Red Rice

Another one of BeeBop’s favorites! Red Rice. Based on the famed Charleston Red Rice. Sort of. Well, kinda. It’s similar anyway. If you’re a fan of Low Country cooking, please indulge me. I know this is not the accurate, authentic Charleston Red Rice. It does have one thing in common, however. It’s good!

When BeeBop was still in the Navy and stationed in Charleston, we used to visit the market downtown. It was full of all kinds of treasures. Handwoven baskets, jewelry, trinkets, antiques. And there was one little stall there where a lady always sold spice mixtures. She had little bags of red rice mix 3 for $5. Every time we went to the market, I’d pick up at least three of those rice mix bags. Then after we got married and exiled to the Maine/New Hampshire border, I no longer had access to the little lady with the red rice mix. I had to come up with a close substitute on my own. After years of trying, I think this recipe is pretty darned close.

This is one of those one-pot meals that really sticks to your ribs on a cold day. All you need to make this a complete dinner is to add some bread. Garlic bread is mighty fine.

To get started, grab your largest, deepest chicken frying pan with a cover. Or a dutch oven. Anything that has some depth and width and that you can use on top of the stove.

1 medium onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tblsp olive oil
2 chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1 ½ cups uncooked long grain rice
3 cups chicken broth
1 tblsp fresh parsley, chopped
12 dashes Tabasco
2 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes with juice
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce 

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, celery and garlic and cook until tender. Remove them from the pan and set aside for later. They’ll look something like this:

Don’t worry about a little browning in the pan or on the onions. It’ll add to the depth of flavor of the finished dish.

Add the remaining tablespoon of oil and the chicken. Sprinkle the poultry seasoning over the chicken in the pan. Cook the chicken, stirring frequently, until no pink still shows and it has a light brown color.

Add the reserved onions mixture back to the pan with the chicken. Add all the remaining ingredients and stir well to combine everything. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and cook 25 to 30 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.

Enjoy!

Download a printable copy here.

Tagged as: chicken, cooking, Food, main dish, poultry, recipes, red rice, rice, tomatoes