the other one the onions) I asked them if I should make it again. They all said yeah. Very cool. Thanks for a great recipe.

 

[TPubmgjbd]

I've got to add my 5 stars to this one. I was expecting this to taste like Chinese Orange Chicken but instead it is more like a mild curry. The sauce is superb and I'm trying to come up with other ways to use it.

 

[GinnyP]

We rated this a 10 star recipe in our household!!! I used 2 cups homemade chicken stock and added 2 tsp kosher salt (since the stock had no salt). I think I had more chicken than intended for the recipe, since it all wouldn't fit in one large pan. So I doubled the butter and oil, and cut up the pounded thin pieces to fit in the pan better and cooked it the first round in two batches. Fantastic recipe! Thanks leeann!!! :)