Pineapple habanero chicken thingy

[tigertoy]

I threw something a little different together for lunch, and it was tasty enough that I'm going to post about it.

½ lb. chicken breast, diced small
¾ c pineapple tidbits, drained
1 10 oz can Ro-Tel tomatoes with habaneros
1 10 oz can low-fat low-fat cream of chicken soup
1 rib celery, chopped
1 T chopped onion
1 t chopped garlic
½ t cumin
pinch of oregano
1 c instant brown rice
½ c instant white rice
1 t cooking oil
2 c water

(all quantities except for "1 can" are guesses.)  Put oil in trusty skillet.  Chop celery and throw it in.  Chop chicken and throw it and onion in; while it's searing, add the cumin, garlic, and oregano.  Once the chicken is cooked on the outside, add the Ro-Tel and pineapple, stir in brown rice, add water, and let the brown rice cook part way.  After 5 minutes or so, add the white rice.  (I mix brown and white rice because the brown rice is good for my digestion, but cutting it with white rice makes the mix a little less chewy and nicer to eat.)  When the rice is mostly done, stir in the soup and let it all cook for a couple of minutes until the liquid is absorbed.  (I gave amounts of rice and water, but I actually cook by throwing some in the pot and then watching how well the water is being absorbed, adding more water as needed so that the rice gets cooked and it doesn't end up soup.

It came out fairly spicy, but not excessively so (at least for me), and a nice balance of flavors.

Comments

[phillip2637.livejournal.com]

"Ro-Tel tomatoes with habaneros"

That sounds like a really handy ingredient for a number of things I can imagine. I wonder whether it's sold up here...must investigate.

[morvab.livejournal.com]

Not that I am aware of - at least not in Winnipeg. I have a great recipe for refried bean soup that calls for it, so I substitute a can of regular tomatoes, with chili seasoning if available, and then add part of a small can of chopped green chilis. Seems to work for my purposes. For this recipe you would use some of all of a small can of chopped habaneros - I am a bit wimpy about spicy so use the milder green chilis.

[tollermom]

Ooooh... that sounds fabulous! And I'm not normally a big fan of mixing sweet (the pineapple) into my spicy. But OMG. I must save this and try it after I can actually stand in the kitchen again.

[poltr1]

Sounds interesting. I'm gonna have to try this out.

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, I don't think the habanero Ro-Tels are actually any hotter than the regular ones. I seldom buy Ro-Tel -- my local grocery store's house brand of diced tomatoes with green chilis are a better deal, a 15 oz. can for about $.70 instead of a 10 oz. can for $1. But I happened to have the Ro-Tels because they'd been on sale a few weeks ago, and this seemed like the moment to use them.