Healthy Yogurt Dijon Mustard Chicken Recipe!

[Mara]

I wanted to post this for the other gals who are looking for fast fun recipes for weeknight fare...and healthy too.

I have an obsession with this local Persian restaurant''s chicken kebabs, they use yogurt and mustard and chicken breast and it''s sooooo divine. So I was looking for a recipe we could make at home which would be kind of similar and maybe give me some insight into the greatness behind the Persian recipe.

I found this one and we tried it last nite. It''s not AS GOOD as the Persian restaurant, which is kind of okay because now I can still lust for it secretly..hehee...but this is a great alternative for home cooking which is healthy, yummy and easy. So here it is!! Along with nutritional info.

It took me ~5 minutes to prep it, 3-4 hours to marinate it in the fridge and 10 minutes to grill it. We paired it with a ''green bean mixed with portabello mushrooms'' pre-cooked veggie thing from WholeFoods that we just heated up on the grill in an aluminum packet. YUM!

One important note, how I modified the recipe. I love love love dijon mustard, so I put in more mustard (and added a country wine herbed dijon i also had in the fridge for supplement) and I also added 1/2 a squeezed lemon (juicy only) into it because I love lemon too. It was really yummy and got rave reviews from the peanut gallery (aka Greg and Portia), BUT I would actually add even MORE mustard next time and a little more lemon. The yogurt is plain so it''s fairly tasteless, so you can get away with more mustard if you are a mustard lover like me.

The best part was I had ~2 servings with veggies and it was only like 360 calories for the chicken, woo hoo!

Grilled Chicken Marinated in Yogurt-Mustard Sauce
(makes 4 servings)
1 8-ounce (227 g) container plain, fat-free yogurt
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (I made it with more like 3 tbl, next time will do 4-5tbl)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped chives
freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon olive oil
4 5-ounce (150 g) skinless, boneless chicken breasts halves, all fat removed
extra chives for garnish

Stir together the yogurt, mustard, garlic, chives, and pepper. Add the oil and mix to combine. Place half the marinade in a separate bowl and refrigerate. Toss the chicken breasts with the remaining marinade, cover, and refrigerate for from 4 to 8 hours.

Light a grill. Lightly oil the grill grid.

When ready to grill, remove the chicken from the marinade and scrape off the excess (MaraNote: I actually did not do this, I scooped all the excess onto the pieces and threaded them onto metal kebabs so it would cook more quickly than actual breasts, the extra sauce cooked into the meat which was awesome and more flavorful!). Grill the chicken about 5 inches from the source of heat for 4 to 5 minutes per side, turning once, until chicken is cooked through (cut to test). Transfer to a serving platter Garnish with chives.

Transfer the remaining marinade to a serving bowl and pass separately to spoon over the vegetables and chicken.

Per serving: 181 calories (13% calories from fat), 34 g protein, 2 g total fat (0.6 g saturated fat), 2 g carbohydrates, 0 dietary fiber, 83 mg cholesterol, 445 mg potassium, 204 mg sodium

Diabetic exchanges: 4 very lean protein

 

[sunkist]

oooo, this looks yummy Mara! I''ll be excited to try it. I actually just bought a chicken marinade last night at the market that is Dijon & Honey with lemon juice! I''m going to try that this weekend and I''ll try the yogurt dijon next week to compare

btw, yogurt chicken is one of my favorites!! yummmm.

 

[VegasAngel]

OOoh Yum. definitely easy I''ll have to try it.

 

[FireGoddess]

I am totally gonna try this. DH and I are WAYYYYYYYYYYYY into Persian food. We use yogurt and lemon with everything we possibly can. Which restaurant is the original kebob from, out of curiosity?


ETA: Just reading over the recipe, do they really say to use the rest of the marinade as a sauce for the chicken and veggies? Cuz you definitely SHOULD NOT do that if it has contacted the raw chicken. Marinades that have contacted raw chicken must be brought to a rolling boil before using them as a sauce (and you can't do that with yogurt). However, if you had extra marinade you didn't put on the chicken, you could definitely use that.

ETAA: Okay, I saw they said to reserve half the marinade separately, which must be what they use as the sauce.

It's early and I'm slow today.

 

[Lorelei]

Nice recipe Mara! I have seen a similar one that I tried with the yogurt base and garlic but with grated lime zest and the juice added to the marinade. I will try yours, Hubs is nodding with approval!

 

[pinkflamingo]

YUMMMY~
I will try that this week, sounds divine!
Tonight we are having Margarita chicken, I will let you know how it turns out! The marinade smells divine, just like a margarita at a good restaurant!

The recipe:

Margarita Chicken Breasts

The recipe calls for skin-on chicken breasts but it''s just as good if you skin them first -- and they''re lower in fat. Skinned breasts will cook a bit more quickly.

