I am struggling with knocking the bad eating habits of the festive season on the head. I am being really good all day and then I go and ruin it all with a glass and half of wine or a nibble on some chocolate, or a slither of cake...you get the picture. It's still way better than I was eating pre 3rd Jan but I am not going to shift these extra lbs quickly at this rate. I have missed exercising over the holiday period and was glad to get back to walking to school and back twice a day. 1st Zumba class of the year is Thursday so I think that will really help too.
Anyway, onto the dish. Turkey is probably the last thing anyone wants right now but 2 excellent reasons why you should use it in this dish. It is very low in fat and high in protein which makes it very WeightWatcher friendly and secondly the flavourings used in this dish completely transform a boring old cheap bit of mince into something REALLY tasty!
You can make the meatballs in advance and boil the rice way in advance so the final part is much quicker to get from pan to table.
You will need for 2:
MEATBALLS:
- 250g turkey mince
- 1 dsp dark soy
- 1 dsp fish sauce
- zest of 1 lime
- Pinch of chilli flakes (optional)
- 1 tbsp freshly chopped coriander
- 3 spring onions, finely sliced
- 1 tbsp breadcrumbs
RICE:
- 130g dried brown basmatti rice
- 1 tbsp mirin or 1 tsp brown sugar
- Juice of half lime
- Mix of your favourite stir fry veg e.g. pak choi, mangetout, sugar snap peas, baby corn , sliced mushrooms etc
- 1tsp groundnut or vegetable oil
- Handful fresh coriander, chopped
- 2-3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp chopped ginger
- 1 garlic clove, minced or crushed
- Pinch chilli flakes or 1 fresh chilli (optional)
Rice the rice in a sieve under cold water. Place in a pan of boiling salted water and cook for 30 minutes or according to packet instructions. Once cooked, drain and pour over boiling water from the kettle. Leave to cool and place in fridge until required.
Meanwhile prepare the meatballs in advance by mixing all the ingredients together with your hands then dividing into 10 meatballs. I tend to weigh mine to ensure each one is equal which is approx 30g each. Cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge until required.
Get all your veggies, garlic, chilli & ginger ready before you start to stir fry. You will need a small frying or griddle pan for the meatballs and a wok or large frying pan for the rice. I find it easier to do these separately and they roughly take the same amount of time - 5-7 minutes.
Spritz a tiny amount of oil onto the meatballs and place in hot griddle pan, turning to brown all over. Once browned, turn the heat down and cover with a lid so they cook through. You could also place in a hot oven to ensure they cook through.
At the same time, heat the 1tsp oil in your wok. Stir fry the veggies with the garlic, ginger and chilli for a couple of minutes. Add the soy sauce, mirin or sugar and lime juice. Once the veggies are nicely cooked (about 4-5 minutes) add the rice. Using a metal spoon or spatula keep stirring so the sauce coats the rice nicely and the rice heats through thoroughly.
Serve the stir fried rice on the plate topped with the meatballs.
WeightWatchers ProPoints Per Serving: 13
I reckon not a day goes by where I don't pick up a recipe book, watch a cookery programme or browse the web looking for new recipes and food ideas. My blog is not just a collection of my own recipes but recipes that I have found that I've adapted to fit my overall criteria; healthy, low fat but very importantly, tasty & filling. I follow all the celebrity chefs on Twitter and love experimenting with some of their recipes. Whilst I just love cooking new recipes, my problem is that I have to give them a low fat / healthy makeover.
When it comes to Asian cuisine, my favourite Chef has to be Ching He Haung. She's like a modern day Ken Hom. What I love about her cooking is that it is naturally healthy, utilising the best in Asian ingredients to bring out full on flavour. Since I've been a Ching fan I now regularly store items such as Sake and Shaohsing wine!
I made very little change to Ching's original recipe, just reducing the oil to bare minimum and weighing out noodles and chicken to calculate correct ProPoints. The original recipe can be found here. I've got to say that this chicken chow mein dish could not be any healthier or tastier. I pack it with vegetables and it really is a quick, easy, bloomin tasty mid-week supper.
