Rice Mole

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This recipe combines pasillas, cascabels, and pickled jalapeños to form a trilogy of chiles. This is certainly one of the more simple mole recipes we’ve come across. It’s also very good.

Ingredients

  • 1 chicken, sectioned

  • Water to cover

  • 2 medium onions, sliced

  • Salt to taste

  • 1½ cups rice, cleaned and soaked

  • 4 pasilla chiles, seeds and stems removed

  • 3 cascabel chiles, seeds and stems removed

  • 4 tablespoons oil

  • 1 teaspoon cumin

  • 6 black peppercorns

  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed

  • 4 green tomatoes, chopped

  • Salt to taste

  • ½ to 1 head lettuce, shredded

  • Pickled jalapeños to taste

Instructions

Place the chicken parts in a pan, cover with water, and add the onions and salt to taste. Cook the chicken until it is tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Once cooked, remove the chicken from the broth, keep it warm, and set the broth aside.

Measure the broth to 3 cups, adding more water if necessary. Cook the rice in the broth until done, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn’t stick.

In a separate pan, fry the chiles in a little oil, then add the cumin, peppercorns, garlic, onions, tomatoes and green tomatoes until the chiles become soft. Remove to a blender and puree, then return to the pan. Add the rice and cook for a few minutes.Serve the rice with the chicken and decorate with the lettuce and jalapeños.

Spit roasted Chicken with spicy wild rice stuffing

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Roasting the chicken along with the stuffing makes for an easy dinner. To complete the meal, cut zucchinis lengthwise and brush them with chile oil. Grill during the last 15 to 20 minutes of cooking, remove and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.

Ingredients

  • 1 2-1/2 to 3-pound whole chicken
  • 3 tablespoons barbecue dry rub for chicken
  • ½ cup wild rice
  • ½ cup white rice
  • 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • ½ cup chopped onions
  • 4 sun-dried tomatoes chopped
  • ½ teaspoon cayenne powder
  • ½ teaspoon dried sage, crumbled

Instructions

Rub the chicken with the barbecue rub, being sure to put some under the skin. Allow the rub to penetrate at room temperature while you prepare the stuffing.

In a sauce pan, cover the wild rice with 1-1/3 cups boiling water, return to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 40 to 45 minutes or until tender. It is not necessary to drain the rice thoroughly, but drain off any excess water.

Sauté the white rice in the oil for 2 to 3 minutes. Bring the broth to a boil, add the white rice, and return to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Do not drain.

Add the wild rice, onions, tomatoes, cayenne, and sage to the rice and mix well. Spoon the mixture loosely into the chicken cavities. Secure the neck skin to the back of the chicken. Insert the spit rod through the bird, tie the wings together, and tightly secure the bird to the rod.

Place a drip pan under the bird on the grill, lower the cover and grill over a medium heat for 2 hours or until the chicken is done.

Spit-Roasted Chicken w/ Spicy Wild Rice Stuffing

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Roasting the chicken along with the stuffing makes for an easy dinner. To complete the meal, cut zucchinis lengthwise and brush them with chile oil. Grill during the last 15 to 20 minutes of cooking, remove and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese

Ingredients

chicken, wild rice, onions, sage, cayenne powder

Instructions

Red Beans and Rice with Sausage

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Here is your basic Cajun side dish, elevated to entree status with the addition of the sausage. Note: This recipe requires advance preparation.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound dried red beans, not kidney beans, sorted and rinsed

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (if using a fatty sausage, render some of the fat from the meat)

  • 1 large onion, chopped

  • 6 to 8 cloves garlic, chopped

  • 1 stalk celery, chopped

  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

  • 1 bay leaf

  • 1 pound tasso, andouille, or other sausage, such as garlic sausage, cut diagonally into 3/4-inch slices

  • 1 to 2 teaspoons ground cayenne

  • 8 to 10 cups water

  • 4 to 5 cups cooked white rice

  • Chopped parsley for garnish

Instructions

Cover the beans with water and let stand overnight.

Heat the oil in a large pot. Saute the onion, garlic, and celery in the oil until soft. Add the beans, parsley, bay leaf, tasso, cayenne, and water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer until the beans are soft, about 1 to 2 hours.

As it cooks, the beans may start to get creamy. If the beans get soft and the broth is still thin, take a few beans, put them in a sieve, and mash through with a wooden spoon.

Serve over the rice and garnished with plenty of chopped parsley.

Coconut-Chile Rice

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Coconuts were plentiful in Belize–in fact, Nancy almost was beaned by one while sitting on the porch. Since they were literally falling from the trees, we tried to use them as much as we could in cooking.

Ingredients

  • 3 habanero chiles, minced, or 2 tablespoons ground red chile

  • 1 cup fresh coconut, chopped fine or coarsely grated

  • 2 tablespoons butter

  • 1 small onion, chopped fine

  • 1 cup white rice

  • 1 cup coconut water (from the coconut)

  • 1 cup chicken stock

Instructions

In a saucepan, saute the coconut in the butter for a couple of minutes or until it starts to brown. Add the onion and saute until the onion is soft.

Add the rice to the mixture and continue to saute until the rice turns opaque.

Bring the coconut milk and stock to a boil, add the rice mixture, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the rice is done, about 20 to 30 minutes.