Mediterranean Chicken and rice bowl

So my love for rice bowl continues. This time it is a Mediterranean one. Here the chicken is rubbed with some spices and herbs that is more towards the Mediterranean such as oregano, garlic, lemon( or in my case lime) a little chilli flakes( of course) and olive oil.

For the vegetable portion of the bowl, I went with vegetables common to the area, using zucchini, red bell pepper garlic black olives tomatoes and onion.   Pan fried them and tossed in some dried oregano, pepper and salt. I had some feta cheese when I made this so crumbled some on top of the vegetables when serving.

For the rice, I used brown rice. Surprisingly my fussy little one actually enjoys brown rice. Maybe it's a slightly nutty texture. Brown rice takes a longer time to cook and I found that it's best to soak it in water for at least 20 minutes before cooking helps to speed up its cooking process.

Yield: 4Author: Nammi

Mediterranean Chicken and rice bowl

prep time: 30 mins cook time: 30 mins Total time: 1 hour

ingredients:

Chicken

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast pieces.
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• zest of 1 lime 
• juice of the lime
• Olive oil,  2 tbsp

Pan fried vegetables

• 2 small zucchini, sliced into rounds
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1 medium onion, cut into wedges
• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• 8-10 black olives, pitted and cut in half
• 1 plum tomato chopped
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• salt and pepper
• olive oil, 2 tbsp

Rice

• 1  3/4  cups  brown rice  or use basmati 
• water or stock ( about 3 cups)
• salt 
• Fresh parsley finely chopped to garnish
• Feta cheese, crumbled (optional)

Chicken

• Mix all the marinade ingredients together,  except the oil.  
• Heat olive oil in a frying pan,  Carefully arrange the chicken in a layer leaving some space between each breast piece. or do in batches.  
• Cook for 3-5 minutes on 1 side, then flip and cook on the other side. Don't have the heat too high or you will end up cooking the outside and have raw chicken on the inside.  Check by cutting into the thickest side of the chicken. The tricky part of the chicken breast is cooking it to have juicy but not dry meat.  Remove to a plate. 
• Do not wash the pan, you are going to use it to cook the vegetables.

instructions:

Pan fried vegetables

1. Place the frying pan back on the heat with some extra olive oil. Add the onions, peppers, and zucchini and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add a splash of water and you will see the bits of chicken stuck to the pan will come off and will give a nice flavour to the vegetables.  
2. Stir in garlic and tomatoes and cook for another minute or two, tossing the vegetables. Add dried oregano, pepper salt and some chilli flakes ( optional). Toss a few times and finally add the olives.   Toss a few times and switch off.

Rice

1. Wash the rice and soak it in water for  20 minutes. Drain 
2. Place in saucepan along with some water or stock and a pinch of salt. I like to add a teaspoon of oil but that's optional.
3. Place on medium heat and cook, once the water evaporates from the top, lower the heat and place the lid on top.  Cook for another 5  minutes or so  check the rice, if done, and then switch off. Keep the lid on for another 10 minutes, then fluff it up.

To serve

1. Spoon rice on one side of each bowl.  Add a portion of vegetables on the other, and crumble some feta cheese on top of the vegetables.
2. Slice the chicken and arrange it neatly next to it. 
3. Sprinkle some finely chopped parsley.
4. Enjoy!

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