hamlyn illustration all colour cookbook

200

Light

chicken dishes

How to use this ebook

Select one of the chapters from the main contents list and you will be taken to a list of all the recipes covered in that chapter.

Alternatively, jump to the index to browse recipes by ingredient.

Look out for linked text (which is underlined and/or in a different colour) throughout the ebook that you can select to help you navigate between related recipes.

Introduction

this series

The Hamlyn All Colour Light Series is a collection of handy-sized books, each packed with over 200 healthy recipes on a variety of topics and cuisines to suit your needs.

The books are designed to help those people who are trying to lose weight by offering a range of delicious recipes that are low in calories but still high in flavour. The recipes show a calorie count per portion, so you will know exactly what you are eating. These are recipes for real and delicious food, not ultra-slimming meals, so they will help you maintain your new healthier eating plan for life. They must be used as part of a balanced diet, with the cakes and sweet dishes eaten only as an occasional treat.

how to use this book

All the recipes in this book are clearly marked with the number of calories (kcal) per serving. The chapters cover different calorie bands: under 500 calories, under 400 calories, etc.

There are variations on each recipe at the bottom of the page – note the calorie count as they do vary and can sometimes be more than the original recipe.

The figures assume that you are using low-fat versions of dairy products, so be sure to use skimmed milk and low-fat yogurt. They have also been calculated using lean meat, so make sure you trim meat of all visible fat and remove the skin from chicken breasts. Use moderate amounts of oil and butter for cooking and low-fat/low-calorie alternatives when you can.

Don’t forget to take note of the number of portions each recipe makes and divide up the quantity of food accordingly, so that you know just how many calories you are consuming.

Be careful too, about side dishes and accompaniments that will also add to calorie content.

Above all, enjoy trying out the new flavours and exciting recipes that this book contains. Rather than dwelling on the thought that you are denying yourself your usual unhealthy treats, think of your new regime as a positive step towards a new you. Not only will you lose weight and feel more confident, but your health will benefit, the condition of your hair and nails will improve, and you will exude a healthy glow.

the risks of obesity

Up to half of women and two-thirds of men are overweight or obese in the developed world today. Being overweight can not only make us unhappy with our appearance, but can also lead to serious health problems, including heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.

When someone is obese, it means they are overweight to the point that it could start to seriously threaten their health. In fact, obesity ranks a close second to smoking as a possible cause of cancer. Obese women are more likely to have complications during and after pregnancy, and people who are overweight or obese are also more likely to suffer from coronary heart disease, gallstones, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.

how can I tell if I am overweight?

The best way to tell if you are overweight is to work out your body mass index (BMI). If using metric measurements, divide your weight in kilograms (kg) by your height in metres (m) squared. (For example, if you are 1.7 m tall and weigh 70 kg, the calculation would be 70 ÷ 2.89 = 24.2.) If using imperial measurements, divide your weight in pounds (lb) by your height in inches (in) squared and multiply by 703. Then compare the figure to the list (these figures apply to healthy adults only).

Less than 20

underweight

20–25

healthy

25–30

overweight

Over 30

obese

As we all know by now, one of the major causes of obesity is eating too many calories.

what is a calorie?

Our bodies need energy to stay alive, grow, keep warm and be active. We get the energy we need to survive from the food and drinks we consume – more specifically, from the fat, carbohydrate, protein and alcohol that they contain.

A calorie (cal), as anyone who has ever been on a diet will know, is the unit used to measure how much energy different foods contain. A calorie can be scientifically defined as the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water from 14.5°C to 15.5ºC. A kilocalorie (kcal) is 1,000 calories and it is, in fact, kilocalories that we usually mean when we talk about the calories in different foods.

Different food types contain different numbers of calories. For example, a gram of carbohydrate (starch or sugar) provides 3.75 kcal, protein provides 4 kcal per gram, fat provides 9 kcal per gram and alcohol provides 7 kcal per gram. So, fat is the most concentrated source of energy – weight for weight, it provides just over twice as many calories as either protein or carbohydrate – with alcohol not far behind. The energy content of a food or drink depends on how many grams of carbohydrate, fat, protein and alcohol are present.

how many calories do we need?