You'll need for 2:
- 2 x 60g portions of egg noodles
- 2 x 1 tsp groundnut oil or vegetable oil
- 275g chicken breast, cut into pieces
- 1-2 tbsp dark soy
- 1-2 tbsp light soy
- 1 tsp Chinese Five Spice
- 1 tsp chilli sauce
- 1 dsp cornflour
- Stir fry vegetables of your choice. e.g. green beans, mushrooms, sugarsnap peas, pak choi, broccoli carrots, peppers etc.
- A few spring onions, sliced
What to do:
Slice up the chicken and sprinkle with Five Spice and a good dash of dark soy.
Get the noodles on the boil as per packet instructions and get your wok / stir fry pan nice and hot. Add 1 tsp oil to the pan and stir fry the vegetables until cooked but still with a nice crunch. Season with some light soy as you stir fry and add a sprinkling of Five Spice.
Remove from the pan and keep warm. Heat the other tsp of oil. Sprinkle the cornflour over the chicken pieces and place into the hot pan to stir fry. Chinese cooking frequently uses cornflour to thicken sauces. It's a great, low fat technique and I love it's use here in keeping the chicken really nice and moist and this stage shouldn't be omitted!!
Allow the chicken to brown and turn occasionally. Add a couple of dashes of dark soy and once cooked through add the vegetables back into the pan. I prefer to cook the vegetables and chicken separately so as not to overcrowd the wok and to ensure everything stir fries rather than stews together. Also I use ALOT of vegetables so I need the extra room in the wok!! A couple of minutes before the end of cooking, add the spring onions and stir through.
As soon as the noodles are cooked, drain and return to the pan stirring through a dash of light soy sauce until needed.
Finally add the noodles to the wok and toss everything together and serve up. This dish can be prepared in under 15 minutes! I like to get all my ingredients prepped earlier before I get the kids to bed so everything can be literally stir fried in a matter of minutes.
WeightWatchers ProPoints Per Serving: 12
Today I really am starting to be good. I indulged a little too much (again) this weekend but am determined to lose 2lb this week. It doesn't help when we have an open bottle of wine from Sunday that just has to be finished off on Monday... fortunately hubby and I did the bottle of Red yesterday with his slow cooked veal ragu (v yum indeed) so there is no excuse tonight and no cheeky little glass of wine with our meal.
I think the thought of a stir fry makes you feel healthy. Seeing all those colourful vegetables gives you instant gratification that you are putting something good into your body. I decided to couple my stir fry vegetables with prawns this evening as they are very low in fat and cook quickly. I'm using a bag of frozen raw tiger king prawns from the supermarket which defrost during the day. I've also discovered the convenience of supermarket packs of stir fry veg. The pack I used (from Tesco) had lovely julienne carrots, tenderstem brocolli and pak choy. Dinner tonight was literally thrown together in under 10 minutes!
You'll need for 2:
- 250g raw tiger prawns
- Half a punnet of chestnut mushrooms, sliced
- 1 supermarket pack of stir fry mixed vegetables
- 120g dried egg noodles or other wheat based noodles (such as Udon)
- 2 tsp sesame oil or groundnut oil
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tsp root ginger, finely chopped or grated
- Pinch of chilli flakes or a fresh red chilli depending on how hot you like it
- 1 tbsp runny honey
- 1 tbsp dark soy
- 1 tbsp light soy
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tsp sesame seeds, lightly toasted in a hot dry frying pan
What to do:
Place the noodles in a pan with boiling water and cook according to the pack instructions. Drain and rinse under cold water.
In a wok or frying pan heat the oil. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and stir. Next add the vegetables and stir fry on a high heat. Add the prawns, the dark soy, honey and rice wine stirring until the prawns have turned pink and are cooked through. Throw in the drained cooked egg noodles and toss together. Finish with by topping with the sesame seeds and serve into bowls.
WeightWatchers ProPoints Per Serving: 12
