Pan Grilled chicken over buttery rice and tomato salsa

Every once in a while, mostly on a Sunday, I make an elaborate lunch at home. The weekday meals are all made by my mum-in-law, a delicious vegetarian affair. So on Sundays, I try to give her a break and make something myself. A lot of times my folks have to eat the experimentation – uncooked pasta, overcooked chicken , too tangy salad etc. But sometimes, something like this gets created and I can’t wait to put it up here and share it with you all.

This time it is Pepper Pan-Grilled Chicken over Buttery Baked Rice and Tomato Salsa. This technique of baked rice was shown to me by our European business associate, they always bake rice and don’t use any pressure cooker. You can very well cook rice in the pressure cooker and lightly season it.

All the pans that we use at home currently are from Khlos. Wonderfully built and sturdy and yet non-stick, that our oil consumption has drastically reduced.And they look so pretty and are still very affordable.

Buttery Baked Rice

• 200 gram long grained rice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 25 gram butter
• 400 ml boiling water

1. Grease a 1.1 capacity ovenproof dish or casserole.
2. Put the rice in the dish and stir int he salt until well mixed. Dot with butter.
3. Pour over the boiling water. Cover and bake at 180C for 30 minutes until the water has been absorbed and rice is tender.

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Pepper and Olive Oil Tender Chicken breasts

• 3-4 chicken breasts
• 1 tablespoon olive oil + 1 tablespoon softened butter
• 2-3 tablespoon coarsely crushed pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• chilli flakes
• butter for pan-grilling the chicken and for the sauce

1. Lightly pound the washed chicken breasts with a chicken rolling pin. Rub it with  the mixture of olive oil + butter+  salt+ pepper + chilli flakes.
2. Let it sit for 20 minutes.
3. Heat a thick bottommed pan and melt 1-2 tablespoon of butter. I have used Khlos grill pan to brown the chicken and give the pepper a crackling feel.
4. Once the chicken breasts are browned on both sides, transfer them and the butter from the pan into an ovenproof dish. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 10 minutes so that the chicken gets cooked till the centre.
5. Remove from heat and reserve the juices and butter.

Tomato Salsa

• 2 cups finely chopped tomatoes (about 4 tomatoes)
• 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 4 tablespoon chopped coriander
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon finely chopped green chillies
• about 3/4 teaspoon salt

1. Mix all the above ingredients of the salsa and adjust the salt as per taste.

Assembly :

1. Slice the chicken and place it on a bed of rice with salsa on the side. Garnish with some mint/basil leaves.