Chicken Jambalaya

I was in a quandry over what to cook for dinner yesterday.  Usually it's a quick and easy pasta dish on Thursdays due to football / zumba but we both fancied something using rice and I'd already taken some chicken out of the freezer... So after researching a bit on the web I decided on a jambalaya style dish for the flavour and I like the idea of cooking using a one-pot method too.  I had most ingredients at home but really needed a pepper so off to Waitrose I popped.  £11.76 later (how does that happen??!) I bought some lovely sweet red Romano peppers and some cooking chorizo to add to my dish, amongst alot of other crap.

Chorizo is not what one would usually think of eating when dieting but it is all about portion control and chorizo gives you a whole lotta flavour for a very small amount.  I have to admit I did play around alot with the portion sizes to ensure that I got the right balance of vegetables, carbs & protein, that the meal was 12 ProPoints or under, and of course it was tasty!!  We both really enjoyed the outcome and it was a great meal for re-heating later as hubby ate his at 5pm before football and I had mine at 8.15pm after Zumba!

You'll need for 2:

• Half a medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 -2 garlic cloves, crushed or grated
• 1 red pepper
• 35g chorizo, halved, then sliced thinly
• Half a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp Cajun seasoning (more if you like it hotter)
• Seasoning
• 140g dried basmatti rice
• Approx 350ml chicken stock (you will need double the volume of rice)
• 2 tbsp frozen peas
• Half a punnet of chestnut mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 260g chicken breast cut into chunks

What to do:
Spray a good non-stick frying pan with a little olive oil (use about half a tsp). On not too high heat saute the onion till soft.  Add in the garlic and the chorizo.  The chorizo will omit some oil so don't worry if it looks too dry to begin with.  The chorizo will also flavour and colour the onions beautifully.

Next add the peppers and saute for a couple of minutes.  Turn up the heat and add the chicken to brown.  Add the mushrooms and continue to saute.  Sprinkle over the Cajun seasoning and add the rice.  Stir quickly to avoid the rice sticking until it is all nicely coated.  Next add your tomatoes and bring to a boil.  Then add nearly all the stock and turn down to simmer.  Stir well and cover turning down to a low heat so it is just simmering.

Do give it a stir every few minutes to ensure the rice is not sticking and add a little more stock if need be.  After 10 minutes add the frozen peas.  All in all the cooking time should take approximately 20 minutes but you will know when the rice has cooked through and absorbed the stock.  Taste and season as required.

I've got to say I REALLY enjoyed this meal.  It was sooo tasty (in fact I did scoff a few mouthfuls at 5pm!) and it's a great meal mid-week if you want something to prepare in advance.  I am sure it would freeze pretty well too, if any is left that is!

WeightWatchers ProPoints per serving: 12