Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Grilled Chicken In A Creamy Marinade

It has been a few months since I started a low carb diet and my meals now mostly consist of meat/poultry/fish with tons of vegetables, salads and fruits. I often eat chicken for dinner. With lots of veggies, cooked or as a salad. As expected, I run out of ideas all the time. I dont fancy curry anymore, so am pretty much stuck with grilled,baked or kebab forms of it. Even though I have this food blog, I am actually not a foodie at all. My food-knowledge is next to zero and trust me, I wouldn't know my Ratanjot from a Riesling! I eat to live, that's about it. I also prepare my menu three days in advance, so that I just do not get tempted to cheat.

Chicken breasts in a creamy marinade- I dont know if similar recipes are around, well they must be I am sure, but since I thought of the ingredients for the marinade myself, I am going to take full credit for it.

Just a few things before we get to it. I have used low fat, 'cream cheese'- which is freshly made here in the middle east.  Labaneh and it's varieties are commonly found in the middle east and is super yummy. One food of the Arabs, which all expats enjoy I think. I used one which was flavoured with thyme. You can get any flavour you want. If however, you don't get labneh, simply get any brand-any kind of cream cheese or hung yoghurt made out of the Greek variety.  Philadelphia is also good. If that is also not an option then get thick, plain cream and season it with garlic powder and some dried herbs of choice. However, do try and get a tub of cream cheese, will make quite a difference to the over all flavour of this dish.

Here's what you will need:

1/2 kg              boneless, breast of chicken- cubed or cut in strips.
2-3 tbsp           heaped Labaneh/cream cheese/cream
2 tsp                 mixed, dried herbs. I used everything I had. :)
1.5 tsp             paprika (or Kashmiri chili powder)
1/2 tsp            red chilli powder
1 tsp                black pepper powder
1 tbsp              ginger-garlic paste or 1 tsp heaped garlic powder alone.
2-3 tbsp          fresh lemon juice.



Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and marinate the chicken chunks in it for as long as you can, preferably at least 2-6 hours. Grill on medium flame untill done. Alternatively bake at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes or little less. Or simply pan fry them, which is what I did last night. Serve with a big, garden salad. I dont usually use any salad seasoning, so I end up eating a lot of different types of pickled peppers, and my favourite is Jalapenos.


I had some chicken drums also, which I grilled for hubster's India vs Australia game night.


This family, quite clearly, loves chilies in all forms!

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