The number of calories we need to consume varies from person to person, but your body weight is a clear indication of whether you are eating the right amount. Body weight is simply determined by the number of calories you are eating compared to the number of calories your body is using to maintain itself and needs for physical activity. If you regularly consume more calories than you use up, you will start to gain weight as extra energy is stored in the body as fat.

Based on our relatively inactive modern-day lifestyles, most nutritionists recommend that women should aim to consume around 2,000 calories (kcal) per day, and men an amount of around 2,500. Of course, the amount of energy required depends on your level of activity: the more active you are, the more energy you need to maintain a stable weight.

a healthier lifestyle

To maintain a healthy body weight, we need to expend as much energy as we consume; to lose weight, energy expenditure must therefore exceed intake of calories. So, exercise is a vital tool in the fight to lose weight. Physical activity doesn’t just help us control body weight; it also helps to reduce our appetites and is known to have beneficial effects on the heart and blood that help prevent cardiovascular disease.

Many of us claim we don’t enjoy exercise and simply don’t have the time to fit it into our hectic schedules. So the easiest way to increase physical activity is by incorporating it into our daily routines, perhaps by walking or cycling instead of driving (particularly for short journeys), taking up more active hobbies such as gardening, and taking small and simple steps, such as using the stairs instead of the lift whenever possible.

As a general guide, adults should aim to do at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, such as a brisk walk, five times a week. In place of 30 minutes three sessions of 10 minutes are just as beneficial. Children and young people should be encouraged to take at least 60 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise every day.

Some activities will use up more energy than others. The following list shows some examples of the energy a person weighing 60 kg (132 lb) would expend doing the following activities for 30 minutes:

activity

energy

Ironing

69 kcal

Cleaning

75 kcal

Walking

99 kcal

Golf

129 kcal

Fast walking

150 kcal

Cycling

180 kcal

Aerobics

195 kcal

Swimming

195 kcal

Running

300 kcal

Sprinting

405 kcal

make changes for life

The best way to lose weight is to try to adopt healthier eating habits that you can easily maintain all the time, not just when you are trying to slim down. Aim to lose no more than 1 kg (2 lb) per week to ensure you lose only your fat stores. People who go on crash diets lose lean muscle as well as fat and are much more likely to put the weight back on again soon afterwards.

For a woman, the aim is to reduce her daily calorie intake to around 1,500 kcal while she is trying to lose weight, then settle on around 2,000 per day thereafter to maintain her new body weight. Regular exercise will also make a huge difference: the more you can burn, the less you will need to diet.

improve your diet

For most of us, simply adopting a more balanced diet will reduce our calorie intake and lead to weight loss. Follow these simple recommendations:

Eat more starchy foods, such as bread, potatoes, rice and pasta. Assuming these replace the fattier foods you usually eat, and you don’t smother them with oil or butter, this will help reduce the amount of fat and increase the amount of fibre in your diet. As a bonus, try to use wholegrain rice, pasta and flour, as the energy from these foods is released more slowly in the body, making you feel fuller for longer.

Eat more fruit and vegetables, aiming for at least five portions of different fruit and vegetables a day (excluding potatoes).

As long as you don’t add extra fat to your fruit and vegetables in the form of cream, butter or oil, these changes will help reduce your fat intake and increase the amount of fibre and vitamins you consume.

who said vegetables must be dull?

Eat fewer sugary foods, such as biscuits, cakes and chocolate bars. This will also help reduce your fat intake. If you fancy something sweet, aim for fresh or dried fruit instead.

Reduce the amount of fat in your diet, so you consume fewer calories. Choosing low-fat versions of dairy products, such as skimmed milk and low-fat yogurt, doesn’t necessarily mean your food will be tasteless. Low-fat versions are available for most dairy products, including milk, cheese, crème fraîche, yogurt, and even cream and butter.

