Chicken sausage burrito bowls - frisky comfort food!

Two posts in one month!  I'll be meeting myself coming back, soon.

I dare say you won't be surprised to hear that I collect recipes like a magpie collects milk bottle tops.  Except, milk bottles don't have shiny tops any more.  Oh well, you get the drift.  I have LOADS of recipes I've bookmarked for future reference.  I look through them whenever I'm putting together the menu plan for the week and will often choose one or two.  Interestingly, this week, it would seem that all the chosen recipes are good'uns (doesn't always happen!).

Mind you, I always wind up tinkering about with the recipes for one reason or another but really that's neither here nor there.  This one - the burrito bowls - was originally a vegetarian recipe that I decided to add some protein to, in the shape of chicken sausage meatballs.  It worked very nicely!  Here's the original recipe if you're curious, but remember that I've changed several things in my version.

I'll warn you, that it is chili peppers three times over (chili powder in the rice, chilis in the Mexicana cheese and some chili in the salsa) so be prepared for your nose to run and your tongue to tingle - but it is controllable and the avocado helps no end!

Another great pro point is that it all comes together beautifully in the one pan.  *happy sigh*  I like those recipes.

Let's get on with it then, eh?  Forwards!

CHICKEN SAUSAGE BURRITO BOWLS   (serves 4)

Ingredients : 

2 tbsp rapeseed oil

8 chicken sausages, skinned and cut into 4 pieces
3 spring onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, cut into small squares

½ a red bell pepper, cut into small squares
12 cherry tomatoes, halved

2 vine ripened tomatoes, chopped into small pieces
1 tsp hot chili powder (adjust as desired!)
1½ tsp sweet smoked paprika (use hot if you're a chili hound!)

150g short grain rice (Spanish if you can get it)

300ml hot water

1 tsp vegetable stock powder
1 x 200g tin red kidney beans, drained
Sea salt
Black pepper
100g Mexicana hot cheese, grated
1 avocado, chopped into small squares

salsa, to taste.

Method :

Heat the rapeseed oil in a deep frying pan and add the sausage pieces.  Fry over a hot heat until the pieces are golden coloured but not wholly cooked.  They will finish cooking with the rice.  Remove the sausage pieces to a bowl with a slotted spoon so as to leave as much oil in the pan and reserve.

Put the spring onions, garlic and bell pepper into the pan and stir fry until the pepper is beginning to soften.

Add the tomatoes, chili powder and smoked paprika to the pan and fry until the tomatoes are beginning to break up.

Add the rice, hot water, vegetable stock powder, kidney beans and reserved sausage pieces and stir through.  Taste for seasoning and adjust with sea salt and black pepper if necessary.  Cover the pan and cook for some 10-15 minutes until the rice is tender, stirring from time to time to prevent the rice sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Once the rice is tender, serve into warmed bowls.

Garnish with grated Mexicana cheese, cubes of avocado and a good dollop of salsa.  If you like it, some fresh coriander is good, too!

Printable version