Nigerian One-pot Chicken Dinner

Ingredients

• 1 large chicken, cut in quarters or chicken pieces
• 2 cups water
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 stalk celery, cut into 1" sections
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon crushed dried red pepper
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 green pepper, sliced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• ½ teaspoon chili powder
• 10 ounces package frozen okra
• 2 cups cooked rice

Procedures

1. In a large pot or dutch oven place chicken, water, onion, celery, salt and crushed pepper.
2. Cover and cook over moderately high heat until comes to a boil, reduce heat to moderately low and simmer 30 minutes.
3. While chicken is cooking, place tomatoes in a pan of boiling water for ½ min.
4. Spoon tomatoes out of the water and remove skin. Cut into eighths.
5. Add tomatoes, green pepper, lemon juice, tomato paste, and chili powder to chicken.
6. Continue cooking for 10 minutes.
7. Add okra to pot, cover and cook another 15 minutes.
8. Stirring once or twice.
9. Spoon rice into soup bowls and top with chicken mixture.
10. When making casseroles, I do not put the rice in with everything else if I am going to be freezing or storing.
11. White rice can be frozen in the casserole but I find that if i use brown rice, it gives everything a distinctly grainy flavor that i find disagreeable.
12. So i will put the rice in a plastic ziploc bag and freeze it with the casserole. Then I will heat it separately.