Choose lean cuts of meat, such as back bacon instead of streaky, and chicken breasts instead of thighs. Trim all visible fat off meat before cooking and avoid frying foods – grill or roast instead. Fish is also naturally low in fat and can make a variety of tempting dishes.

simple steps to reduce your calorie intake

Few of us have an iron will, so when you are trying to cut down make it easier on yourself by following these steps:

▪ Serve small portions to start with. You may feel satisfied when you have finished, but if you are still hungry you can always go back for more.

▪ Once you have served up your meal, put away any leftover food before you eat. Don’t put heaped serving dishes on the table as you will undoubtedly pick, even if you feel satisfied with what you have already eaten.

▪ Eat slowly and savour your food; then you are more likely to feel full when you have finished. If you rush a meal, you may still feel hungry afterwards.

▪ Make an effort with your meals. Just because you are cutting down doesn’t mean your meals have to be low on taste as well as calories. You will feel more satisfied with a meal you have really enjoyed and will be less likely to look for comfort in a bag of crisps or a bar of chocolate.

▪ Plan your meals in advance to make sure you have all the ingredients you need. Casting around in the cupboards when you are hungry is unlikely to result in a healthy, balanced meal.

▪ Keep healthy and interesting snacks to hand for those moments when you need something to pep you up. You don’t need to succumb to a chocolate bar if there are other tempting treats on offer.

chicken

Chicken is highly versatile, and with 200 recipes to choose from in this book we hope that you will be able to add some new favourites to your family’s repertoire.

Much has been made in the media about the welfare of chickens during rearing. For those on a tight budget, battery-farmed chickens may be the only option. Try to use up the leftovers the following day, or use the redundant carcass to make stock, so that a more expensive free-range chicken, even if not organic, is more cost-effective. While organic, free-range chickens may not be for everyone, try to choose whole chickens and chicken joints with labels indicating that the birds have been reared humanely (for more information, consult the RSPCA in the UK or the HSUS in the USA).

hygiene essentials

▪ Keep raw and cooked chicken separate in the refrigerator so that raw chicken juices cannot drip on to other foods.

▪ Cover food dishes so that chicken does not dry out.

▪ Use separate boards and knives for preparing raw and cooked chicken, as well as for preparing meat and vegetables.

▪  Defrost frozen chicken in the refrigerator, transferring to room temperature for 1–2 hours before cooking.

▪  Only reheat cooked food once, and make sure it is piping hot all the way through (don’t just warm foods, especially if using the microwave).

▪ Raw chicken that has been defrosted can only be put back in the freezer if it has been cooked and cooled. If taken out of the freezer in a cooked state, it cannot be refrozen.

▪ Add a small frozen ice pack to lunchboxes, and use an insulated lunchbag so that any cooked chicken stays cold.

how to make chicken stock

Why bother making your own stock? In an age when we are all being advised to cut down on our salt consumption, homemade stock can be salt-free; it also fits in with our general tendency to recycle all we can. If you haven’t got time to make stock now, don’t throw the chicken carcass out – just pack it into a plastic bag and freeze it until you do have time. The following recipe makes 1.4 litres (2½ pints).

chicken carcass from a roast or poached whole bird

2 litres (3½ pints) cold water

1 large onion, cut into quarters but still with the inner brown layer of skin attached

2 carrots, thickly sliced

2 celery sticks, thickly sliced

small bunch of mixed fresh herbs or a dried bouquet garni

black peppercorns

Put the chicken carcass into a large saucepan with the measured water, and add the onion, carrots and celery. Flavour with the fresh herbs or bouquet garni and a few black peppercorns, then bring to the boil. Partially cover the top of the pan with a lid, then leave to simmer gently for 2 hours. Strain into a jug and leave to cool. Store in the refrigerator for 2–3 days or freeze in handy-sized plastic containers or well-sealed plastic bags if the carcass had not already been frozen.

preparation

Before use, always rinse chicken well in cold water, drain well and pat dry with kitchen paper; this is especially important if you are using pre-packed raw chicken. When rinsing a whole chicken, take extra care to rinse inside the bird, and remove giblets if included.

