Original video by @EthanChlebowski — all credit to the creator.
Weeknight Chicken and Rice Bowl
A juicy pan-seared chicken breast over fluffy yellow rice, finished with crisp lettuce, tomatoes, pickled onions, and a cool dill sauce. Aleppo pepper and fresh parsley bring heat and freshness to every bite.
Ingredients
- 250 gchicken breast · butterflied
- 2.5 gsalt · about 1% of the chicken's weight
- 1 partrice · cooked with 1.25 parts water
- —chicken bouillon · for seasoning the yellow rice
- —pickled onions
- —dill sauce · served cold from the refrigerator
- —lettuce · served cold and crisp
- —tomatoes · served at room temperature
- —Aleppo pepper · to finish
- —fresh parsley · to finish
Steps
- 1
Butterfly the chicken breast so it cooks quickly and has more surface area for browning.
- 2
Season the chicken with about 1% salt by weight — roughly 2.5 g for a 250 g breast — sprinkling it evenly by hand.
- 3
Cook the rice using about 1 part rice to 1.25 parts water, seasoning it with chicken bouillon for a yellow, well-seasoned base. On the stove, bring it to a boil first, then lower the heat so the water doesn't evaporate faster than the rice can absorb it.
- 4
Heat the pan over high heat until the surface is over 450°F, so the chicken still browns once the cold meat pulls heat out of the pan.
- 5
Sear the chicken until the surface develops a deep brown crust and the center reaches about 155°F, then let it rest and slice.
- 6
Build the bowl with the hot rice and chicken, cold crisp lettuce, room-temperature tomatoes, pickled onions for acidity and snap, and cold dill sauce.
- 7
Taste the finished bowl and adjust — finish with Aleppo pepper for heat and fresh parsley for brightness.
Creator's notes
Ethan builds this bowl around five questions he asks every time he cooks: what should this dish taste like (start from a 1% salt baseline by weight, then balance with acid, sweetness, bitterness, and umami), what is the water doing (butterflying dries the surface for browning while keeping the inside juicy; rice absorbs at about 1:1.25), what temperatures do I need (pan over 450°F, chicken center around 155°F, plus deliberate hot/cold contrast at the plate), what do I want it to feel like (juicy chicken, crisp lettuce, snappy pickled onions, creamy dill sauce, fluffy rice), and is it missing anything (here, heat and freshness). He also recommends a salt calibration exercise: divide 400 g of a protein or vegetable into four 100 g portions, season at 0%, 0.5%, 1%, and 2% salt by weight, cook them identically, and taste side by side to learn both what each level tastes like and what it feels like in your fingers.
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