Creamy Gumbo Rice

This gumbo is not exactly the gumbo you're thinking about - thickened soupy, gravy kinda veges served over a plate of rice. Nope, nothing like that at all. And to me, I don't know why this is even called gumbo rice, except that Sue (my sister) told me so. :-)

It's a recipe from her, long time ago, that I really liked. Hmm, what does she cook that I don't like? :-P So, a friend of hers gave this to her. Then she cooked for me. Then I cooked for me. Then I cooked for F. Then now, here it is, embedded on this beautiful day of April, in Foodilicious.

The taste? Apart from it looking very similar to risotto and fried rice, the taste is something I would go for during cool, rainy days. It is creamy, but not too overwhelming, warm, filling, has both that Asian and Italian kinda taste which I "fusionly" like, and what can go wrong with chicken and capsicums?? I like....

Kids love this too. It's flavoured rice, and a whole gazillion of people around the globe loves flavoured rice. I'm sharing my creamy version right here...

:: Recipe ::
serves 2

1 cup jasmine rice + 1 cup water
1/2 cup whipped cream
a dash of Italian herbs
1 cube Maggi ikan bilis stock (powder type)
1 cup mixed frozen vege, fresh green/red capsicum (add broccoli if you have)
1/2 green onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
200gm chicken breast meat, cut into small cubes
some extra virgin olive oil to cook
salt & pepper to taste

1. In a rice cooker, pour the olive oil and fry onions & garlic. Add chicken meat & stir until it whitens, before adding the ikan bilis stock & a little bit of water to dilute the stock.
2. Pour rice, stirring while adding 1 cup water.

3. Add the veges, salt & pepper & stir. Close lid and let it come to boil.
4. Open the rice cooker lid, add in the cream, stir, and close lid until rice cooks.

So it's not just all creamy here. The chicken and sweetness of the vegetables all combined and makes the rice taste so good! Well, at least I liked it just nice! :-)