Ingredients:
- 500g whole chicken breast, trimmed
- 1 Tablespoon coconut or rice bran oil
- 4 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 4 medium carrots- peeled + grated
- 200g pumpkin, skin removed + grated
- 2 Cups quinoa
- ½ Cup finely chopped basil
- ¾ Cup finely grated parmesan (optional)
- Freshly ground black pepper
Method:
Poach the chicken breast by bringing 4 cups of water to the boil in a saucepan, then placing the chicken breast in the water – allowing it to come to a simmer before turning the heat off.
Cover for 30min to cook through
Once chicken is poached, remove from water – allow to cool slightly
Keep the water to use as a stock to cook the quinoa
In a large saucepan heat oil + lightly sauté the garlic for 1min
Add carrots & pumpkin – sauté a further five minutes or so. Just soften vegetables slightly.
Whilst the vegies are cooking bring the stock/water from the chicken to the boil again
Add 2 cups of that stock to the garlic, pumpkin & carrot, followed by the quinoa.
Stir through
Whilst the quinoa & vegies are simmering together, shred the chicken into desired size
Allow the quinoa & vegies to cook approximately 15 min with the lid on, stirring occasionally
Most of the stock will be absorbed. If you find there is a small amount of liquid still after this time, that’s fine, the chicken will soak it up
Stir through the shredded poached chicken, parmesan, basil, black pepper & serve
I placed a bed of raw baby spinach on the bottle of the bowl before serving- that is optional.
Holly Badoly- Pumpkin is a fruit!
And there are more amazing facts about this little dynamo you didnt know about…… This meal is jam packed full of eye strengthening compounds. With 7384 mg per 100 g, Pumpkin has one of the highest levels of vitamin-A, providing about 246% of RDA. Vitamin A is a powerful natural anti-oxidant and is required by the body for maintaining the integrity of skin and mucus membranes. It is also an essential vitamin for good visual sight. And holly badoly, there is more! Zea-xanthin. Zea-xanthin is a natural anti-oxidant which has UV (ultra-violet) rays filtering actions in the macula lutea in the retina of the eyes. Thus, it helps protect from “age-related macular disease” . All this along, along with the well known visual benefits of Carrots make this a delish dish of visual delight a winner if you are trying to figure out how to get more fruit and veg into you diet!
