Low fat – Spicy Chicken Kebabs with Savoury herb rice

I think the idea of going on holiday have finally hit home with me, only 56 days to go!

With that happy thought also comes a bit of beach body anxiety, I’m still have 6 kg to lose before my reaching my goal weight and with all the work stress and other nonsense I tend to lose focus a bit.

I have been going strong with the exercise but I still have days where my training session needs to take the back seat over deadlines and family responsibilities….so dissapointing at times, but such is life.

As they say, a flat stomach happens in the kitchen and I have finally made peace with the idea of having Chicken and Fish 5 times a week instead of red meat, in fact not having Chicken daily makes me a bit nervous.

Off course eating Chicken fillets day in and day out soon becomes boring and then you have to put your thinking hat on to zoosh up something out of the ordinary to keep the family happy.

I’ve made these Spicy Chicken kebab’s last week. Marinating the Chicken overnight really made the meat moist and succulent and full of flavour.

Ingredients For Spicy Chicken Kebabs

500 g Chicken fillets

1 onion

1 red / Yellow pepper

1 green pepper

175 ml plain yogurt

1/2 tsp Masala powder

1/2 tsp Chilli powder

1/2 tsp Jeera & Dhania mix powder

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

1 tsp Salt

1 Green Chilli seeded and chopped finely (optional)

Bamboo Skewers

Cut the Chicken fillets in bite size pieces and set aside. Cut the onion and Peppers in blocks and tread the meat alternatively with a piece of Onion and Peppers onto the Skewers. Place kebabs in an airtight container.

 Mix all the spices and the Chilli with the plain Yogurt and pour over the chicken Kebabs making sure every one is covered with the marinate by rubbing it onto each kebab with your hands.

Marinate Chicken Kebabs overnight (or at least 3 hours) and fry in a pan with a little olive oil until the chicken is done and browned on all sides.

Ingredients for the Savoury rice 

1 Cup of Basmati rice

Salt to taste

1 tsp Veggie Spices (I’ve used Ina Parmaan’s veggie spice)

2 sprigs of fresh Thyme

1/2 onion sliced

1 punnet of mushrooms

15 ml Garlic and Parsley butter

Cook the Basmati rice with Veggie spices as you would normally cook your rice, set aside.

Fry the onions, mushrooms and Thyme with the Garlic and Parsley butter.

Mix the mushroom mix with the rice and serve with the Kebabs.

Tips 

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If you don’t have the above spices available you can use 15 ml curry powder instead. 

Use 5 ml dried Thyme if you can’t get any fresh Thyme for the savoury rice 

Soaking the bamboo skewers in water before hand will prevent them from burning when roasting Kebabs on the grill or in the oven. 

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“Braai tart” – Polenta, Mushroom and Bacon tart

Like every other Saturday my husband have the urge to “braai”. This ritual starts in Spring and continues well into the winter. Yip that’s my hubby! , facing the icy cold winters of the Highveld armed with his beanie, winter jacket and a scarf and his bottle of mixed spices turning ordinary lamb chops into succulent little dreams.

Unfortunately the side dishes is not his forte’, instead he likes to order me around. His favorite would be “pap tert” (a maize meal tart).

I decided it is about time that we jazz up the old maize tart a bit, you know, making it a bit more sophisticated, so instead of using ordinary maize meal in boring layers I used Polenta instead.

To all the vegetarians out there, feel free to remove the bacon from this recipe, I would’ve but my husband is a carnivore and he tends to get a bit grumpy if there is no extra meat in a savory tart!

 

Serves 8

Polenta crust

Polenta ( about 1 cup cooked in 4 cups of water, should be a spreadable consistancy)

2 tbs garlic butter

salt to taste

Filling

125 g white button mushrooms (1/2 punnet)

125 g Portobello mushrooms (+- 4 large)

1 Onion – sliced

Olive oil for frying

a pinch of dry thyme

100 g bacon bits

2 tbs tomato puree

1/2 tsp of sugar

100 ml milk

1 egg

2 heaped tbs of flour

2 ml salt

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup Gouda Cheese

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Rub your pie dish with butter. Cook polenta, stir in the garlic butter and set aside keeping the lid on your pot to keep the polenta warm.

Fry the onions and mushrooms with the thyme in olive oil. Add the bacon bits and fry for another minute. Add the tomato puree and the sugar, fry for another minute.

In a measuring cup add the flour and salt to the milk and mix, add the egg mixing it again.

Use a the back of a metal tablespoon or a spatula to spread an even layer of polenta to the bottom of your pie dish covering the sides as well.

Add the mushroom filling on top of the polenta and pour the milk mixture over it.

Top with the cheese and bake for +- 15 -20 minutes.

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