HEALTHY PENANG CHICKEN CURRY

This week Chris & myself embarked on the Michelle Bridges 12 Week Challenge. Whilst we are very health conscious, we recently noticed that our portion sizes have become bigger and bigger during winter. We wanted to get a handle on this quickly! Due to the fact that we own a Pilates studio healthy eating has organically become a part of our lives, however we just felt a need to fine-tune our eating habits. Hence this is the start of several recipes straight from (and adapted) the Michelle Bridges Transformation. To see the whole collection of recipes that I test out over the coming weeks and months you will need to go to soulfulsandwiches.blogspot.com. Premiumpilatesstudio.blogspot.com will feature one weekly recipe and a snapshot of Chris and my improved eating. We hope you follow us on this journey. Remember that weight loss is 10-20% exercise and 80-90% what you eat!!

First up is a Penang Chicken Curry. If you are not a meat eater, substitute the 1500g of chicken for 1150g firm tofu and cook the same way. The recipe calls for 1/3 brown sugar, however I do not think this is a necessity for this curry and by removing this ingredient you save 30 calories a serve (yay!). The name of this curry refers to the island of Penang in Northen Malaysia. Whilst this healthy version tastes creamy and delicious, I am sure the authentic Penang curry tastes quite different! Remember that this recipe feeds six, so divide it into six even serves and refrigerate the remaining serves so that you are not tempted to eat more! 

Ingredients

• 2 heaped tablespoons red curry paste 
• 1500g / 1.5kg free range chicken breast, cut into even strips OR 1150 / 1.150kg firm tofu, cut into even pieces
• 1 x 400g tin light coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1/3 cup organic peanut butter
• 1 head of broccoli, cut into even-sized florets and stalk chopped
• 200g green beans, trimmed 

Cooking 

1. Heat a large, deep frying pan over medium heat. Add the curry paste to the pan and cook, stirring constantly, until the paste is spread across the bottom of the pan. 

2. Add the coconut milk and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Make sure that the liquid does not boil by continually stirring and keeping the heat at a medium range. 

3. Pour in the fish sauce and peanut butter and stir until the mixture is smooth and not lumpy. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked and tender. Make sure to keep the heat from the stove low so that the sauce does not boil, as it will separate. 

4. After step 1, bring a saucepan of water to the boil and cook the greens (broccoli & beans) in a steamer over the water. Cook for a few minutes until the greens are just tender and not soggy. 

5. Divide the chicken, sauce and vegetables into six equal serves. 

Serves / 6 

Total Preparation time / 20- 25 minutes 

Total Cooking time / 10 minutes 

Calories / 464

x Emily