Pina Colada Chicken with Spicy Rice and Beans

Pina Colada Chicken with Spicy Rice and Beans

Steve and I have been lucky enough to be able to travel, courtesy of Loblaws and the retailer conferences they organize every two years, to the Caribbean several times. In February of 2007,  we went on a cruise, where at one Port of Call, in Puerto Rico, we went to the restaurant which claims to have invented the Pina Colada. True or not, it was the BEST pina colada I've ever had. Lots of fresh coconut flavour, and not overwhelming with pineapple.

On this same trip, in Antigua, we ate at a restaurant (which had a  guy wandering outside the large open windows who looked like he could be a real pirate), where I had chicken with pineapple sauce, so when I got home I made my own version of it, so here it is for you to try.

Fresh cilantro leaves

The rice dish is inspired by our first Caribbean holiday, to Costa Rica. The resort had a huge buffet, and despite the size of buffets I've seen since then, this was definitely the golden standard for me. I thought it strange at the time, (since it was breakfast), but they had a rice dish that was cooked with fresh cilantro, and I've looked for the same kind of thing at every resort since then and never seen it again. I loved it so much, I ate it every day with some fresh fruit, and bacon. A pretty good way to start the day. I've added to it and made a rice dish that is one of my favourite things to eat, so I make a lot and have leftovers for lunch, and snack, and breakfast....Once upon a time, when I was a new cashier at our store, the smell of cilantro was right up there with seafood for the gag factor. I couldn't stand it. What was wrong with these people, eating this foul, pungent herb? But, the rice in Costa Rica converted me, and now I love the smell. (The same cannot be said for seafood, that is a lifelong battle for me.)

 I like to make these dishes together, since the heat of the rice dish contrasts really well with sweet creaminess of the chicken. I'd start with cooking the rice first, since it can sit warm for awhile once it's made, and the rice takes a long time to cook. It should be good for prepping time to have it all come together at the same time. Here's a bit of a guideline to use when making this, if it helps:
1. Cook rice
2. Prep chicken
3. Make sauce
4. Finish rice prep (veg. etc.)

Spicy Rice and Beans

• 2 cups of dry rice, cooked according to specifications (yields about 4 cups)
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeno, minced
• 1/2 cup onion, minced
• 2 T butter
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 cup of   FRESH cilantro leaves (very important)
• 1 t. herbes de provence, or some other herb blend you enjoy (I first made this recipe with a Caribbean seasoning I picked up down there, but it ran out pretty quickly, :( The hot sauce I had brought back was pretty awesome too....sadly all gone, and never found the same stuff on subsequent trips)
• 1 can of bean medley, your preference, drained, and rinsed if necessary 
• hot sauce, to your taste, start with a little, because the longer it is in the rice the more it heats up. I like it hot. Obviously omit the jalapenos and hot sauce if you don't like spicy, and put in sweet peppers if you'd like.

Melt the butter in the olive oil and sautee the garlic, onion, until soft, then add the cilantro leaves and cook a bit longer. Add the beans and hot sauce, cook until heated through, then stir in the rice.
The great thing about these dishes are that they can all just be kept warm in the oven until ready to serve, and in fact, when we returned from our Caribbean cruise, I made this for a manager's meeting we held at our house to discuss the topics from the retailer conference.

Pina Colada Chicken

For the chicken, you will need:

2-4 chicken breasts, trimmed of unpleasantness
1 egg
1 cup ice water
1 cup flour
1-2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut (depends on how much chicken you're making)
light oil for frying

For the colada sauce you will need:
1 T butter
1 T flour
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup finely chopped pineapple, fresh or canned
2 tablespoons of frozen pineapple juice concentrate
2 teaspoons of  rum (I love dark rum, but I only had white, so use whatever you might have, and this is optional anyway.....)

Heat some oil in a frying pan (maybe 1 T per piece of chicken, whatever you feel like using) I used sunflower oil

First, make a tempura batter by beating the egg, add one cup of very cold water, and then mix in one cup of flour. (This makes a lot of batter for two pieces, but it would be difficult to half an egg, maybe you could use a small egg and 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup flour). I only had large eggs. (Alternatively, you can find tempura batters or beer batters in the store, just add water). The tempura batter is the best way I've found to keep the coconut on the chicken while cooking. You could also try baking this if you don't want to fry. I'm *sure* it would taste just as good. (I really just prefer frying in a bit of oil for the golden crispiness of the result. You could bake it in a bit of oil, but then, it's kind of the same thing).

• Dip the chicken into the tempura batter
• Cover in coconut
• Fry until golden both sides

While the chicken is cooking you can prepare the sauce:

Melt the butter, and add flour, to make a roux, then add coconut milk, pineapple concentrate, pineapple and rum.   Stir until thickened, and  heated through; keep warm. Once the chicken is on the plate, pour the sauce over it. Serve with your favourite vegetable, and enjoy....And while you have all of the ingredients around, feel free to whip up a real fresh, pina colada while you are at it!