Mexican Zucchini and Chicken over Rice

Submitted by Robin Batterson

"Easy quick meal great as one dish supper or with a green salad on the side. (Gluten Free) I like thighs best, but you can use breast if you prefer after the contest"

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 16
• Serves: 2-3

ingredients

• 2 cups water
• 1⁄2 cup salsa, medium heat (or heat of choice)
• 1 cup brown rice
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 4 chicken thighs, boneless skinless (1 1/4 lbs)
• 2 tablespoons brown rice flour (or flour of choice)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1⁄4 - 1 teaspoon chili powder (or to desired heat)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon italian seasoning
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1 onion, small (chopped or minced)
• 1⁄2 green pepper, large (chopped or minced)
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1 lb zucchini, cut into 4ths then sliced for 1/4 round slices
• 1 cup salsa, bottled
• olive oil, for frying

directions

1. Bring first four ingredients to a boil in saucepan. Cover and simmer 45-50 minutes.
2. Cut chicken into bite size chunks, shake in plastic bag with the rice flour, cumin, chili powder, Italian seasoning and salt.
3. I use Pam type spray or several teaspoons olive oil to saute onions and peppers, cook till onions translucent, add garlic. cook a minute or so. Add zucchini and cover, toss frequently to start the zucchini cooking. Let cool -- then add salsa. Mix together, cover and let simmer.
4. In another frypan, heat a few teaspoons olive oil or Pam type spray. Brown chicken cubes that you shook with seasoning and flour.
5. Add chicken chunks to the veggies, simmer until rice is done.
6. Serve over rice.

Reviews

[Tinkerbell]

The flavor of this recipe started out a 4 star, but it's a little heavy on the salsa, which overpowered everything else in the end. Made exactly as directed, using a 1/2 teaspoon chili powder in the flour mixture (thank you for the GF option!) and because the garlic was left out of the instructions, I sauteed it with the onions and peppers. I'm just a little on the fence with this recipe because right up until the end I was confident that we were going to love it. While the rice was cooking my family was oohing and ahhing over just the smell and even though I was creating a lot of dirty dishes, I couldn't wait to see what a beautiful plate this was going to make. I was visualizing red rice topped with green and white veggies, topped with the nicely browned chicken pieces. (While cooking I forgot that more salsa was going to be added to the veggies.) When I got to step 5 telling me to mix the veggies with the chicken, I should have plated like I was imagining it instead. Stirring the chicken into the veggies just melted off most of the crunchy coating, losing that texture contrast, and on the plate it looked like a one-pot meal, but with a whole sink full of dishes to wash. I'm so afraid this review is going to sound negative, but please don't take it that way. It was good and has lots of potential with just a tweak in the method and leaving out the salsa in the veggies. Everyone agreed that having 3 different colored and textured layers would have made this a 5 star presentation. I felt like there was just too much time and mess involved to end up with a one-pot dish. Thank you for submitting your creation, chef, and good luck in the contest! Reviewed for Dining on a $ Contest - Summer 2011.

 

[CJAY8248]

We liked this except for the flour-coated chicken part. I don't think that step is necessary. I'm going to try this again because the flavor is so good. Thanks for sharing your great idea. Good luck in the contest.

 

[Jubes]

Delicious rice and a really tasty chicken and vege topping. This was a really good combo. I especially liked how easy the rice was to make and great flavour. Seemed like a lot of ingredients but the dish was really easy to put together. Loved that it was gluten-free suitable. We served with a garden salad. Good luck in the competition. Photo also to be posted