Healthy Chicken and Lentil Stew Recipe for An Easy Winter Dinner

 

It’s the dead of winter here in frosty old Melbourne and my standard diet of salads and smoothies hasn’t been seen since April. Because it’s so cold I just want to drown myself in potato mash and pasta, but carbohydrates are no friend of mine. It’s hard to avoid them in the winter months though. This stew is made with lentils and brown rice, which are slow burning carbohydrates. They’ll keep you full and warm without that stodgy feeling you might get from white bread and starchy vegetables. It’s also delicious and your boyfriend/husband/father/son/ravenous male will never even know that it’s healthy.

Ingredients

1 kilo of chicken breast

Olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

1 large red chilli

Two boxes of frozen spinach

1 tablespoon of turmeric

1 tablespoon of cumin

3 tomatos

1 cup red lentils

3 cups of cooked brown rice

5 cups of chicken stock

Salt and pepper

Juice of one lime

Coriander leaves

Natural yogurt

Instructions

1. Heat oil in saucepan. Fry chopped onions, crushed garlic and chopped chilli for 5 to 6 minutes until soft.

2. Add chicken. Sear. Add turmeric and cumin and fry for a minute.

3. Add tomato, chicken stock and red lentils. Bring to boil, then simmer for fifiteen minutes.

4. Defrost spinach in the microwave for about 5 minutes. Squeeze out excess water. Add to the pot. Leave to simmer for at least 10 minutes, but the longer the better.

5. Stir in cooked rice. Serve with a spoon of natural yogurt, a sprinkle of lime juice, salt, pepper and coriander leaves.

 

 

This recipe makes about 7 to 8 serves, depending on whether or not people eat second helpings.

Please let me know if you have any questions. You can comment on Twitter and Facebook too!

Happy stewing!