You’re Simply the Zest! – Lime and Mint Chicken

 

January by now is all a bit bleugh! What we need therefore to be eating is something with a bit of zing. Citrus fruit offers that great opportunity to make dishes sing with freshness. A couple of fresh limes along with soy

sauce, garlic and mint can transform a chicken breast or thigh into something special to liven up the most dreary of days.

 

You can prepare the soy sauce mixture well ahead and leave the chicken to marinate in it until you are ready to cook. The skin can be left on or off the chicken as liked but our nutritional stats are for chicken with the skin removed.

 

CARAMELISED CHICKEN WITH LIME AND MINT

Ingredients

METRIC/US

juice of 2 limes

4 tbsp soy sauce (I used Kikkoman)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tbsp clear honey or agave nectar

4 chicken breasts or 8 chicken thighs, skin on or off as liked

low-fat cooking spray or mist

200 g/7 oz rice noodles

1 tbsp chopped fresh mint

½ cucumber, thinly sliced

1 large carrot, peeled and thinly sliced

1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (optional)

 

Method

1.  In a shallow dish large enough to take all the chicken pieces, mix together the lime juice, soy sauce, garlic and honey. Add the chicken and turn in the mixture to coat. Set aside for 15 minutes or longer. Cover and chill if longer than 15 minutes.
2.  Spritz a large non-stick pan with the cooking spray or mist, heat, add the drained chicken (reserving any marinade) and cook until browned, about 10 minutes.
3.  Add any left-over marinade, cover, lower the heat and cook for 10 minutes.
4.  Uncover the pan and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has reduced and started to caramelise.
5.  Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to the packet instructions. Drain, toss with the mint and divide between the serving dishes. Cut the chicken into thick slices and arrange on top of the noodles.
6.  Surround with the cucumber and carrot slices and sprinkle with the chilli if used.

 

SERVES 4

WLS PORTION: ½

 

CALORIES PER PORTION: 358

PROTEIN: 32.5g

CARBOHYDRATE: 50g

FAT: 2.3g

 

 

Image courtesy of Kikkoman