Chicken cooked with exotic Middle Eastern flavours, served on a bed of rice and pistachios.

Chicken
2 tbsp vegetable oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup finely diced onion
1 cup chicken broth
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tbsp freshly grated ginger
3 tbsp orange juice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp ground coriander

Rice
1 cup rice
2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup pistachios, shelled and chopped

To prepare chicken, heat oil in a large non-skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and cook for 5 minutes until it starts to brown. Flip chicken over and add remaining 8 ingredients. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer until chicken is no longer pink, about 20-25 minutes.
To prepare rice, combine rice and broth in a saucepan and bring to boil. Cover and reduce heat, then let simmer until rice is soft and liquid absorbed. Time will vary depending on what kind of rice you use. Once rice is cooked, stir in honey, cinnamon and pistachios.
To serve, place a bed of rice on each plate and top with chicken. Pour sauce overtop.

Recipe adapted from
Quinoa 365: The Everyday Super Food

The original recipe calls for quinoa, not rice, but Tony and the boys don’t really like quinoa as much as I do, so I had mercy on them and made this with rice instead. It was great with the rice, but I’m sure it’s yummy with quinoa or couscous if you like either of those. Unfortunately I overcooked the chicken so it was a little dry. Make sure to watch the chicken closely so you don’t make the same mistake as I did. Tony and I still ate it up and enjoyed it, because it still had wonderful flavour. I thought the rice was especially good with the pistachios. I love snacking on pistachios, but never thought of putting them in a meal like this. I would definitely do it again.

It’s Menu Plan Monday, so here is my meal plan for the week:

Tuesday: Frittata
Wednesday: Pancakes and Turkey Bacon
Thursday: Indonesian Fried Rice
Friday: Vegetable and Pesto Penne
Saturday: Panzerotti
Sunday: Chicken Mole
Monday: Salmon and Spinach Gratin

I’m trying a lot of new recipes this week, so I can’t wait to share them with you soon.

If you haven’t seen my Fast Friday post, please check it out and feel free to add your link. I’d love to feature someone’s recipe but so far no one has shared anything.