Blackened Chicken Quinoa Bowl w/ @ChefAkhtar

Preparation

For the Adobo Spice: 

• Combine everything and mix until incorporated.

For the Blackened Chicken: 

• Season the chicken with adobo spice and marinate, covered, overnight. Preheat an oven to 375*F with a high fan. Spray a baking rack with nonstick spray and place the chicken on top. Roast the chicken in the oven until the internal temperature is 165*F - do not overcook. Rest and slice the chicken.

For the Tri-Color Quinoa: 

• Preheat an oven to 350*F with a low fan and rinse the Quinoa in cold water to remove the starch.Place the quinoa in a pot with water and salt and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and/or aluminum foil and cook in the oven until the quinoa is tender but not mushy (25-30 minutes).

For the Blackened Chickpeas: 

• Drain the chickpeas and toss with the oil and adobo spice. Place on a lined sheet tray and roast in a 450*F oven for 10 minutes.

For the Blackened Zucchini: 

• Toss the diced zucchini with the oil and adobo spice Place on a lined sheet tray and roast in a 450*F oven until darkly caramelized (5-8 minutes).

For the Roasted Vegetable Quinoa:

• Drain, rinse, and remove excess liquid from piquillo peppers, and cut into medium dice. Mix the quinoa, black beans, diced piquillos, roasted/diced zucchini, chickpeas, and cilantro. Taste and season with salt if needed.

For the Tomato-Cumin-Lime Vinaigrette:

• Toast the cumin seeds until fragrant, taking care not to burn. Add everything to a blender and blend until very smooth.

For the Pepita-Garlic-Crunch: 

• Preheat an oven to 325*F. Combine the pepitas, oil, oregano, cilantro, garlic, salt, and msg. then spread evenly on a baking tray and roast for 3-7 minutes or until fragrant and the pepitas are evenly toasted. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature. Then, mix with the fried shallots and store in an airtight container.

For the Plating:

• Plate the quinoa in the bottom of the bowl. Plate the sliced chicken on top of the quinoa. Garnish the bowl with pepita-garlic crunch. Sauce the dish with tomato-cumin vinaigrette and garnish with half of a hard boiled egg. Enjoy!

Ingredients

For the Adobo Spice:

(Yield: 1,000g)

• Allspice, ground: 5.2g
• Smoked Paprika: 67.4g
• Cayenne, ground: 18.5g
• Black Pepper, ground: 71.1g
• Cumin, ground: 59.8g
• Espelette, powder: 26.7g
• Sugar, granulated: 314.8g
• Sugar, dark brown: 71.4g
• Ancho, ground: 40g
• Cinnamon, ground: 52.3g
• Clove, ground: 5.7g
• MSG: 22.2g
• Kosher Salt: 245.8g

For the Blackened Chicken: 

(Yield: 510.3g)

• Chicken Breast, boneless, skinless: 714.4g
• Adobo Spice: 26g or as needed
• Oil, neutral: 35.7g or as needed

 

For the Tri-Color Quinoa: 

(Yield: 309.3g)

• Tri-Color Quinoa: 137.5g
• Water, salted: 274.9g

For the Blackened Chickpeas 

(Yield: 51g)

• Chickpeas, canned, drained: 85g
• Adobo Spice: 0.5g
• Oil, neutral: 1.1g

For the Blackened Zucchini:

(Yield: 200g)

• Zucchini, medium dice: 345g
• Adobo Spice: 1.4g
• Oil, neutral: 3g

For the Roasted Vegetable Quinoa:

(Yield: 567g)

• Tri-Color Quinoa:  309.3g
• Black Beans, canned, drained: 51g
• Piquillos, drained: 51.5g
• Blackened Chickpeas:  51g
• Blackened Zucchini: 103.1g
• Cilantro, chiffonade: 2.1g

For the Tomato-Cumin-Lime Vinaigrette: 

(Yield: 170.1g)

• Plum Tomato:  87.2g
• Cumin, whole: 1.6g
• Lime Juice: 5.6g
• Oil, neutral:  26.6g
• Kosher Salt: 2.4g
• Roast Garlic: 4.8g
• Sugar, granulated: 1.6g
• MSG: 0.5g
• Red Wine Vinegar:  47.8g

For the Pepita-Garlic Crunch: 

(Yield: 170.1g)

• Pepitas, raw, unsalted:  37.4g
• Oregano, dry: 0.1g
• Cilantro, dry: 0.1g
• Garlic, granulated:  0.3g
• Fried Shallot: 18.7g
• Kosher Salt: 0.4g
• MSG: 0.4g
• Oil, neutral: 0.2g

For the Plating: 

(Yield: 4 portions) 

• Blackened Chicken: 510.3g (127.6g per portion)
• Roasted Vegetable Quinoa: 567g (141.75g per portion)
• Tomato-Cumin-Lime Vinaigrette: 170.1g (42.5g per portion)
• Pepita-Garlic Crunch: 56.7g (14.2g per portion)
• Hard Boiled Egg: 2ea (1/2ea per portion)