Chili-Mango Chicken
from the book Cook “This Not That”
by David Zinczenko & matt Gouldin
Cooking with Redondo Beach Personal Trainer
I’m something of a hater when it comes to diet books, but Zinczenko and Goulding’s book “Cook This Not That” is a great diet/cookbook. This recipe looked so good I had to try it.
My Promise To You: Every recipe you find here I have cooked and eaten.
Rating 3 out of 5 stars
Calories and Serving size???
This recipe was relatively easy to prepare and tasted good. A serving is only 240 calories which is great. The recipe makes 4 servings, but the authors neglects to tell you how to measure the serving. Is it one cup, or 4oz. etc., be careful. The book also does not say if that 240 calories includes the rice, but I’m certain it doesn’t. This is where you can get into trouble with hidden calories. A cup of brown rice will add an additional 216 – 219 calories to this dish. Eat this dish with a cup of brown rice and all of a sudden it’s a 459 calorie meal, that’s almost double the calories. These additional calories will kill your diet. It will leave you baffled, heartbroken and frustrated when you weigh yourself.
When you think you’ve done everything right, you’re counting calories, you’re working out, and you step on the scale and have not lost weight or gained it can be a devastating disappointment. Keeping a food journal will help you find hidden calories before you consume them.
To keep the caloric intake of this dish down use a half cup of rice, that’s 109 calories. The total calories for the dish 349.
A word about the ingredients
The ingredients were your standard fair except for the chili garlic sauce, sesame oil, mango and ginger. I mention this because some recipes call for ingredients you have never heard of, are hard to find, and can be expensive especially if you never used it again. The Chili garlic sauce may fall into this category. I bought the smap peas and the onions at the Redondo Beach Farms Market.
Prep time
The prep time for this dish was average. chopping the onion was easy and quick. Pealing and chopping the mango was a bit time consuming. The recipe says to grate the ginger. I did not do this. I have a small food processor. I pealed the ginger and put it in the food processor, it saves a lot of time.
Served with . . .
This dish is meant to be served over brown rice. Avoid white rice, white rice is highly refined therefore less nutritious than a simple carbohydrate. Simple carbohydrates are quickly stored as in the body fat resulting in weight gain.
I used prepared brown rice from Trader Joe’s. I’ve never been good at making rice so when I saw this product I thought I’d try it. The rice comes prepared, you put it in the microwave for one minute and it’s ready to eat. No preservative, no dyes, no chemicals and it taste as good as plain brown rice can taste.
Chili-Mango Chicken
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, chopped into 1/2 pieces
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 Tbsp sesame oil
1/2 Tbsp peanut or canola oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 Tbsp grated or minced fresh ginger
2 cups sugar snap peas
1 mango, peeled pitted and chopped
1 Tbsp chili garlic sauce (preferably Sambal Oleek)
Black pepper to taste
° Combine the chicken, cornstarch, soy sauce and sesame oil in a mixing bowl and let sit for 10 minutes.
° Heat the peanut oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add the onion and ginger and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until the onion is translucent, Add the sugar snaps and stir-fry for 1 minute, using a spatula to keep the vegetables in near-constant motion. Add the chicken,along with its marinade, and stir-fry for about 2 minutes,until the meat begins to brown on the outside. Add the mango, chili sauce, and black pepper and stir-fry for 1 minute longer, until the chicken is cooked through and the mango has softened into a near sauce-like consistency. Serve over brown rice.
Makes 4 servings.
3 1/2 cups water
