Swahili Chicken & Spicy Lentils

This dish instantly brings me back to Africa, the fragrant flavourful spice mix........the lentils......,and the green beans that seemed to be put in just about every dish. The yellow split pea lentils are kicked up a notch with cayenne and turmeric, and the chicken breasts are baked in the oven with Garam Masala spices I brought back from a spice farm in Zanzibar, but any garam masala will do if you’re not popping over to Zanzibar anytime soon. This dish is high in protein and iron, high in flavour and very low in fat.

Serves 2

Ingredients

·         2 Chicken breasts
·         1 tbsp of garam masala
·         1 tsp of olive oil
·         200g of yellow split pea lentils
·         400ml stock
·         1 tbsp turmeric
·         1 tsp cayenne
·         1 tbsp of cumin seeds
·         1 tbsp of coriander seeds
·         1 garlic clove minced
·         4 spring onions, diced
·         150 g green beans
·         1 tbsp chopped coriander.

Method

1.       Put the lentils in a saucepan, add the stock and simmer for 45 minutes (make soon the pan doesn’t dry out, add more water if required)
2.       Preheat the oven to 200 degrees
3.       Add the chicken breasts to an oven proof dish, make a few slashes and coat with the garam masala mixture.
4.       Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
5.       In a frying pan, dry fry the cumin and coriander, careful not to burn them, when you can smell the fragrance, take off the heat immediately.
6.       Pound the seeds in a pestle and mortar.

7.       Add the garlic, onions, ground spices and dried spices to the pan with a little onion and fry gently for 5 minutes.
8.       Drain the lentils, add the spices and onion mixture and return to the heat to combine the lentils and to soften them up further.
9.       Put green beans in boiling water for 5 minutes and drain immediately to retain the bright green colour.

A little taste of Africa..... in under an hour!