Garlic Ginger marinated Chicken

Lately I seem to eat more chicken than I used to. A slow drift away from red meat. An attempt to eat a little healthier. I pay more attention to how spices interact with the food, and each other. The healthy advantages of certain herbs. Hence garlic ginger marinated chicken came about. It’s good, you should try it

Chicken

I could ask the question, Why chicken? Well, I’m an omnivore, I eat plants and meat. But, I want to eat healthier, and chicken is a good addition to my diet. It’s high in protein, low in fat (I’ll delve into more of that in a bit) and has lots of essential vitamins and minerals. And, it has Tryptophan, so I feel good after I eat, like that was a problem before. Let me go back to the fat issue, the skin is high in saturated fat. Sometimes the skin can be incorporated as part of the dish, an example is a post on Split Chicken Breast. Crispy skin can be delicious, just not that often, moderation is the key

This particular dish requires marinating the chicken breast. Marinating meat is nothing new, and it is a great way to build flavor. Here I use garlic and ginger. Both these two herbs have health benefits all by themselves. Garlic, as part of a healthy diet, amongst other things can help to reduce blood pressure and cholesterol too. Ginger, again, as part of a healthy diet, helps the digestive system. Helping with nausea and indigestion, it’s a powerful antioxidant too

If you read many of my other posts, you’ll see I’m not a fan of processed foods. We need to stop relying on the fast food restaurant to supply the family meal. By creating our own dishes we can control what and how much we eat, and be healthier for it. I understand it is made more difficult by our busy lives. But carving out an hour or so of our time to prepare and eat a delicious and healthy meal has so many benefits, its definitely worth it.

The prep

Back to the dish. It starts with a pound of chicken breast. That would be two breasts. I cut them into this strips, about 1/2′ thick, and maybe 2″ long. This has nothing to do with the cooking process and everything to do with how I want them to look when they’re served. A trick I learned for this is, if you’re defrosting chicken, cut it into strips while it’s still a little frozen, it’s easier to handle. If you would prefer to just cube it, go ahead. Remember, this is raw chicken, being clean in the kitchen is being safe in the kitchen, please read this post on the subject.

The marinade

The idea of a marinade is that all the flavors get to have a little get together. I say this, because, how we process the marinade controls how the flavors mix and how the dish will taste. Prep is everything. To that end, I’m going to grate the ginger and the garlic. Take 3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled, about 1 1/2 piece of ginger, peeled, and grate everything into a cup, add a tablespoon of soy sauce, mix well, set aside. You may not have any soy sauce, you may not like soy sauce, you may be on a low sodium regimen. Well, chicken stock works fine.

One of mans’ greatest inventions is the zip lock baggie. It’s amazing how something so simple can can so many unintended uses. I put my phone in one when I go to the beach. But most of all, it’s the best marinating vessel. So grab one, obviously of appropriate size, put the cut up chicken in, pour in the contents of the cup. lay on a flat surface, get rid of as much air as possible, and seal it up. Now manipulate the bag to mix everything together. That’s it, put the baggie on a plate and put in the fridge for a while. How long is a while? 1/2 hr is good, but and hour isn’t too long and 15 mins is about the least, just enough time for the flavors to mix.

Making it

While that’s doing it thing, grab a couple of bell peppers. There are a few different colors and you can choose any. Cut them into strips, not too thin. The cooking sequence at this point is controlled by how you like your peppers cooked, I like mine with a little crunch, so I add them to the chicken after a few minutes of cooking. If you prefer yours a little more cooked, well start everything at the same time. Also, you have to figure what you want with the garlic ginger marinated chicken. Rice is the usual choice. Jasmine rice take 15 mins

For the rice, bring 1 cup water to a boil, add one cup of rice, stirring to avoid clumping. Bring to a boil, lower heat to simmer, cover and cook 15 mins. Remove from heat, let sit 5 mins, fluff and serve.

Preheat a pan over a medium heat, add a tablespoon of olive oil, when its hot, add the contents of the baggie, making sure to squeeze out all the ginger and garlic too. Stir everything well to get the chicken cooking. After about 5 mins, add the pepper, mix well, put a lid on it and let it cook about 5 mins more. Now check your chicken. 165 degrees and no pink. It’s very easy to cook. The marinating part takes the longest, but, it’s the most important part.

There, it’s done. A simple and tasty dish you can put together quickly and easily, it’s healthy and tasty, garlic ginger marinated chicken. Thank you for reading, and enjoy.