Below is a recipe that is somewhat inspired by the Chamorro red rice I grew up with except this uses tomatoes instead of fresh achote for the natural red coloring and hearty flavor. I wrote this for The Homeschool Lounge back in July 2, 2009.

At the time I was working on this recipe I still wasn’t sure what the difference was between brown and white rice varieties. We are familiar with what is done to whole grains and what parts of the grain are stripped away (like germ and bran) and so we mill our own organic grains.

I wasn’t convinced yet that white rice was stripped away of the same beneficial properties because a friend of mine came back from visiting her former sponsor family in Japan and gave me some of their rice. The white rice my kind neighbor gave me was from her sponsor’s rice fields. I thought surely they did not strip anything away. It would take too much work and they probably weren’t a commercial rice farm.

It wasn’t until my mother brought us a special gift to Japan that answered a lot of my questions on rice. I was aware of the many wonderful benefits of rice especially it’s variety of amino acids but I found out about the difference between brown and white rice.

White rice is stripped of it’s germ and bran just the same way that whole grains such as hard red winter wheat (one for of bread flour) and soft white spring wheat (used in baking pastries such as cookies, cakes, pies, etc.). The gift was a DVD of Japanese sushi making and has been such a blessing.

Enjoy the recipe below and feel free to adapt it to your liking, even omitting the cayenne pepper completely. I used organic ingredients below.

Flavored Red Rice and Cayenne Pepper Chicken Recipe

For the next two weeks, we have less than what we normally have for a week’s worth of food. I needed to be creative and resourceful while continuing to stretch our dollars further. This is fun and is a challenge in our household of big eaters, especially with me being pregnant and my husband burning off so much.

Did I tell you that I also have children that eat more than some adults? They didn’t take after Mommy and are tall and wonderful eaters.

This meal was really easy to prepare. The only time consuming part was cutting up the entire chicken.

Flavored Red Rice

Ingredients

Rice (I used 4 cups of white basmati rice. We got a great deal in bulk.)

Large can of organic tomato sauce (32 oz or use fresh tomatoes)

Onion – 1/2 diced (I used red)

Garlic – 3 cloves minced

Cooking fat
Grey sea salt

Black pepper

Directions

Saute your onions in some good healthy fat. I used ghee. When the onions are soft and cooked, add your minced garlic. Add grey sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Turn off the heat and set pan aside. I like using my small cast iron skillet for this.

Wash your rice with water and place it in your rice cooker or pot. Add your tomatoes. If you like the benefits and taste of cayenne pepper, add a pinch or so. Add grey sea salt and freshly ground black pepper into your rice pot. Add your sauteed onions and garlic, including all the oil into your rice pot. Mix well.

Add enough water to cook your rice. Since I was using 4 cups of rice and added a good bit of tomatoes, I filled up my rice pot up to the 6 cup line. You can easily cook your rice in a pot and with any amount of rice by ensuring that you have about 1 1/2 inches of liquid above your ingredients. You can use the Asian finger test. Cook your rice.

Cooking rice: If you don’t know how to cook it in a pot, it’s really easy. Bring it to a boil. Once it is boiling, set the heat to low. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes for white rice varieties and 50 minutes for most brown rice.

Cayenne Pepper Chicken

Ingredients

Whole chicken Onion – 1/4 diced

Grey sea salt Black pepper Cayenne pepper Chilli powder

Directions

Cut up your chicken into legs, wings, breasts, and tenderloins. Cut your chicken breasts, tenderloins, and the rest of the meat on the chicken into cubes. A good size is about 3/4 inch cubes. Do what you can to retain roughly that much mass in the rest of your cuts.

Cut off some thick slices from your legs and add it to your meat bowl. Season your meat with grey sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, chilli powder and cayenne pepper according to your liking. I used about 5-6 tablespoons of chilli powder and 3 teaspoons of cayenne pepper. Blend with your hands.

Cut off about a handful worth of chicken skin and fat from wherever you can find them (in your cube cuts, on the chicken body, a little from the legs) and cut those strips into tiny squares or pieces. If you don’t have a handful, that’s okay. I cut them into half inch squares and smaller. You can omit this step if you’d like and use your favorite cooking fat to cook your chicken in. I did this part to save money and add a lot of flavor to the dish.

In your large cast iron skillet or pan set your heat on medium high. Add your chicken skin (or cooking fat) to your skillet. Saute for a bit. You’ll see some good oil after a while in which to cook your chicken cubes. Add your chicken cubes to the skillet. Stir your meat to cook.

In the meantime, season what’s left of your legs and wings. Cook that on a smaller skillet with a little bit of chicken fat. If you don’t have any left, there’s enough skin on the wings and legs. I originally cooked these parts in the large skillet but it was still showing blood when the rest was cooked. I then had to transfer it to my little cast iron skillet. You can save yourself some time and prevent your meat from possibly drying by cooking it separately from the beginning. Continue to flip your meat until it is well cooked inside.

Serve Top your flavored red rice with the cayenne pepper chicken cubes and drippings. You’re in for a treat if you get some crispy skin. Eat legs and wings off to the side. Serve with a vegetable dish. We had fresh cucumbers from the garden to use up and further added savings to our budget.

Enjoy!

For God’s glory,

Notes

1. For those of you who might be appalled at the idea of using chicken skin for a cooking fat, the skins from good chickens (organic or fresh ones raised properly) have many beneficial properties some being it’s antibacterial and antiviral properties.

2. I used the remaining chicken and bones to make a good chicken stock.

Stirring ingredients into the rice pot

Adding water before cooking

Cayenne Pepper Chicken ready to eat