1 teaspoon grated lime peel
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons tequila
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 boneless chicken breast halves (with skin), about 6 ounces each, rinsed and patted dry

In medium bowl, whisk together lime peel and juice, olive oil, tequila, salt and cayenne.

Put chicken breasts in large, resealable plastic bag and pour in marinade. Press air out of bag and seal bag tightly. Turn bag to distribute marinade, place in bowl and refrigerate 1 hour.

Heat a barbecue grill to medium.

Remove breasts from bag; pour marinade into small saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil 1 full minute.

Grill breasts, skin side down, until meat is no longer pink in the center, 8 to 12 minutes, turning and basting with marinade once halfway through cooking. Makes 4 servings.

 

[Mara]

YUM PF that sounds good, we''ll have to try that next week too. We eat alot of boneless breast chicken and fish so I am always happy to try out something new.

FG, the original recipe is from a restaurant in Campbell down here in South Bay, it used to be called Saaghi and now it''s called Negeen. If you are ever down here, you must try their fabulous chicken breast special kebab. It''s TO DIE FOR. They serve it with basmati rice and a grilled tomato and it''s just perfection. One of our neighbors is Persian (I''m actually 1/2 even though I was never raised in that culture) and I was telling his new wife (they just got married) about it and she said it''s a place they haven''t tried before so they went last week and loved it too. hehee.

Oh and yes they do tell you to reserve some of the marinade to put on the chicken after, not the stuff that was on the chicken originally. I think next time I''d use a little less yogurt and more dijon, I think I already said that but I really like super tasty stuff with lots of flavor. So anyway we''ll try it again next week, but the best part was the easy prep and the fact that the grilling just took about 10 minutes. I love easy stuff like this during the week!!

When you ladies try it, let me know how it works out and if you modified it etc. I love trying recipes then making modifications to suit our own tastes more. I love adding lemon to things too!!

 

[FireGoddess]

I will definitely have to check that restaurant out next time we travel down there. There is a Persian restaurant we love in San Mateo called Shalizaar....soooooooooooooooo good. Definitely worth a try if you''re ever up north that way. My husband is Middle Eastern so I got into all the Turkish and Persian food after I met him. I love it. There''s also an Afghani place called Kabul in Sunnyvale that is awesome. Can''t wait to make these kebobs.

 

[Mara]

Oh I think we went to Kabul previously....Also I guess there is a place in Santa Clara on Saratoga called Yaz or something which is supposedly VERY good as well, but we have not yet been. Greg and I went to a Persian place in downtown San Mateo since he used to work down there, it''s on 4th street I think, is that Shalizaar? If so, it was good but the chicken was NOT as good as Negeen!!! (Maybe that will motivate you guys to drive down to Campbell soon, tee hee). It''s all yummy though! hehee.

 

[FireGoddess]

Date: 5/19/2006 2:31:46 PM
Author: Mara
Oh I think we went to Kabul previously....Also I guess there is a place in Santa Clara on Saratoga called Yaz or something which is supposedly VERY good as well, but we have not yet been. Greg and I went to a Persian place in downtown San Mateo since he used to work down there, it''s on 4th street I think, is that Shalizaar? If so, it was good but the chicken was NOT as good as Negeen!!! (Maybe that will motivate you guys to drive down to Campbell soon, tee hee). It''s all yummy though! hehee.

I think we have been to Yaz. I think our landlord recommended it. I liked it.

The Persian place on 4th St in San Mateo is called Sinbad. Okay, but not the best I''ve had. Shalizaar is on 25th. Yummy. My fave dish there is called Cengeh, which is a yogurt and saffron marinated beef kebob. The chicken kebob is also fab, DH usually gets that and we swap half of each.

 

[pinkflamingo]

I made the margarita chicken last night. It wasn''t as flavorful as I had hoped (and I marinated it for at least 6 hours). Aaron (DH) kind of overcooked the chicken so that was part of the problem. Let me know if anyone else has success with it!

 

[pinkflamingo]

I am going to make your recipe, Mara tomorrow! We are having friends over and I think it sounds perfect!

 

[Mara]

sounds good pink!! let me know how it turns out. i have revised the recipe since adding alot more mustard than yogurt and more lemon ... !!

i still want to try the margarita recipe but haven''t gotten around to it just yet...!

FG i went to Faz earlier this week for lunch, the one in Sunnyvale...and it was just okay! i much prefer Negeen in Campbell...!! it was good but nothing super special and the rice had tons of butter in it. anyway... still want to try the one on Saratoga that we have not gone to yet.

 

[pinkflamingo]

Mara-
This was so fabulous!! Everyone loved it including my 5 year old son!!
I think you should post more of your favorite recipes!! please?! we need a Mara recipe thread.