Don’t worry readers, Laura will return shortly for the next posting! This is the roommate, Christa, coming at you to report on my culinary undertakings this week. We eat well around here.
My story begins on a lazy Saturday afternoon when I had nothing to do and realized my love affair with the Food Network has been grossly neglected. I flipped the television on and settled in for an episode of Guy’s Big Bite (for you FN devotees, he’s the dude who won the Next Food Network Star Challenge a while back). He was doing a bunch of stuff with turkey, and one recipe in particular caught my eye and called to my growling stomach. I’ve been known to enjoy both chili and rice on their own, so how could a meal that combines the two be bad, I thought? Well, as we all soon discovered, it can’t.
For weeks now I’ve been planning this dish’s unveiling and Thursday was the day. Leave an hour from start to finish I’d say, there’s a lot of chopping and waiting for the rice to cook. As a side note, brown rice seems to take longer to absorb all the liquid. Worth it though, totally worth it. Extra bonus: this meal does not break the bank and yields many glorious days of leftovers.
Because I have issues with leaving well enough alone, I did make a few changes to the recipe, adding garbanzo beans and cumin and subtracting half a red pepper and a quarter of a jalapeno; I had a traumatizing experience with a five-alarm roasted jalapeno and corn chowder I made recently and still haven’t quite recovered my old hot and spicy adventurousness. But for those with more lively taste buds, add them on in. A word of warning for the sensitive eyes, this meal packs a huge punch with the aromatic veggies and the dinner crew here did have to grab some tissues on several occasions.
Chili Rice
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 red onion, minced
- 3/4 jalapeno, seeded, minced
- 1 green bell pepper, minced
- 1/2 red bell pepper, minced
- 2 tablespoons garlic, minced
- 1 cup Roma tomatoes, diced
- 3/4 pound ground beef or turkey
- 2 cups brown rice (or whatever your preference is)
- 8 ounces kidney beans
- 1 can garbanzo beans
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons green onion, sliced, for garnish
In medium stock pot over medium heat, add oil, onions and peppers and saute until translucent. Add the garlic, tomatoes and ground beef. Cook until meat is browned.
Add rice to mixture and cook over low heat for 3 minutes, coating rice with the oils from the pan. Add beans, chicken stock, water and seasonings, bring to a simmer, then cover and cook on low for 20 minutes.
Fluff with fork and garnish with green onions.
I love it when a dish requires garnish at the end, it makes it feel all official and grown up-like. Look Ma, I’m a real cook! And it’s pretty to boot. Anyhow, thanks for reading and thanks to Laura for the guest blogger invite, happy eating!