Green Bean and Chicken Stew

Here's another fabulous recipe I tried from Najmieh Batmanglij's wonderful cookbook.  I have become obsessed with this book! If you haven't already read my post on her chicken and apple stew I highly recommend you give it a try this weekend. You won't be sorry!

This chicken and green bean stew was a huge hit and was easy enough to prepare for a weeknight meal.  The flavors of the tomatoes and lime perfectly compliment the green beans and made for an ideal hearty meal.

I've been trying to incorporate green beans into my cooking these days due to the plethora of health benefits they have to offer:

Green beans are very rich in vitamins A and C both of which are important in fighting free radicals in the human body. The beta carotene in green beans are also thought to be an important element in the fight against cancers such as colon cancer.  It is said that the folate present in green beans helps prevents against mutations in colon cells and thus reduce the possibility of disease. 

You don't have to use chicken for this recipe.  You can use any other type of stew meat as well such as lamb or veal.

Persian Chicken Stew with Apples (Khoresh e-sib)

I love Persian food.  If I could eat one type of cuisine for the rest of my life, I really think I would pick Persian cooking over any other.  However, despite my love for the food I've always shied away from making Persian dishes - I thought that they would be very difficult to make and would require cartloads of ingredients that I didn't already have in my kitchen.  For years I would just visit Persian restaurants for the occasional indulgence and was too intimidated to do the cooking myself.

This all changed recently when I came across a wonderful cookbook by Najmieh Batmanglij.  She makes Persian cooking so accessible and breaks everything down so easily.  I wish I had bought this book earlier!

This is the first recipe I try out of this book (because this stew is my husband's favorite) and I will definitely be making many more.

This apple stew is truly scrumptious - it calls for few ingredients and is quite easy to make.  Moreover, as an added bonus you'll find that this is quite light and is very healthy too - many stews are heavy and are too rich thus leaving one in a food coma but this is quite the opposite - it's perfect!  My only complaint is that cooking time is rather long (patience was never my strong-suit) but really all you have to do is throw a few ingredients in a dutch oven and enjoy the fantastic aroma that is filling your kitchen.  This recipe calls for minimal manual labor, I promise.

A Healthy Saffron Chicken Recipe

I haven't posted a chicken recipe in the longest time because I quite rarely eat meat (I prefer my veggies).  However, since I've recently been trying to change up my diet a little bit by eating animal protein once a week I decided to make some saffron chicken...

For those of you who don't know, saffron is often referred to as the "king of spices".  Thousands of flowers are required to produce a few grams of this fragrant spice.  A friend of ours gave us the saffron I used in this recipe as a gift from Iran which is quite a treat as the Persians have the highest quality saffron in the world. 

Some of the reported health benefits of saffron include: decreasing cholesterol levels, curing insomnia and improving blood circulation.  Saffron was also traditionally used to treat digestive problems as well as bladder and kidney disorders. 

This is quite an easy recipe to make and it calls for few ingredients.  The saffron taste is definitely quite strong in this dish, so if you prefer a more subtle taste feel free to decrease the quantity accordingly.

Murg Makhani (Indian Butter Chicken)

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I can't believe it has been so long since I've posted a recipe! I made this chicken over a week ago and it tasted wonderful but I kept getting boggled down with a bunch of other stuff so I haven't had the time to share it. I promise to try and update this site more regularly -- I have a pipeline of other recipes I can't wait to share with you so stay tuned :)

So, back to the cooking....

Whenever I got to an Indian restaurant I almost always order murg makhani -- I just love it. This is the first time I tried to make it myself and it turned out fantastic... It does require a bit more cream and butter than I usually like to cook with so I'll be saving this as a special treat (why does cream and butter make everything taste so delicious?!?!).

If you are looking to make a dish that is bursting with flavor then this is the recipe for you. I can almost guarantee that there will be no leftovers...

Ingredients:

For the chicken and marinade:
4 chicken breasts, chopped into bite-sized pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ginger minced
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp vegetable oil

Sauce:
5 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp ginger
2 cinnamon sticks
4 cardamom pods
4 cloves
1 bay leaf
5 tomatoes
1 tsp tomato paste
2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp honey
1/2 cup cashew nuts (ground into a paste in the food processor)
1/4 cup cream
2 tsp butter
Salt and pepper to taste

To marinade the chicken:
In a large bowl, add the chicken breasts, yogurt, ginger, garlic, chili and oil. Mix thoroughly to ensure that the chicken is completely coated. Cover the bowl with cling-film and refrigerate overnight (or at least for a couple of hours, but the longer the better).

Broil the chicken:
Broil the chicken for about 7 minutes on each side until cooked through. Remove from the broiler and leave to cool. On to the sauce :)

To make the sauce:
Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan on a medium flame. Add the cardamom pods, cloves, bay leaf and cinnamon stick for about a minute. Add the ginger, and keep stirring for another minute (make sure it doesn't burn -- lower the heat if necessary).

Next, add the tomatoes. Lower the heat, cover the pot and leave them to cook for about 15-20 minutes (keep checking and stirring to make sure it doesn't burn). Add water if necessary.

When the tomatoes have become a nice saucy consistency, add the garam masala, paprika, honey, and cashew paste. Season with salt and pepper. Add the cream and the butter and leave to cook for about 7 more minutes.

Taste and adjust the seasoning as you like.

Combine sauce and chicken:
In a separate saucepan, add the chicken to a medium flame and cook once again for about 3 minutes (you just want to make sure that they turn a nice color and are cooked through -- don't overdo it though so they don't get firm). Add the sauce to the chicken, stir well to ensure the chicken is well coated.

Garnish with cilantro.

Serve alongside a simple basmati rice dish.

Serves 6

If you liked this recipe then you must try:
Easy Chicken Tikka Masala
Vegetable Curry
Yellow Rice

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