I was in a quandry over what to cook for dinner yesterday. Usually it's a quick and easy pasta dish on Thursdays due to football / zumba but we both fancied something using rice and I'd already taken some chicken out of the freezer... So after researching a bit on the web I decided on a jambalaya style dish for the flavour and I like the idea of cooking using a one-pot method too. I had most ingredients at home but really needed a pepper so off to Waitrose I popped. £11.76 later (how does that happen??!) I bought some lovely sweet red Romano peppers and some cooking chorizo to add to my dish, amongst alot of other crap.
- Half a medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 -2 garlic cloves, crushed or grated
- 1 red pepper
- 35g chorizo, halved, then sliced thinly
- Half a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
- 1 tsp Cajun seasoning (more if you like it hotter)
- Seasoning
- 140g dried basmatti rice
- Approx 350ml chicken stock (you will need double the volume of rice)
- 2 tbsp frozen peas
- Half a punnet of chestnut mushrooms, roughly chopped
- 260g chicken breast cut into chunks
What to do:
Spray a good non-stick frying pan with a little olive oil (use about half a tsp). On not too high heat saute the onion till soft. Add in the garlic and the chorizo. The chorizo will omit some oil so don't worry if it looks too dry to begin with. The chorizo will also flavour and colour the onions beautifully.
Next add the peppers and saute for a couple of minutes. Turn up the heat and add the chicken to brown. Add the mushrooms and continue to saute. Sprinkle over the Cajun seasoning and add the rice. Stir quickly to avoid the rice sticking until it is all nicely coated. Next add your tomatoes and bring to a boil. Then add nearly all the stock and turn down to simmer. Stir well and cover turning down to a low heat so it is just simmering.
Do give it a stir every few minutes to ensure the rice is not sticking and add a little more stock if need be. After 10 minutes add the frozen peas. All in all the cooking time should take approximately 20 minutes but you will know when the rice has cooked through and absorbed the stock. Taste and season as required.
I've got to say I REALLY enjoyed this meal. It was sooo tasty (in fact I did scoff a few mouthfuls at 5pm!) and it's a great meal mid-week if you want something to prepare in advance. I am sure it would freeze pretty well too, if any is left that is!
WeightWatchers ProPoints per serving: 12
I look forward to my evening meal all day. I was already thinking about tomorrow's meal as soon as this evenings' was over! The thing is with WeightWatchers or any other 'diet' recipes is that they don't always meet my requirements for healthy but tasty evening meal:
- Fat friendly
- Filling
- Flavoursome
I have a huge collection of cookery books and I constantly browse the web looking for new ideas. I've learnt to adapt standard and diet recipes to meet my requirements so I thought I would share a few tips on adapting recipes.
1. Ditch the low fat, calorie controlled cooking spray. It tastes disgusting and you get the same low fat effect by using pure olive oil (or whatever your choice of oil may be) via a spray or by using 1 teaspoon oil (1 PP) between 2 people.
2. Really consider the carb element of the meal. Seriously how can anyone be satisfied on 50g of potatoes? Adapt it to a more sensible amount that will be filling and fat friendly.
3. Go for fish and white meat where possible I restrict red meat to once a week and then it has to be very tightly portion controlled and I have to heavily compromise on the carb element to ensure I stay within my ProPoint budget.
4. Big up on PP free flavours! Use more garlic, ginger, chilli, herbs & spices, lemon etc etc to your liking making your meal really tasty and flavoursome.
I decided last week to purchase the latest WeightWatchers cookbook 'Simply Enjoy'. I am pleasantly surprised there are a number of recipes I would like to try, obviously with my own twist. The first of which I tried this evening and I have to admit I really enjoyed it! The original recipe in the book is for Honey & Ginger Scallops and I used the marinade as a base for my chicken skewers.
You'll need for 2:
- 2 tbsp orange juice
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 tsp lazy ginger, finely chopped
- pinch of chilli flakes
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tsp groundnut oil (or any other flavourless oil)
- 300g chicken breast cut into chunks
- 125g dried basmati brown rice
- Lots of chopped Asian vegetables. I used: mushrooms, pak choi, baby corn, sugar snap peas
- Light soy sauce
What to do:
Mix the first 7 ingredients together in a shallow dish or a plastic container. Cover the chicken and refridgerate for at least an hour, preferably 2-3 hours.
Cook and cool the rice according to the packet instructions. These first 2 steps can be prepared in advance.
Chop all the vegetables and skewer the chicken. When ready, skewer and BBQ until cooked through. You can also grill for a few minutes until cooked through.
Heat 1 tsp oil in a wok or frying pan and when hot stir fry the vegetables on a high heat turning frequently. Allow to cook through and then add the remaining marinade and allow to bubble away for a few seconds. Add the cooled, cooked rice and keep stirring. Add some light soy sauce to season. Once the rice is fully heated through serve onto plates and top with the chicken skewer.
WeightWatchers ProPoints Per Serving: 12