If using frozen chicken, make sure it is completely defrosted before use. Don’t try to speed up defrosting by plunging it into warm water. Immerse in cold water and change the water frequently, or defrost in the microwave, following the manufacturer’s guidelines.

is the chicken cooked?

Chicken must never be served rare or medium, but always well done. Insert a skewer or small knife into the thickest part of a joint, or through a thigh to the breast if cooking a whole chicken. The juices will run clear when the chicken is ready – if you see any traces of pink in the juices, continue cooking. If panfrying or grilling, check at 5-minute intervals. For a whole chicken, re-test after 15 minutes more in the oven.

how to joint a whole chicken

This is not as tricky as it may first seem; the secret is a good sharp knife and to locate the joints by feel before cutting through them to separate. This technique can be adapted to cut up other poultry too.

1 First remove the trussing strings and put the chicken breast side uppermost on a chopping board. Pull one leg gently away from the body. Cut through the skin between the body and leg, cut down through the meat, and then work down to the thigh joint. Bend the leg so that it eases the leg bone from its socket, then cut through the balland-socket joint. Repeat with the other leg.

2 To remove the wings, press one wing against the body of the bird so that both parts of the shoulder are visible. Cut through the skin, then down through the joint to sever. Tuck the wingtip under the shoulder to make a triangular shape joint. Repeat with the other wing.

3 Split the carcass by cutting around and under both breasts with poultry shears or strong kitchen scissors. Cut through the rib cage, so separating the backbone from the breasts. Repeat on the other side.

4 Cut along the centre of the breast with poultry shears, strong kitchen scissors or a sharp knife, then either slide a knife under the breast meat on each side of the bone to release two boneless breast joints or cut straight down between the breast bone with a large cook’s knife to give two joints on the bone. For a ‘supreme’ leave the wing joint attached at step 2, but sever at the first joint so separating wing tips from body.

5 Now separate the leg joint into a drumstick and thigh. Put the joint skin side uppermost, then flex the drumstick slightly so that you can see where the central joint is. Cut through the ball-and-socket joint. Repeat with the other leg.

6 You should now have 2 drumsticks, 2 thigh joints, 2 wings and 2 breast joints, plus a carcass (not pictured) to make stock with. When the bird is small, leave the drumstick and thigh joint joined together.

how to spatchcock a chicken or poussin

Here the bird is split and then flattened so that it cooks more quickly. This enables a whole bird to be barbecued, grilled or roasted traditionally in a shorter time.

1 Put the chicken or poussin breast side down on a chopping board and remove the trussing string. Cut the bird in half, while keeping the two halves still attached, using poultry shears or sturdy kitchen scissors.

2 Turn the bird over, then using the palm of your hand press down on the breast and flatten it slightly.

3 Trim off the knuckle bones from the drumsticks and tuck the wingtips under the bird. Neaten off any untidy skin and insert two long metal or wooden skewers through each leg, breast and wing so that they cross under the bird and keep it flat during roasting or barbecuing.

how to carve a roast chicken

A good carving knife and fork are essential. Choose a knife that has a long, slightly flexible blade and a fork with tines that are close together. Even more importantly, you must keep the knife sharp. If you find using a knife steel too daunting, there are many hand or electrical knife sharpeners available from good cookshops or major department stores – it really is worth investing in one. Carve off just the amounts you need at a time, working first on one side and then on the other side of the bird, as needed. If the bird is stuffed, don’t forget to serve the stuffing with a spoon.

1 Put the chicken on a large chopping board or serving plate with the breast side uppermost. Steadying the joint with a carving fork, cut the skin between the breast and one thigh joint and work downwards through the meat to the joint. Bend the leg outwards to locate the thigh joint, then cut down through the joint to remove the first leg.

2 To remove the wing on the same side of the chicken, cut down through the corner of the breast to the wing joint. Flex the wing as you did for the leg to locate the joint, then cut down between the joint to remove the wing.

3 Working on the same side of the chicken, make thin diagonal cuts down the breast to slice the meat, using the fork to steady the joint and to help you to remove each slice.

4 Now that the breast has been sliced, separate the thigh and drumstick joints, then cut thin slices of meat off both joints that follow the direction of the bone.