Chicken Tikka

Ingredients (serves 4)

400g skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size chunks

Juice of 2 lemons

1/2 onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves

2tbsp fresh ginger, grated

1tbsp ground coriander

1/2-1tsp paprika

1/2-1tsp chilli powder

150g low-fat natural yogurt

Olive oil, to grease

300g basmati rice

Fresh coriander, to garnish

Lemon wedges, to serve

For the garlic dip

200g low-fat natural yogurt

1 garlic clove

4 spring onions, sliced

Instructions

1. Put the chicken in a non-metallic dish and brush with the lemon juice. Cover and chill for 30 min.

2. Put the onion, garlic, ginger and spices in a food processor. Blend to form a smooth paste.

3. Mix the paste with the yogurt and use to coat the chicken evenly. Cover and chill for at least 4 hr, or overnight.

4. Preheat the oven to 190 C. Put the chicken in a lightly greased baking dish and bake for 25-30 min, or until it's tender and cooked through.

5. While the chicken is cooking, cook the rice according to the pack intructions, drain and set aside, keeping warm.

6. Make the garlic dip by mixing all the ingredients together.

7. Sprinkle the chicken tikka with a few coriander leaves and serve with the rice, dip and lemon wedges.

The recipe comes from Healthy Food Guide, November 2011

Easy Chicken Stir-fry

The recipe comes from BBC Good Food. I hesitated if I should actually place this recipe here, simply because it's not... delicious. It's alright, but I feel like something is missing. I followed the recipe to a T and haven't figured out yet what is actually wrong with it. Maybe it's the lime which dominates other flavours. Having said that, I have to admit that I ate the whole serving in one go... And I will definitely cook it again, maybe with some alterations that hopefully will make it truly d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s! 

Ingredients

• 4 skinless boneless chicken breast fillets
• 1 egg white
• 1 tbsp cornflour, plus 1 tsp extra
• 350g rice
• thumb sized knob of root ginger
• 1 red pepper
• 1 shallot
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 red chilli (optional)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• juice 1 lime    
• handful basil leaves   

Instructions

1. Slice the chicken into bite-size pieces. Beat together the egg white and 1 tbsp cornflour in a bowl. Tip in the chicken and coat with the mix. Marinate for 15-30 mins (don’t place in the fridge or the mix will harden).

2.Start cooking the rice (according to instructions on the packaging).

3. Peel the ginger and finely chop until you have 1 tbsp. Cut the pepper into bite-size pieces. Get rid of the stalk and seeds. Peel the shallot and garlic clove, then thinly slice. Remove the chicken from the egg marinade and dry with kitchen paper. 

4. Heat a wok and pour in 1 tbsp oil. Cook the chicken for 7-10 mins, tossing until just cooked. Set aside. Pour in some more oil if you need to. Add the pepper and cook for 1 min, then cook the ginger, shallot and garlic for 1-2 mins more. Combine the fish sauce, lime juice, 50ml water and 1 tsp cornflour. Tip into the wok, then add the chicken. Cook for 1 min, stir through the basil, then serve with the rice.

 

Super Green Smoothie

Ingredients

1/2 pineapple, peeled, cored, cut into chunks
10cm chunk cucumber, peeled
1 orange, peeled, divided into segments
Few handfuls of spinach
* honey (optional)

Place all ingredients in a blender, add some water to make it easier to mix (the amount depends on how thick you want your smoothie) and process until smooth. Pour into a glass and enjoy!

Orange and Basil Juice

Ingredients


3 oranges, halved 
handful of basil leaves, chopped


Juice the oranges (you can use simple lemon juicer, electric juicer or food processor). Add basil leaves and mix (I did that using electric blender). Pour into a glass and enjoy!

Lime Chicken With Mint And Chilli

 

Nice chicken recipe from the book Everyday chicken. Combines sweet and fresh flavours of lime and mint, I added just an extra half of red chilli pepper and it worked really well. Will definitely cook this more often, it's so quick and easy!

Ingredients (serves 6)

3 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint 4 tbsp honey
4 tbsp lime juice
salt and pepper
12 chicken thighs
mixed salad, to serve

sauce
150ml low-fat natural yoghurt
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint
2 tsp finely grated lime rind


Instructions

1. Mix the mint, honey and lime juice in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the marinade, cover them evenly.
2. Cover with cling film and marinade for at least 30 minutes (the longer the better). 
3. Preheat the grill to medium. Place the chicken on a grill rack and cook under the hot grill for 15-18 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Turn the chicken frequently and bast with marinade.
4. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Remove the cocktail sticks and serve the chicken with a mixed salad and the sauce, for dipping.

Low-fat Chocolate Brownie

This is seriously scrumptious little brownie. I never considered myself a big fan of chocolate cakes or brownies (I like them, but they're not on the top of my list of favourites), but this one... I think I'll have to revise the chart... So soft and tender, with this crusty top... And can be frozen for later (if you resist the temptation to finish it off...)

