Chile chicken and rice

As a kid my mom made a casserole of chicken with flavorful rice.  She used condensed soups which have a lot of flavor.  I wanted to make something similar to this for my lunches at work so I basically borrowed the chemistry experiment.  The basic idea is to cook the chicken while the rice absorbs the liquid.  I didn’t need to reinvent the wheel so I asked what the ratio of liquids to rice was, what the cooking duration time and temp were, and what was the other cooking considerations.  In this case the experimental setting was an enclosed 9 x 13 pan.  Other experimental settings might be the space inside an oven, freezer, or refrigerator.

Ingredients:

• 1 chile spice packet
• 1 C. Sour cream
• 1 1/2 C. Rice
• 1 1/4 C. Chicken broth
• 2 lbs drumsticks or thighs
• 2 T. Lime juice
• 2 T. Soy sauce
• 1 15 oz. Diced tomatoes can
• 1 colored bell pepper cut into bite-sized pieces

Instructions:

1. Mix all ingredients except for the rice and the chicken in a bowl.
2. Whisk until sour cream is incorporated.
3. Place chicken on bottom of 9 x 13 in pan.
4. Place rice around chicken.
5. Pour rest of ingredients over chicken and rice making sure everything is submerged.
6. Cover with aluminum foil.
7. Place in preheated 325 degree oven for 2 1/2 hours.
8. If crunchier rice is desired uncover for last 20 minutes of cooking time.
9. Serve.