Chicken in Tahini Sauce
Protein packed menopause mezze meal
This mezze chicken dish is packed full of healthy protein and that’s not just from the chicken. Tahini paste is made from ground sesame seeds and has 20% complete protein, making it a higher protein source than nuts. It’s full of the good unsaturated fats. Not only that it’s packed full of minerals such as magnesium, a wrath of the B vitamins and vitamin E, helping to maintain healthy menopausal skin and muscle tone.
Serve along with our Baked Aubergine Salad and mezze dips.
Serves: 4 as part of a mezze
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30-40 minutes
This recipe was adapted from Syria: Recipes from Home by Itab Azzam and Dina Mousawi
Ingredients
vegetable or olive oil, for frying
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200ml plain full fat yogurt
2tbsp tahini
juice of 1 lemon
sea salt and pepper, to taste
4 free range chicken breasts
1 heaped tbsp. butter, plus 1tbsp for topping
200g brown basmati rice
400ml boiling water
75g pomegranate seeds
handful of almonds toasted
Method
Prepare the sauce by combining the garlic and yogurt and whisking until smooth. Add the tahini while stirring rapidly and, finally, the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.
Fry the chicken breasts in a little oil until they start to turn golden on the outside and are cooked through. Leave to cool, then shred into small pieces.
In a pot, melt the butter, then add the rice, season well with salt and pepper and fry for a minute. Add the boiling water, reduce the heat, cover, then leave to simmer for 30-40 min until the water has evaporated.
In a big serving dish, start assembling by evenly distributing the chicken and the rice. Top with the yogurt sauce and finish by sprinkling on the parsley and pomegranate seeds.
Fry the almonds in the remaining butter and add on top for extra richness.