Chipotle-glazed chicken bites over poblano rice
Cornstarch, not flour, which is the only reason the crust survives the glaze.
At a Glance
Story
Cornstarch, not flour, and it is not a substitution. Flour has gluten, which sets into a bready jacket that goes soggy the moment a wet sauce touches it. Cornstarch has none, so it fries into a thin glassy shell that stays crisp even after the chicken has been tossed through a glaze, which is exactly what this dish asks it to survive.
Ingredients
- 10 oz chicken breastcut into bite-size pieces
- ½ cup long grain white rice
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 3 tbsp full-fat Greek yogurt
- 2 tsp canned chipotles in adobominced
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 yellow onionhalved and thinly sliced
- 1 poblanoseeded and thinly sliced
- ¼ cup cilantro sauceor cilantro blitzed with lime and oil
- 2 tbsp cotijagrated
- neutral oilsalt, pepper
Method
The chicken is fried, then tossed in the sauce off the heat. Have the sauce mixed before the oil is hot, because the tossing happens immediately.
- Rinse the rice until it runs clear, drain, and cook in a pot with 1 cup water and a big pinch of salt: boil, cover, low, 13 to 15 minutes. Off the heat, fluff, cover.
- Whisk the yogurt, honey, 1 teaspoon warm water and as much chipotle as you want in a large bowl. Season.
- Pat the chicken dry, season, then toss with the cornstarch until every piece is dusty and dry-looking.
- Thin layer of oil in a medium nonstick pan on medium-high. When a pinch of cornstarch sizzles instantly, add the chicken in one layer, shaking off the excess. Undisturbed 3 to 4 minutes, then stirring 3 to 4 minutes, until browned and cooked through.
- Straight into the bowl of sauce and stir to coat. Leave the fond in the pan and pour off the oil.
- Same pan, a drizzle of oil, the onion and poblano, seasoned. 5 to 7 minutes, until softened and browned at the edges. 2 tablespoons of water in, scraping, until it cooks off. Tip into the rice with the cilantro sauce and stir.
- Rice into bowls, the glazed chicken over, cotija on top.
A swap worth knowing: the original builds the glaze on mayonnaise. Greek yogurt carries the chipotle and honey just as well, and the crisp was never coming from the sauce — it comes from the cornstarch.
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