Tandoori Chicken with Indian Spiced Ratatouille

As part of my healthy eating plan, I have been trying to keep my meals low carb, unless I am eating post workout – this is when I really enjoy tucking into rice and pasta!

 

I have found that many low carb recipes are quite bland and leave you feeling unfulfilled, but I made this little beauty last night and thought I’d share it with you. It uses store cupboard ingredients so shouldn’t require an extensive shopping list!

 

Ingredients

• 1-2 tbsp Tandoori spices (can be found in most supermarkets or specialist stores)
• Chicken breast (approximately 250g per person)
• Natural yoghurt
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Mixed vegetables (You can use whatever you have to hand, but good veggies are onion, pepper, courgette, green beans, broccoli, aubergine, cauliflower)
• 2 tsp Ground cumin
• 1 tsp Ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp Ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder/chilli flakes
• 1 tsp Garam masala
• 1 tbsp Coconut oil
• Thumb sized piece of ginger, grated
• 3 cloves of garlic

Method

1. Mix together the tandoori spice, a couple of tablespoons of natural yoghurt and the lemon juice.
2. Score lines into the top of the chicken breasts. rub in the marinade, then leave to stand for at least 1 hour.
3. Pre heat the oven (I have a fan oven, which I heat to 180ºC).
4. Prepare your veg – it needs to all be a similar size – chop the onions, peppers, aubergines and courgettes to approximately 1-2cm cubes. Top and tail green beans, and cut smallish florets of the broccoli or cauliflower. Tip all the prepared veggies into a baking tray or ovenproof dish.  There should be enough room for them to move around – if they are in too small a dish they won’t cook properly and will turn to mush.
5. Melt the coconut oil, then add in all the dried spices, garlic and ginger. Stir, then pour over the veggies.
6. Put the veggies into the oven for around 40 minutes, stirring occasionally to stop the edges catching.
7. Take the chicken out of the marinade.  You can either grill the chicken, or bake in the oven if you are feeling lazy – I think it tastes and looks better if you grill it, but I am all for embracing lazy cooking!
8. Cook the chicken using your chosen method, until there is no pink flesh left – a large breast will take around 30-40 minutes, smaller breasts around 25 minutes.
9. Once the veggies are tender, turn onto a plate then place the chicken on top.  Sprinkle with coriander leaf if you have it, and dig in!

If you are not eating a low carb diet then this would also be good with some basmati rice on the side…..

Enjoy!