Cottage Cheese Stuffed Grilled Chicken Breasts

This week has been an interesting one in the kitchen. I experimented with some new techniques of cooking some conventional dishes and the results are for all to see. The food was delicious, healthy, and interesting as well and leaves you without any craving for all those not-so-healthy sinful food which otherwise keep tempting you when you are on a controlled diet! Now that weekend is approaching and I have given myself the liberty to indulge, here is another healthy chicken grill stuffed with cottage cheese and a mix of bell peppers and spring onions. The stuffing is actually the same as the Paneer Quesadillas I made the other day with the addition of spring onions. You can use any stuffing for the chicken but try and include the paneer as it keeps the chicken juicy from inside and gives a rich taste to the entire dish.

                                  

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts washed and cleaned

A handful of toothpicks 

For the marinade

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tbsp garlic chopped/grated

1 tsp red chilli flakes

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp oregano

Salt to taste

For the stuffing

1/2 cup paneer roughly crumbled with your hands

1/2 medium onion chopped

1/2 small tomato chopped

1/4 cup mixed bell peppers chopped

1 sprig coriander leaves chopped

1 green chilli chopped

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp freshly crushed black pepper powder

Salt to taste

Grated cheddar cheese (quantity depends on how cheesy you like it. I used about 1 tbsp per chicken breast)

1 tsp olive oil

Direction

For the chicken breasts' marination

Take the washed and cleaned chicken breasts and with a big edged knife, slit open the breasts from one side just until you reach the other side without slitting it apart completely. This called butterflying the breasts. Now put this chicken breast, slit folded, sandwiched between two aluminium foils or cling wrap and beat with a rolling pin to flatten it a bit, especially in the area where it is most meaty. A uniformly thick chicken breast will ensure uniform cooking and more space for the stuffing. Alternatively, you can get this done from a local butcher while buying the chicken. 

                                      

                                      

Now, mix all the ingredients listed under marinade and rub this with the chicken breasts. Keep everything (breasts and the marinade) inside a ziplock bag and keep it overnight or for a minimum of 2-3 hours.

Now prepare the filling. Heat oil in a pan and fry the onions till translucent. Add the chillies and tomato and fry till soft. Now add the bell peppers and cook till just done. Add the fresh coriander and spring onions and the spices and salt and mix well. Switch off the flame and add the crumbled paneer or cottage cheese. We do not want to cook the paneer. Let the mixture remain in the hot pan with the flame off. This heat is sufficient to soften the paneer. Let it cool on its own.

Now take the marinated chicken breasts on a plate with its wings open. Take care not to tear apart the wings. Spread half of the mixture on one of the wings and cover with cheese. Do not overload the breast with a lot of the stuffing, else the edges won't seal while folding in the other wing.

                                        

Fold in the other wing. Break a toothpick into two and start sealing the edges by pricking the toothpicks into the edges. Use as many as you want to ensure a leakproof stuffed breast. Repeat for the other breast.

                                        

Pre heat the oven at maximum temperature for 20 minutes minimum. Prepare your baking tray by lining it with aluminium foil. Now place the grill on top of the tray and place the chicken breasts.  The aluminium foil will catch whatever juices drip from the chicken and help you to keep the baking tray clean. Drizzle a little olive oil on top and grill the chicken for 10-15 minutes on one side first and then flip and another 10 minutes on the other side. The chicken will be cooked in the initial 10-15 minutes. However, it will most likely not get tanned or browned during that time. To get it browned, switch the top rod only for a few minutes on each side at maximum temperature. Keep a very close watch while doing this, else you will end up with dry burnt chicken. Also, everytime you flip, you can brush the top with a little butter or olive oil. However, if looks do not matter to you, you can just remove it from the oven once you flip the other side and bake it for 10 minutes and without going into the high temperature top rod grilling. 

Alternatively, you can also pan fry the breasts in a little olive oil till golden on both the sides. Even on the pan, cook the breasts covered on medium flame for 10-15 minutes and then increase to high for 3-4 minutes on each side. Serve hot with onion rings!

                                       

                                       

Middle Eastern Lemon Yogurt Grilled Chicken

Sometimes it is best to go by the recipes which have given you satisfactory results in the past rather than venturing out to try new recipes for the same. The same happened with me last evening when I set out to try a new recipe for Pita Bread instead of following my own which I had done in the past with quite satisfactory results. Neither of my Pita puffed up this time and was quite a disappointment. I would not say that the recipe was wrong since the same one was tried by my friend with wonderful results. May be it was just not my day. The bread was yummy and soft, nevertheless, but minus the pockets. To go with it, I had marinated some chicken in Middle Eastern Style and the way it turned out once grilled totally compensated for all the Pita disappointment. Juicy, flavorsome, soft, and succulent, this grilled chicken was one of the yummiest grilled chicken I have had in recent times!

Ingredients

500 gms chicken boneless breast (I used with bones)

3 tbsp thick yogurt

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp red chilli flakes

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

3 cloves garlic, minced or grated

Salt and pepper to taste

Oil to grease the baking dish

Direction

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients for the marinade and add the chicken, washed and cut. Coat the chicken properly and prick with a fork all over. Marinate for a minimum of 2 hours and upto overnight. 

Pre-heat the oven at 220 degree celsius. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil and grease it with oil. Arrange the chicken pieces in a single layer and discard the marinade. Grill in the pre heated oven for 15 minutes while flipping once in 10 minutes. You can also pan sear the chicken in a shallow frying pan.

                                       

Grilled Chicken in a Yummy Spring Onion Marinade

Going on a diet once in a while is good for the body. Not just for losing weight, but also to get a hold over your diet and your cravings. While it is always advisable to maintain and lead a healthy diet and lifestyle, a strict diet regime builds in a sense of self control into your personality and that helps you maintain the healthy diet even after the regime is over. In India, there is a festival called Navratri where they worship Goddess Durga and remain on fast for whole 9 days. That is also a diet in modern language. The point being that going on a diet is not a modern day theory but, instead, has been passed on to us by our ancestors. They did it for religious purpose while we give it the shape of a weight loss program. Both the regimes put restrictions on our regular food habits and teach us self control. Coming to today's recipe, it is the Day 5 of my GM Diet and is a meat only day. While there is also a vegetarian version of this day, which I am not aware of, the thought of chicken after 4 long days is quite a bit of a thrill. So I decided to give it a nice yummy twist and prepared this no oil delicious grilled chicken. The marinade can be prepared in just under 10 minutes and grilling it in the oven for 30 minutes while turning in between gives it the desired touch. 

Ingredients

500 gms chicken (preferably with bones)

4 stalks of spring onion with whites intact

1 tbsp ginger chopped

2-3 pods of garlic, chopped

1/2 tsp red chilli flakes

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp red chilli powder (optional)

Salt to taste

Direction

In a blender, make a paste with the spring onions, ginger, and garlic with a dash of water as required. 

Wash and cut the chicken and put it in a non metallic container. Add the marinade and all other ingredients and mix well. Make slits on the chicken so that the marinade is absorbed well. Cover and marinate the chicken for at least 4-5 hours or for best results, overnight. 

Pre-heat the oven at 225 degree celsius in the broil mode (top rod only). Now line the baking tray with an aluminium foil and grill the chicken for 25-30 minutes turning in between for uniform roasting. The time required may change as per the oven make. You can start with 20 minutes and then turn it once and do it for another 10-15 minutes depending on how well the chicken has browned. Serve with chopped onions and spring onion greens and any salad of your choice.