Chicken Burrito with Turmeric, Lemon Juice & Saffron:

This is not as hard as it looks, we have this food very often. The credit for this delicious dish goes to our lovely friends Pat & Jennifer. I only changed it a bit.

Preparation and Cooking Time: 45 minutes
4 servings

Ingredients:

1 large (or 2 small) size Onion(s) (leave aside ¼ of one for Guacamole)
1 lb (½ Kilo) Chicken Brest or Boneless Thigh
1 ½ cup Rice
About 3 tbs. Canola Oil (one tablespoon for Rice two for Chicken)
1 or 2 average size Garlic cloves (If you use fresh garlic cloves and chop them up, you will get a strong garlic taste, which I love but Alpez doesn’t, unless it is used in Seafood. If your taste is closer to Alpez you can just put the 2 garlic cloves as a whole in the chicken pot and then later bring them out or simply use a dash of Garlic Powder.)

Although it is not common to say the amount of water needed for a recipe, I will assume you are as neophyte as I was in cooking so:

About ½ cup Water (for Chicken)
About 2½ cup Water (for Rice)

1 can of cooked Black Bean
Tortilla bread (At least 4 large size Tortillas; I get pack of 12)
Sour Cream (serve with the meal)
Mild or hot Salsa (serve with the meal)

Guacamole

1 average size ripe Avocado
1 or 2 average size Tomato(s)
¼ of an average size Onion
½ cup chopped Cilantro

Spices:

A dash of Garlic powder (for cooking the chicken)
½ tsp Turmeric
2 tbs Hot Sauce (for Chicken and also when the meal is served)
1 tsp Chili powder (for Chicken)
1tbs Lemon Juice (for Chicken)
¼ tsp Saffron (can be grounded or not) (of course Persian Saffron is the best but you can take it easy and use average quality Spanish Saffron) (for Chicken)
Lime zest, Salt (for rice and ½ tbs. for Chicken) & Black Pepper (for chicken and black Beans)


Direction:

First we cook Rice and Chicken; at the same time we will prepare Guacamole and the last step is warming/cooking the Tortilla.

1- Rinse Rice, put it in a small nonstick pot, add about 2½ cup water, add salt and stir. (I just use a dash of salt but you can go as much as any amount less than 1 tbs.) Add oil; don’t stir the oil, later it will absorb on its own. Then put it on the stove on high heat; when boiled, bring the heat down to medium or low (depending on your stove) and put the lid half on. The rice will be cooked in about 20 minutes after you put the lid.


2- Chop the Chicken Brest in small cubes (almost 1 by 1 inch), chop the Onion (leave ¼ of it aside for Guacamole), fry the chopped Onion in Canola oil until they are soft (about 3 min.) and then add Turmeric. Let it stay for another minute. (Don’t let the onion to become golden, it is not needed for this dish). Then add the Chicken to the pot and mix with the onion-mix. Add fresh garlic. You don’t want to fry them; we just need the taste. Let it be for 3 more minutes before adding other spices. You can close the lid. Then stir and add Chili Powder, Garlic Powder (if not using fresh garlic), hot sauce and black pepper. Add ½ cup water to the pot, close the lid and let it be for 15 minute.
Caution: DO NOT add Salt, Lemon Juice, Lime zest and Saffron now; Salt and lemon’s acidity makes the chicken hard and slows the cooking process)


Occasionally check it to see if it needs stirring or more water. After 15 minutes taste your chicken and then if cooked (no Pink part) add lemon juice, lime zest, salt and saffron. Chicken in done after 2 to 3 min.










3- Guacamole: I like it this way with no salt or pepper:

Chop onion, Cilantro, and tomato thinly, then cut Avocado in half, take out the large stone in the middle with the help of your knife (Once I tried to dry the seed: after couple of days the beautiful brownish skin of the core dried out and felt apart leaving me with a colorless thing!) scoop the green flesh of avocado out with a spoon then smash it with the back of the spoon in a bowl, then add the chopped onion, tomato and cilantro.


4- Rinse black bean so it is clean of the black liquid of the can , add a little black pepper to it put it in a microwave, until it is hot ( 2 minutes with my micro on high)

5- heat a nonstick pan (no oil) put one tortilla at a time warm/cook both sides, wait for each side to puff then it is ready.

6- Put a tortilla your plate help yourself with rice, chicken, beans, sour cream, guacamole Salsa and hot sauce then wrap tortilla and Noshe Jan (نوش جان) ; Bon Appetit!

Chicken Burrito with Turmeric, Lemon Juice & Saffron

Some General Tips and Info:

Here allow me to introduce two honorary members of Tameshk In Kitchen, comments of both will occasionally find their way here.

The first is, My lovely husband, a poor mathematician who has to put up with my cooking and who thinks that all of my cooking products need more salt and all of my baking products need more sugar, which I disagree (of course).

Then there is our Food Critic: Alpez, a friend of mine, still single in his mid 40’s, who once could simply enjoy eating, but after he started his new job as a food critic in one of New York’s most famous magazines, he can’t enjoy any food or drink before ruining the reputation of the cook, the restaurant and many times the poor bartender, especially if the bartender is a young attractive female. (Of course Alpez is not his real name but the name that we agreed on, in a cold December morning while commuting from Princeton to New York City via NJ Transit. Also I am not allowed to reveal the name of the magazine in which he writes.)


General Tips:

I wash everything, which is washable before slicing them. Do not forget your hands and I try not to slice them but sometimes it happens.

Don’t worry if you burn things; it happens! Just wash the burned pan after it cools down, but don’t let it stay for a day or two; it becomes harder to clean.

Never Ever use burned oil, simply throw it out. (First pour it in a none-plastic bowl; then after it cools down, dispose it. Do Not pour it into the Sink)

Heat level varies from stove to stove and you will become an expert about yours if you start using it. [I have a gas stove now, but I have used electric stoves and I believe their high temperature is higher than that of gas stoves.]

Tameshk In Kitchen: Manifesto

Tameshk In Kitchen is the cooking version of Tameshk, my other blog. Tameshk means raspberry in my native language, Farsi or Persian. I consider myself a fruit lover and usually I never dislike anything that can be picked from a tree or any plant for that matter. But it is Tameshk that I adore among all other fruits.

Tameshk In Kitchen is a cooking blog for beginners, college students or people who have never cooked until their late twenties, people like myself who have been fed before by their educated parents but they want to or have to start feeding themselves. Tameshk In Kitchen is for people who, like myself four years ago, couldn’t even bring water to boil and it is for people, more like the current version of myself, who can bring water to boil but still don’t know many things about food preparation.

In a regular day I spend about 2 hours in our small kitchen, doing things that are not even related to that area of the house; that makes at least 730 hours of my life every year. So I figured I should do something with it; the result is Tameshk In Kitchen.

It is my experiences with food and my appetite, mostly in my small kitchen, that will find their way here in this blog. It includes experiences of eating, drinking, cooking, baking and a lot more. Tameshk In Kitchen is flavored with Persian spices, although it is not a Persian Cooking blog.

Tameshk In Kitchen won’t be functional for you if you are a parent of any sort, since then you already know more than what is offered here; however Tameshk In Kitchen will love to have you as an observer and a Kitchen Consulter. If you are a Cook - professional or amateur- Tameshk In Kitchen is good to laugh at, but at the same time Tameshk will be happy to have your comments, thoughts and if you don’t mind your magical tricks.

There will be four posts every month in four categories: Recipes, Tips, Tricks and Food Shopping. Also I reserve the right to change these categories anytime I feel they get boring.