Ficken and Rice with Cilantro-Poblano Sauce

This was offered in Cooking Light June 2008 as a reader recipe. The woman that developed it said it is easy to prepare and can be made any night of the week. Hmmm, I am not so sure about the easy description. While there was nothing complicated, there were many different steps and pans involved, which made it longer to prepare and clean up than an "easy" meal should. But, it was yummy and I consolidated some of the steps to cut down on after dinner dishes.

The grocery store was sold out of Poblano peppers, so I ended up using two different kinds - a red one and light green one- in place of the Poblano. It worked out nicely, so if you can't find that particular pepper, just choose some other moderate/mild temperature pepper instead.

I did not have enough wild rice, so I ended up using wild rice, forbidden rice and brown rice. Worked great, although the deep color of the forbidden rice turned the mushrooms purple!

Chicken and Rice with Cilantro-Poblano Sauce

3/4 cup chopped green onions, divided

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

1/2 tsp salt, divided

1/4 tsp black pepper, divided

14 oz veggie broth, divided

1 poblano chili, seeded and chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

olive oil

1 large package white mushrooms, sliced

1 cup uncooked long grain rice

1/2 cup water

1 tsp ground cumin

2 TBS fresh parsley, chopped

1 TBS butter

1 pkg of quorn naked patties, slightly thawed and cut into strips

3/4 cups grape or cherry tomatoes

1 avocado, chopped

1. Combine 1/4 cup green onions, cilantro, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper, 1/2 cup broth, chili and 1 garlic clove in a food processor. Process until smooth.

2. Heat 1 TBS oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms to pan and saute until softened. Add garlic clove to pan and cook another couple minutes. Add cilantro mixture, remaining 1 1/4 cup broth, rice, 1/2 cup water and cumin to skillet. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, 25 minutes. Add parsley, remove from heat.

3. Heat small amount of olive oil in different skillet over med-high heat. Sprinkle small amount of salt/pepper and 1/2 tsp cumin in the pan. Add ficken. Cook until browned and heated through. Remove from the skillet.

4. Add small amount of olive oil to the same skillet the ficken was just cooked in. Add 1/4 cup green onions and tomatoes. Saute 2 minutes. Add ficken back to skillet.

5. Finally-arrange rice on a plate, top with ficken and tomatoes, then some avocado. Yummy!!!