C is for Chicken and Brown Rice Salad for The Kids Cook Monday

This super easy dinner recipe is always a hit with Bear and Bee.  They both especially love the brown rice. While I love the fact they prefer the healthier type of rice it can be a problem because it takes a lot longer to cook than white rice.  Thank goodness for the invention of microwaveable packet rice.  It is more expensive than regular rice but certainly saves the day when I forget to put the rice on early enough to cook.

This recipe is great for using up leftover rice.  In fact if you were to use a barbecued chicken from the supermarket and serve the dish as a cold salad, most school aged children would be able to complete this recipe on their own.  The marinade would work just as well as a sauce mixed through the rice with the other ingredients.  How good would that be - a night off cooking!

With there still being a little chill in the air at night time at the moment, we had this as a warm salad tonight.  After cooking the chicken, I added all the other ingredients to the pan and cooked it until everything was warmed through. Also, use whatever vegetables you have available.  Grated carrots, fresh asparagus, sliced mushrooms, peas and red salad onions would all work well in this dish.

Chicken and Brown Rice Salad
Serves 4 (2 adults and 2 children)
Download a recipe card for this recipe here

Ingredients
1/3 cup sweet chilli sauce
juice of 1 lime
400g chicken thigh fillets, roughly chopped
1 cup brown rice
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
2 x 125g cans corn kernels, drained
1/2 capsicum, chopped
10-12 green beans, chopped
extra sweet chilli sauce, to serve

Directions

Juicing citrus like limes is a good skill that needs practice.

Making the marinade.

1.  Combine the sauce and juice in a bowl and pour over the chicken pieces.  Place in the fridge and allow to marinate for 30 minutes or as long as you have (in our case it was 10 minutes).
2. Cook the rice according to packet directions.
3. Heat oil in a large frying pan on medium high.  Cook the chicken pieces for 3 to 4 minutes or until cooked through.

Snapping beans into pieces is easier than using a knife.

Cutting up the capsicum strips.

4. In a large bowl, combine the cooked rice, cooked chicken and vegetables.

5. Serve with a little extra sweet chilli sauce.