One Dish Asian Chicken and Rice

As a task-oriented, type A personality gal, I love staying busy and productivity should be my middle name. However, one look at my baby’s beaming smile and all my noble ambitions fly right out the window. Nothing makes me happier than playing with my son.  I’ve always appreciated easy dinner options, and now it’s become a necessity. Food must be easy in order to be cooked in my house these days. I should start a new category of recipes on this blog – “While the baby is napping”. As soon as those sleepy eyes open and that cute face turns my way and I hear baby babbles, I’m ready to move on to take off that apron. There are more important things for me to do, like letting him play with my face (his favorite thing to do now), sing silly songs, read books and watch him roll over, play with his toys and discover new things every day.

Playing with Nathaniel is so satisfying, but also exhausting, with juggling regular household chores and trying to keep my unpredictable lab levels normal. Cooking has to be fast and simple. Maybe it’s a subconscious thing, but I think simple meals taste better anyway.

Chicken and rice is always a favorite combination in our house. Using chicken thighs keeps the meat so juicy and makes perfect leftovers too. With just a few classic Asian ingredients – ginger, garlic, shiitake mushrooms, broccoli, and soy sauce, it gives this dish a unique twist and amazing flavor combination. 

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 5 thighs), cut into 1 inch pieces

5 – 7 Tablespoons soy sauce, divided (I like Tamari)

4 Tablespoons oil, divided

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 small onion, finely chopped

7 oz shiitake mushrooms, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 – 1 teaspoon grated ginger

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 carrot, grated or cut into matchsticks

1 1/2 cups long grain rice, I used basmati

2 1/2 cups chicken broth, hot

3 cups broccoli florets

salt, to taste

green onions, sliced, to garnish

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, combine the chicken, 2 Tablespoons soy sauce, 2 Tablespoons oil and 2 Tablespoons cornstarch. You can use chicken breast, but be careful not to over cook it. Chicken breast will be dry if you eat this as a leftover.

Heat 1 1/2 – 2 Tablespoons of oil in a large skillet. Add the chicken and cook for 5-7 minutes, until golden brown on both sides. Scoop out the chicken and set aside in a bowl.

In the same skillet, add the onion, season with salt and cook on medium-low heat for 2-3 minutes, until slightly softened.

Add the mushrooms, season with salt, and cook for 5-7 minutes, on medium heat, until the mushrooms have wilted down and are slightly golden.

Some of the browned chicken bits will be left behind on the bottom of the skillet. As the onions and mushrooms cook, they will release a lot of liquid, which will sort of “deglaze” the bottom of the skillet and release all of those delicious brown bits. This will add lots of great flavor to the dish. If you don’t have a good quality skillet and your brown bits start to burn before the liquid releases, just add some water or broth to the skillet, scraping the bottom of the skillet with a wooden spoon. That should do the trick.

Add the garlic, ginger, crushed red pepper and carrot. Cook for 3 minutes.

Add the rice, mix to combine until all the rice is evenly dispersed.

Pour in the hot chicken broth, bring to a boil and add the remaining soy sauce, tasting the broth to see how much soy sauce you want to add.

Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the skillet and cook for about 8 minutes.

Add the chicken and broccoli to the skillet, pushing the broccoli into the rice. You can just mix it all up together. Cover and continue cooking on low heat for another 3-5 minutes, until the rice and broccoli has cooked through.

If you like the broccoli to be very soft, add it earlier. I like broccoli to still have some crispness to it, so I add it at the very end. Turn off the heat and let it stand for another 5 minutes. Serve immediately, but leftovers store very well. You can even freeze the leftovers.