Healthy Cooking Recipe #1: Mom’s Chicken and Rice

Ingredients:

1 cup rice

1 medium onion chopped

1 medium green pepper chopped

2-3 cloves of mashed garlic

1 large tomato chopped and drained

1 medium size chicken cut or several chicken thighs or breasts with skin removed

1 cup of beer

1 cup vegetable stock

Pimento slices

½ cup pitted olives

½ cup raisins

½ cup olive oil

½ teaspoon of cumin

½ teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon of turmeric

Salt to taste

1 large flat cooking/frying pan

Set the chicken on a large dish and sprinkle on all sides with the spices. Set aside.

Chop the onions, peppers and tomatoes, but do not mix. Heat the olive oil to medium/high being careful that you do not overheat it, yet it is fairly hot. Add the onions and stir lightly, add the peppers, then add the mashed garlic. Sauté lightly until onions start to get transparent. Add the drained tomatoes. Sauté lightly until all ingredients are well mixed and the aroma is released. The aroma should be wonderful at this point!

Add the spices covered chicken and brown on all sides to seal the flavors. You may need to move the vegetables to the sides to ensure that the chicken browns well. Add the beer and the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Add the cup of rice and stir well. Add the turmeric. Cover the pan and set the temperature to simmer for 20 minutes. Stir to mix rice well with other ingredients.

Add the olives and simmer for another 5 minutes. Add the raisins and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve on a large dish and decorate with slices of pimento.Serves 4.