Ingredients

• 100g cooked beetroot, grated

• 175g plain chocolate, roughly chopped

• 4 eggs, beaten

• 300g dark brown sugar (could be a little less, unless you're a sweet tooth)

• 150g plain flour, sieved

• 50g mini marshmallows (optional)

Instructions
 
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Line a 23cm square tin with baking parchment.
3. Melt the chocolate:

• Break chocolate and place into a heatproof bowl.

• Sit over a pan of barely simmering water and allow the chocolate to melt, stirring occasionally.

• Set aside to cool down slightly.

4. Beat eggs and sugar together for 5 minutes or until foamy.
5. Combine melted chocolate and grated beetroot.
6. Fold in the chocolate mixture and flour with a spoon. Do not overmix. Spoon into tin.
7. Bake for 30 minutes or until the brownies are cooked through.
8. Scatter with marshmallows, and cook for 2 minutes. Leave to cool. Cut into 16 squares and serve.

Chilli Mango and Lime Smoothie

Ingredients

• 1 ripe mango, peeled, stoned and cut into chunks

• 2 limes

• 1 small red chilli, seeded and chopped

• Few fresh mint leaves

Instructions

Place mango chunks in a blender. Squeeze the juice from the limes and add to the blender. Add the chilli. Blend  until smooth. Pour into a glass and top with a few small mint leaves.

Beetroot Soup With Horseradish

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken stock
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 medium beets, peeled and halved
• 1 medium potato, peeled and halved crosswise
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 8 teaspoons reduced-fat crème fraiche  
• 1/2 small jar Polish horseradish 

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add onion; sauté 3 minutes or until tender. 
2. Add beets, potato, salt, pepper, bay leaf and the stock. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes or until beets and potato are tender. Discard bay leaf.
3. Place mixture in blender or food processor; process until smooth.  Return pureed mixture to pan. Warm soup over low heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in lemon juice.
4. Combine 1/2 cup soup and the sour cream, stirring with a whisk. Pour back into the rest of the soup and stir. Add horseradish and stir with a whisk until smooth (alternatively, use blender). Serve with brown roll or rustic bread.

Mango Clementine Smoothie

Ingredients

1 mango, peeled, stoned and cut into chunks
1 Clementine
Few spoons of natural yoghurt
A drop of vanilla essence

Instructions

Place mango chunks in a blender. Squeeze the juice from the Clementine and add to the blender. Add yoghurt and vanilla. Blend  until smooth.

Tuna Sweet Potato Spread

Ingredients

1 can tuna
1 medium sweet potato, cooked
1 small red chilli pepper
1 tbsp chopped fresh corriander

Instructions

Place all ingredients in a food processor. Process until smooth.

Chocolate Beetroot Cake

The recipe adapted from The nutrition guru and the chef. Nice and moist. To make it gluten-free, I used coconut flour instead of plain white. It also adds extra coco-nutty flavour. I topped with cream cheese mixed with icing sugar and vanilla essence.

Ingredients

• 85 grams Dark Chocolate
• 3 medium Eggs
• 300 grams brown sugar
• 200 ml Olive Oil
• 300 grams Cooked Beetroots (you can buy already cooked, vacuum packed beetroot in any supermarket), puréed
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract (or 1tbsp vanilla essence)
• 30 grams Cocoa Powder
• 200 grams coconut flour (or plain flour)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (or gluten free baking powder)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C

2. Blend or mash the beetroot until slightly smooth but still some ‘chunks’ remaining.

3. Melt the chocolate (85grams) over a double boiler

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and oil.

4. Slowly add the cooked beet purée, the melted chocolate and vanilla into the egg mixture.

5. Beat just until combined. Don’t overdo it.

6. Sift the cocoa. Add this and the almond meal (or plain flour), baking soda and salt to the beet batter.

7. Fold just until everything is combined. Don’t over mix the batter.

8. Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake tin. 

9. Bake for approximately 50 minutes.  

10. Remove from oven and leave to cool in the pan. 

Spicy Roasted Parsnip Soup

The recipe comes from BBC Good Food. The taste reminds me of a falafel, as it calls for the same spices: cumin, corriander, and turmeric. It's a nice soup, but I had to add some cayenne pepper and harissa paste to give it extra zing. Otherwise, it would be a bit too bland for my taste.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tsp coriander seeds 

• 1 tsp cumin seed, plus extra to garnish

• ½ tsp ground turmeric 

• ½ tsp mustard seeds

• 1 large onion, cut into 8 chunks 

• 2 garlic cloves 

• 675g parsnips, diced 

• 2 plum tomatoes, quartered 

• 1.2l vegetable stock 

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. In a bowl, mix together the oil and spices. Add the vegetables and mix well. Spread over a heavy baking sheet, then roast for 30 mins until tender.

2. Spoon into a food processor or liquidiser with half the stock and process until smooth. Pour into a pan with the remaining stock, season, then heat until barely simmering. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Garnish with cumin seeds.