What is your favourite herb? And do you pronounce the H in the word herb or pronounce it as “erb”? I guess because I was raised by my Canadian mother and speaking her English I tend to pronounce the H in herb. But although I speak Canadian English, there are a lot of American things I tend to do in English. Like I spell color without the U yet I spell a lot of other things with an RE at the end. Or I add the U to certain words like “neighbourhood”.
Anyway, what was I asking? Oh yeah, what is your favourite herb?
Mine is definitely cilantro (or coriander). The fresh stuff. Yum yum yum. Though I can tell you that it is difficult to grow. I’ve failed in Holland and in South Africa. Have any of you successfully grown cilantro?
So cilantro did feature in this evenings meal.
I made a fantastic quinoa and chicken bowls. Bowls being a meal combined in a bowl.
I got the recipe from Eat. Drink. Love. – what a lovely name for a blog! The direct link for the recipe can be found here. I didn’t really make the bowl like the photos on Eat. Drink. Love., but it all tasted grand!
Ingredients:
- 2 large chicken breasts, halved lengthwise
- 2 Tablespoons lime juice
- 2 Tablespoons honey
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup (170g) quinoa
- 2 cups (470ml) chicken broth
- 1 ½ Tablespoons lime juice
- ¼ cup (15g) cilantro, chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 can (425g) black beans
- ¼ cup (59ml) water
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon cayenne powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (40g) cilantro, chopped
- ¾ cup (115g) green peas
- 1 large tomato, chopped
Instructions:
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In a small bowl, combine lime juice, honey, garlic, and salt and pepper then add chicken breasts to honey lime mixture and allow to marinade for 30 minutes.
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Meanwhile bring a pot of chicken broth to boil. Once boiling, add quinoa to bubbling chicken broth and cover pot. Remember to turn down heat to low to allow quinoa to simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes and do NOT remove lid until quinoa has fully absorbed broth. Then turn heat off.
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Mix in ¼ cup of cilantro and 1 ½ tablespoons into the quinoa. Add salt and pepper to quinoa for additional flavour.
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In a small frying pan on medium heat, add can of black beans WITH liquid. Mix in spices and mix well. Fill ¼ cup water to can of beans and then place in bean mixture. Turn heat down to low and allow black beans to simmer for 15 minutes.
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Then take chicken breasts from marinade and place in a frying pan at medium heat and begin to fry. Watch out that honey from marinade can cause chicken to burn easily.
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Once chicken is cooked set aside. Once cooled begin to shred chicken for bowls.
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When everything is ready begin setting up your bowls. Fill bowls in following order:
- Quinoa
- Chopped tomato
- Green peas
- Chopped cilantro
- Black beans
- Shredded chicken
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Serve immediately and enjoy!
Now you do not need to fill your bowls as I have, but my mom isn’t all too keen on black beans so I wanted to remove the bean flavour from mixing in with the quinoa for her. Just to ensure it isn’t all too black bean-y. And if you want you could also add some dairy to your dish (cheese or sour cream), but I kept it simple.
Although it was simple without cheese or sour cream it came out great! I have to say cilantro is definitely the key ingredient in this masterpiece. It just adds so much flavour to the meal!
God, I love cilantro!
Well this meal turned out fantastically. Mom and I even went for seconds after setting up a plate for our housekeeper for lunch tomorrow. It was wonderful! The beans made the dish more Mexican, but the honey and lime made think of a more Asian meal. Which I find weird, but whatever.
If you end up making this I hope you love it as much as we did!
Happy eating!
Bounce Around in the Kitchen 