Harissa Chicken & Rice Bowl – AKA: Precisely Spicy Rice
Harissa is a very tasty, and spicy (my favorite!) chili paste originating from Tunisia. You probably already know that if you’re searching for a recipe containing harissa, but I might as well get that out of the way.
I won’t lie, but a friend of mine who is a very big fan of the restaurant chain, Cava, is the reason I put this up. We don’t have them here in the Bay Area of Northern California (although I hear one IS coming soon), but I happen to have this thing called the Internet, and it’s pretty snazzy. I can look up all sorts of cool stuff, including this rice bowl!
This rice bowl knocks it out of the park when it comes to variety: some protein, some vegetables, simple carbohydrates, etc. But…white rice is bad for you. Nonsense! While it may not be as nutrient rich as brown or wild rice, people have been processing it as such for thousands of years and have gotten by just fine. Stop eating 12 cups a day.
For as much stuff is included in this dish, it’s actually pretty easy to put together. If you really want to get fancy, which sometimes I do, you can make everything in this recipe yourself, except maybe the feta. If you’re a cheesemaker, well, hell, you’ve got one up on me. May I remind you, that I also have a recipe for Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, which would go quite swimmingly with this recipe, so check that out if you’ve really got some free time.
For brevity’s sake, I DID make my own pickled onions, which is SUPER easy and really fun in my opinion, but everything else, I bought from the store. Once you’ve got the rice and the chicken made, pretty much everything else is just ready to be put into place. Have fun with it, and look, you’ve got a really tasty and satisfying meal to go along with your effort.
If you’d like, check out a short, catchy video on my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seditious_technique/
You’ll find it as the most recent, plus all of my other recipes I’ve posted there.
Serving Size: 4 folks that enjoy hearty portions
Ingredients:
Bowl:
- 2 Cups Basmati or Jasmine Rice
- 4 Cups Water
- 2 tsp. Chicken Better than Bouillon
- 2 Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts
- Harissa Paste
- Kosher Salt
- Fresh Ground Black Pepper
- Onion Powder
- Garlic Powder
- Ground Cumin
- Ground Coriander
- Feta Cheese
- Persian or English Cucumber
- Plum or Cherry Tomatoes
- Avocado
- Canned Corn Kernels
- Fire Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
- Parsley or Arugula (or both!)
Dressing:
- 1/4 Cup Harissa Paste
- 1/3 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1/4 Cup Red Wine Vinegar
- 2 Tbsp. Honey
- 1 Large Garlic clove, minced (or 2 smaller ones)
- 1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
- Pinch of Sea Salt
- 1/4 tsp. Fresh Ground Black Pepper
Pickled Onions:
- Red Onion
- 1/4 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1/8 Cup White Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Water
- Pinch of Sea Salt
1.) This is an optional first step, but one that I would recommend just because it’s fun. Let’s begin by pickling our onions! Yeah, you CAN just buy it jarred, but it’s really easy to make and isn’t it satisfying when you do things yourself?
Start with a red onion and slice it into rings that are on the thin side. Take a small sauce pan and add the water, cider vinegar, sugar, and salt and bring to a boil JUST for a moment, stirring occasionally along the way. Let that cool for about 10 minutes. Get a canning jar or something similar, and depending on the size of the jar, put as much of the onion in there, cutting in half if need be. Fill the vessel with your brine so that it covers the top of the onion, and put that aside in your fridge over night.
2.) Marinating the chicken will either be your next step if you decided to pickle your own onions, or it will be your first if you decided against that. It would be best left overnight, but let’s face it, most of us don’t plan that far ahead, so try to do it at a MINIMUM of 1 hour before cooking.
First, coat the chicken with kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and coriander. How much? Enough to lightly coat all sides with each ingredient. Next, get a mixing bowl, the chicken, and that beautiful harissa and mix a generous amount of that harissa together with the chicken until very well coated. Leave the chicken in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and leave in the fridge for as long as you can.
3.) Next, it’s time to make the dressing. Gather your ingredients, prep by mincing the garlic and cutting your lemon and add your harissa paste, oil, vinegar, honey, garlic, salt, and lemon into a medium mixing bowl and…mix! Cover and leave overnight in the fridge for the final piece of your overnight fridge trifecta.
4.) When you’re ready, let’s make some rice. I like adding Better Than Bouillon to the water for that extra flavor. If you don’t have any, that’s ok, just add some salt. How much? I don’t know, but a teaspoon sounds about right. You can either begin cooking the chicken now, while the rice is cooking, or wait until you’re done making the rice if you’re not good with multitasking.
5.) Once the rice is done, or while it is cooking, depending on the way you’re following this, heat up a cast iron skillet on medium-high (7 or 8 heat level), and preheat your oven to 350 F. Once the pan is heated up, add some neutral oil, and then add your chicken. Brown each side 1.5 to 2 minutes, making sure as much of the chicken is making contact with the pan as you can to give a nice, even brown, and then transfer the whole thing to the oven to finish. Check after about 6-7 minutes with an instant thermometer, and cook until the chicken reads 165 F at the thickest part.
6.). We’re really rounding third base here, chuggin’ our way towards home at this point. For those not familiar with baseball, it means you’re so close, you can almost taste the spicy harissa and grilled chicken flavors of victory. It’s really just time to (home)plate everything.
An extra step you can take is to toast your corn kernels. Just get a small or medium stainless steel pan, and heat it up to medium high. Dump your corn onto some paper towels to make sure they are dry, or they will steam in the pan, rather than roast. Dry roast them without any oil for about 30 seconds to a minute, swirling them around a couple times to make sure they brown evenly.
Bust out a large pasta bowl and first layer the rice about half way up the bowl. Then, carefully place your avocado, tomatoes, corn, feta, etc., like a Michelin-starred chef to your heart’s content. Or, just throw it all in. Just know if you do, I’ll be greatly disappointed and quite judgmental of your actions, and probably everything else you do that day. Oh, don’t worry, I’ll know.
Garnish with some greens of your choice, like parsley and/or arugula, and lightly sprinkle a little paprika for a hint of flavor and color. Once you admire your handiwork, drizzle that dressing right on there. Use it a bit sparingly, because depending on the potency of your harissa, it can be a fairly hot beast! Now that you’re dressed to impress, serve it up with a little pita, and enjoy!
Once again, check out my Instagram page for some neat videos if you’re so inclined: https://www.instagram.com/seditious_technique/
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