Rainbow Rice Bowl

I made this on a rather cold evening but was missing warm days and the lovely salads that accompany Summer.

This satisfied my salad craving and the warm chicken and rice kept the chill at bay.

I love the colours from all the vegetables, hence the rainbow :).  Even my veggie avoiding girls started chomping on the carrots and salad leaves as they were rather taken with the colours.  I swear if you call anything rainbow, they’ll eat it!  It’s all about marketing….even at home! 😛

Recipe for Rainbow Rice Bowl  

Ingredients

3 cloves of Garlic (chopped finely)

1 Leek

1 large Chicken Breast (approximately 700 grams) (sliced thinly)

1 teaspoon Sesame Oil

1 teaspoon Soya Sauce

2 teaspoon Oyster Sauce

1 heaped teaspoon cornflour

1 teaspoon dark soya sauce or kecap manis (sweet soya sauce)

Carrots (cut into fine matchsticks)

Cucumber (slice thinly)

Lettuce

Red Lettuce

Sesame Seeds

2 cups of uncooked Rice

Method

Start off by cooking your rice using your favourite method, whether in a rice cooker, over the stove or in the microwave.

Place your chicken in a bowl.  Add to your chicken the sesame oil, oyster sauce, soya sauce, dark soya sauce and corn flour and mix to combine.  Cover with cling film and let your chicken marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.      

Cut off the dark green part of your leek and discard (or use it to prepare a stock).  Cut off the roots and discard.  Now you should only have a column of leek that is mostly pale green with some white.  Wash well to remove any soil or sand and slice the pale green part of the leek into thin rounds (around 0.5cm thick).

Heat up your frypan over a medium to high heat and add a tablespoon of oil.  Add half of your chicken and sauté.  Remove the cooked chicken from the pan and scoop into a bowl.  Add another tablespoon of oil and fry off the remainder of your chicken.  Place all your cooked chicken in a bowl to rest.  Resting the chicken for a few minutes ensures that it’s tender and juicy when you eat it.

I fry the chicken in 2 batches so it has a chance to sear.  If you overcrowd your pan, the chicken will stew or boil, which really isn’t as tasty.

Add your sliced leeks to the now empty frypan and sauté until softened. I add a splash of water to the pan to help the cooking process.  Add garlic after the leeks have softened and stir until your garlic is cooked.

Add your chicken (including any juices at the bottom of the bowl) to the leek and stir to combine for a couple of minutes.  You really only need to reheat the chicken slightly.  Season with salt and pepper (optional).

Scoop up some cooked rice into a bowl and top with some chicken and leek.  Surround your bowl with your favourite salad veggies.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

I don’t use any dressing on the salad veggies here as I feel the juices from the chicken and leek are enough flavour and it’s just nice to eat veggies in their natural state sometimes :).

So simple and delicious. 🙂

Enjoy!

BecX