Welcome and Tropical Chicken with Mango Salsa and Coconut Rice

So I started a food blog. Just for kicks. It is named "Mottsy's Kitchen" because this is the name of the restaurant I started when I was a kid. It was open once a year. On Mother's Day. I made a menu and gave it to my mom to pick something off of. Of course I had only one real option to choose from- I think I called it the Mother's Day Special. My mom was smart. She always picked the Mother's Day Special. I think one year I made her a BLT and one year was French toast. That's all I can remember. I told Don this story and he started calling me Mottsy while we were dating. If I ever start a restaurant, it will be named "Mottsy's." Catchy, don't you think?

I have to apologize in advance, I don't know if you have noticed, I am wordy. Too wordy. But I figure I will share with you what I have learned through trial and error with these recipes. Then maybe you won't make the same mistakes. And sometimes I am not good with exact measurements, because with recipes I have noticed sometimes they are off. Sometimes you have to adjust to make it work. I think that is what cooking is all about.

So for my first entree, and entry (little play on words there) I bring you:

Tropical Chicken with Mango Salsa and Coconut Rice
Background: I took a cooking class over at the community college almost 4 years ago. I was hoping to learn how to be a fancy chef, but basically I learned variations on the basics. I learned some things, but overall, I was a little disappointed to tell you the truth. I know how to make a white sauce, and just because I learned it's french name did not fool me into thinking I was learning something revolutionary.
Anyway, the last class we had to cook something that could use up all the ingredients the kitchen already had. And so my little group made this. It was awesome and seriously is one of my favorite things to eat.

To live up to its awesomeness, these must be obtained
*The main tip is to get good mangos. You HAVE to wait for them to ripen and be soft otherwise it will be he** trying to get the fruit from them, and it will taste blah as well. You have no idea how many times I have learned this lesson.
*Rice must be moist and have a good amount of coconut milk in it.
*Plenty of extra marinade to spoon over rice and chicken.
*Mango salsa must be juicy.

Chicken:
1 lb. chicken
Marinate the chicken in 1/4c. soy sauce and some ginger. It is best with fresh ginger, I squeeze the juice out with a garlic press. You can also add some terryaki sauce for extra flavor. If you are really lazy, just get a bottle of terryaki marinade, there are a ton to chose from. Give it 30 min. to 2 hrs.

Cook the meat. If you really want to impress, grill it so it gets those nice grill marks. Did you know you can even by a frying pan will grilling ridges to give you the same look? When cooking chicken, it is best to sear the outside to lock in the juices. For example, heat some olive oil in a pan, and just brown both sides of the meat, and then let it cook in the oven for the rest of the time.
Make sure you save some of the marinade to spoon over the chicken and rice when it is finished.

Rice:
So depending on how much rice you want to make...
Basically you want to cook the rice according to the directions on the box, but substitute half of the water with coconut milk. Watch the rice and make sure it has enough water. Actually the best it ever turned out was when I used a coconut milk that was more like a goopy consistency. Then I just added some after the rice was cooked and it made the rice really moist and all around delectable.

Mango Salsa (did you hear a chorus of heavenly angels singing when you read that? Because I did.)
3-4 ripe mangos
1/2 chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
lime juice to taste
minced fresh ginger to taste
salt to taste