Saturday, August 7, 2010

Chili Rubbed Chicken with Tomatillo Salsa and Radish Salad



I love Mexican food. It has fresh and clean flavors with a nice kick of heat. The dish I made tonight was chili rubbed and shredded chicken, roasted tomatillio and hot peppers salsa, a radish and cilantro salad, seasoned rice and hot corn tortillas. I served it family style so that we could make our own mix and because Mexican food is traditionally family style food.

Spice Mix:
Chipotle Powder
Cayenne Pepper
Crushed Red Chili
Chili Powder
Black Pepper
Coriander
Cumin
Oregano
Salt
touch of garam masala (mexicans traditionaly use many of the spices in garam masala in mole sauces)
I mixed this with a mortar and pestal


Chili Rubbed Chicken:

Lightly coat 2 boneless chicken breasts with agave nectar. A spoonful should do it. Add a few scoops of the spice mix and coat the chicken breasts completely. Place them on a baking sheet and cook in the oven for 15 minutes at 375. Let it rest and then shred it with a knife or fork. They should look like this.

Roasted Tomatillo and Hot Pepper Salsa:
Anaheim Pepper
Habenero Pepper
Hot Finger Pepper
Garlic
Green Onion
Tomatillo
Lime Juice
Cilantro
Spice Mix

Roast all of the ingredients in a 375 oven for 15 minutes. Let it cool and put it all in a blender with some of the spice mix, then add salt, fresh cilantro and fresh lime juice. Puree this until smooth in my food processor. It was definatley spicy and hot. Take out the habenero if you want to bring down the heat level.


Radish Salad:
Red Radishes
Chopped Cilantro
Agave Nectar
Lime Juice
Veg Oil
Salt & Pepper

Thinly slice the radish then add all the ingredients and mix in a small bowl.

Toast the corn tortillas in a sauté pan with a touch of oil, they are raw when you buy them. If you over cook them they will get hard like a tortilla chip.

For the rice, just add some chopped up veggies and the spice mix. I used carrots and green onions for this go around.

It was absolutely delicious, I don't always compliment my own food but this one was very deserving of my self praise.

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