Cuban chicken and black bean quinoa bowls with fried bananas

Tasty and full of flavor. I thoroughly enjoyed this dish, Jacob said "for a dish with weird ingredients, it's pretty good." I consider that nearly the highest compliment.

This was a Pinterest find from Half Baked Harvest and realizing that I don't exactly know what Cuban cuisine consists or tastes like, I decided to make it.

Pre-assembly

Some things I would modify

1. It called for a red chile, but my grocery store does not carry those so I used the diverse jalapeno. I took out the seeds both times I used it, and I think heat wise, I would leave the seeds in for at least one of the jalapenos next time. 
2. I used store brand orange juice but I imagine this would be even tastier with freshly squeezed.
3. The marinated the cut up chicken for probably 3 hours in the refrigerator before hand. 
4. I used water, not chicken broth, for cooking the quinoa and found the quinoa was slightly bland. So I added a substantial amount of black pepper and salt, which helped. However, I don't think it needed that much more flavor because everything else was so flavorful. 
5. The 1.5 cups of dry quinoa made like 7 thousand cups, I could probably just do 1 cup next time and be fine unless I want to be eating quinoa for a month. 
6. The bananas didn't crisp up as much as I would have liked, but I think that's because I didn't add more oil when the oil cooked off. The crispiness of the bananas would have been greatly appreciated in this dish since I thought it was lacking crunch. 
7. I would say with the 1.5 pounds of chicken that I used, this would feed 4 people, not including the quinoa. 

Cuban Chicken and Black Bean Quinoa Bowls with Fried Chili Spiced Bananas & Spicy Mango

Serves: 4

Time: 35 minutes (not including marinade time)

Ingredients:

Chicken

      1 teaspoons cumin

      3 cloves garlic minced or grated

      1 red chile seeded

      good pinch of pepper

      3/4 cup + 1/4 orange juice divided

      the juice of 4 limes + 1 lime zested

      1 teaspoon honey

      1 teaspoon soy sauce

      1/4 cup cilantro

      1 pound boneless chicken breast cut into bite size pieces

      2 tablespoons butter

Black Beans + Quinoa

      2 tablespoons olive oil

      1 onion chopped

      1 red pepper chopped

      1.5 cups dry quinoa

      2 cups cooked black beans rinsed + drained if using canned

      2 cloves of garlic minced or grated

      salt and pepper to taste

Bananas + Mangos

      2 bananas sliced (on bias) + chili powder

      2 tablespoons coconut oil

      1 mango diced

      1 red chile seeded + chopped

      1/2 of a lime juiced

      1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped

Steps:

Chicken

To a blender, add the cumin, 3 cloves garlic, red chile, pinch of pepper, 3/4 cup orange juice, lime juice + lime zest, honey, soy sauce and cilantro. Blend until everything is finely chopped and smooth. Next, add the chicken to a bowl and pour half the marinade over the chicken. Toss to coat and allow the chicken to sit for 20 minutes, or even overnight, in the marinade.

Quinoa

Heat a large high sided skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot add the oil and onion. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until the onion is soft. Add the red pepper and quinoa, cook another five minutes until the red pepper is soft and the quinoa is lightly toasted. Now pour in 3 cups of water or chicken broth, bring the mixture to a boil, cover and then simmer over low heat for 25-30 minutes or until the quinoa is cooked and fluffy. Once the quinoa is done cooking, scoot it over to the side and add another drizzle of oil to the skillet if needed, add the black beans, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook until warmed through. Alternately, you may just stir the black beans into the quinoa.

Bananas

While the quinoa is cooking, remove the peels from the bananas and slice into 1/2 inch thick slices. Set a skillet over medium to medium-high heat and add the oil. Lay down your banana slices and sprinkle with chili powder if using, fry for 4-5 minutes on each side. Be sure to watch the heat and turn it down if the bananas are browning too quickly. You want enough heat to caramelize and brown the slices, but you don't want them to burn. Remove from the skillet and place on a plate. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Mango

Add the mango, red chile, lime juice and cilantro to a bowl. Toss well.

Cooking Time 

To cook the chicken, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, add a drizzle of olive oil. Add half the chicken and cook, 3-5 minutes or until browned all over and cooked throughout. Remove and repeat with the remaining chicken. Once all the chicken is cooked, cover with lid. Add the remaining marinade + 1/4 cup orange juice to the skillet and bring to a boil. Add the 2 tablespoons of butter and cook about 5 minutes or until reduced slightly. Stir in some chopped cilantro if desired.

To serve, divide the quinoa among bowls. Top with chicken, black beans, mangos and bananas. Drizzle with the the remaining marinade and chopped cilantro if desired.

EAT