Friday, March 26, 2010

Dinner: Caribbean Style



Because my new job starts this week (woo-hoo), while my friends will be enjoying the sun, the closest I will get to a vacation is brushing on some bronzer and watching The Office episode where Michael Scott goes to Jamaica and comes back to the office with his new mantra of "Island Living," a braid and some steel drums. At least if I couldn't go to the Caribbean, I could cook with some island flavors and bring the Caribbean into my kitchen (minus Michael Scott.)

I wanted to make dinner that was simple, affordable and yet packed with flavor. So, I automatically thought chicken, plantains and coconut rice! The first thing I did was head on down to Compare Foods despite my intimation with the chicken feet in their meat section or the prickly cactus in the produce aisle. Because it was freezing in the store, I raced in and out spending less than seven dollars! I picked up four ripened plantains for $1.99, three thin chicken breasts (perfect for frying) for $3.00 and a can of evaporated milk for $1.50. I already had the rice and coconut milk in my pantry at home along with all the other ingredients like flour, panco and eggs. The meal would only take about ten minutes to prepare and be ready to eat within a half-hour.

A few years back, when I was at the peak of "expanding my bedroom library," I was buying books left and right. During this phase, one of the bargain books that I bought was Quick Fix Meals: 200 Simple, Delicious Recipes to Make Mealtime Easy by Robin Miller (2007) from Barnes & Noble. I've never seen her show or heard of her, but a cookbook is a cookbook; there were pictures and the book had the Food Network seal of approval--so into my library it went! In the book, I learned how to make coconut rice, so I prepared my rice based on what I remembered from her book.

To start cooking the rice, I boiled 3 cups of lite coconut milk in a pot. When it was bubbling, I poured in 1 and 1/2 cups of jasmine rice, put the lid on and turned the burner down to warm. I then put the timer on for 25 minutes and stirred the rice every five minutes so it wouldn't stick to the bottom or burn.

Once the rice was cooking, I peeled and sliced up the plantains and put them onto a baking sheet covered in foil. After watching a chicken competition on the Food Network where a contestant made plantains, I tried to remember what she did so I could produce the same dish in my kitchen. I thought she poured a half of a can of evaporated milk over the plantains and then sprinkled them with brown sugar, so I did the same before I put them in the oven at 300 degrees and crossed my fingers they would be mouthwatering and I could almost taste their sugary gooeyness.

Now, it was time for the chicken! I floured the chicken and then dipped the cutlets in eggs before coating them in a breadcrumb mixture of panco, shredded coconut and chopped almonds with a dash of all spice and nutmeg. Into a frying pan they went until they were a nice crispy brown. Could it get any easier than this?

This dish gets an A- because it didn't all come together and could be improved. While the chicken was the best part of the meal because the flavors really popped and the little bit of coconut in the breading went very well with the creamy rice, it needed a sauce. Perhaps a mango inspired chutney would have worked amazing with the dish and been even more Caribbean. The dish also needed some kind of green vegetable. Avocado anyone? Plus, I thought the rice could've had more coconut flavor if I infused it with some shredded coconut while it was simmering!

Furthermore, I really should have looked up a recipe for plantains because although they tasted okay, they were a bit chewy and the evaporated milk started to burn in the oven and the smell wasn't very pleasant--kind of like Michael Scott playing "Hot Hot Hot" on the steel drums. So for now, I'll take my Caribbean dish and begin my own version of "Island Living" as I eat seconds! Now, off to find that bronzer....

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