Cajun Fried Chicken with Creol Red Beans and Rice

Yesterday, we went out for lunch to Soul Food. One of the few places in the city where you can get cajun food. You have the option there to assemble your own dish from a set of possibilities. I went with chicken breast strips, creol rice, sweetcorn and mango-chili-lime sauce. Loved it.

Indeed, I loved it so much that I decided to recreate it. Well, partially…and to a certain extent. So once again I invoked the wisdom of the internet, and decied to go with this type of rice with this type of breast strips ( I know, I know, the recipe says wings). Buckle up guys, this is going to be a long one.

What you will need:

For the rice:

• 250 g red kidney beans
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 1 small onion
• 2 celery ribs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon cajun seasoning (quarter of what you make with the portions described further on)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 100 g smoked sausage, sliced
• 300 ml rice
• 1/2 tablespoon margarine
• 1300 ml water for the beans
• 600 ml water for the rice

For the breast strips:

• 500 g boneless chicken breast
• 3 tablespoons cajun seasoning
• 60 ml olive oil
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 240 ml flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• coconut fat for frying (of course oil works fine as well)

For the cajun seasoning blend:

• 4 tablespoons ground cumin
• 4 tablespoons dried oregano
• 1.5 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1.5 tablespoon paprika
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 1.5 teaspoon cayenne pepper

How to make it:

1. Soak the beans overnight
2. Prepare the seasoning blend anytime before the actual cooking starts (you have quite some time between setps 1 and 3 🙂 )
3. Pour the water from the beans, put the beans in a pot
4. Mince the onion and the garlic, chop the bell pepper and the celery, add them to the beans
5. Add 1300 ml water to the beans as well
6. Add salt, pepper and the cajun seasoning
7. Cover and cook on low heat for 2 hours
8. While the beans are cooking, you can start preparing the breast strips by slicing up the breast to strips (well…duh)
9. Wash the strips and rinse them dry
10. Take a plastic bag, pour in the cajun seasoning, the honey and the olive oil. Add the strips and mix everything, so the strips are well coated, tie the bag up, and refigerate for 2 hours
11. Once the beans have reached their two hours, add the sliced sausage, mix it in, and leave it to simmer for another hour
12. Time to get started on the rice: Bring 600 ml water and 1/2 tablespoon margarine to boil
13. Add 300 ml rice, cover, reduce heat to low, and let it simmer until the water steams away (this happens surprisingly fast, so be aware)
14. Once both the rice and the beans are done, just mix them together
15. By this time the chicken had more than enough time to marinade, so it is time to combine the flour, the corn starch, the salt (and some cajun seasoning) in yet another bag
16. Transfer the strips from the marinade bag to the flour bag, toss them around in it so they get coated nicely
17. Remove the strips from the bag, and let them sit on a plate for 15 minutes before frying
18. Heat the coconut fat in a frying pan, once it is hot enough reduce the heat to medium
19. Start frying the chicken, in batches and try to hold a constant temperature. Fry them until golden brown and cooked through, roughly 3-4 minutes per batch
20. Transfer the fried chicken to a plate lined with paper towels to cool and drain off the excess oil

So after you have cooked through half of your afternoon, you are now ready to serve this delicious meal. I found with this batch that I overdid the seasoning on the beans and rice a bit, and I still have to find the secret to the fried chicken’s “fluffyness”, but all in all I found this to be a nice tribute. Next time I will make some sauce for this meal too. There is time enough for it while it cooks anyway. 🙂

Some sauce would be great