Here’s to those of you who wants to find a substitute, or rather, an alternative to rice as a source of carb – say hello to dhal!
Dhal, or lentils as our Western counterparts would call it, is a high protein carbohydrate. Think chickpeas and beans – they are in the same category! Growing up, my mother always cook dhal once a week. It’s in the menu on the regular and most of us Asians are probably quite familiar with it.
It’s usually cooked as a gravy dish, sometimes with potatoes and eggs and it’s yellow in colour makes it pretty nice to eat with rice. But of course, what’s Asian Meal Prep if it’s not experimentation and feeling a lil adventurous, hey?
I won’t say it’s the best, I like it but I don’t love it. I’ll choose mum’s dhal anytime above this BUT it actually turned out pretty okay – you’ll probably need time to get used to it but maybe, who knows? You’ll like it better than I do?
Oh and, this has an insane amount of potential to be vegan/vegetarian – simply remove the chicken and prawns and you’re good to go!
Give it a go my Asian Meal Preppers – perhaps even tweak it a lil more and let me know how it goes. I wanna see your creations!!
Makes – 3 meals
Time needed – About 1 hour to soak the dhal, and then 30 minutes to put it all together.
Nutrition information:
The nutrition information below is for one serving as per portioned in my recipe. It is also a rough guide so apologies in advanced if it’s incorrect – I am not a dietitian or food scientist and I have moved away from calorie counting since 2014, so please do your homework!
Calories: 385, Protein: 38.7g, Carbs: 30g, Fats: 14.1g, Sat. Fat: 3.2g
3-Meal Prep: Stir Fry Dhal with Chicken & Prawns
Ingredients
- 1 cup dhal soaked beforehand
- 1 large onion sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 green chilli padi optional
- 1 handful curry leaves
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 1.5 cups water
- 2 medium carrots diced
- 200 g butternut pumpkin chunked
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 250 g chicken breast
- 200 g prawns peeled and deveined
- extra virgin olive spray
Instructions
- Heat a non-stick skillet with extra virgin olive oil spray on high heat.
- Toss in chicken breast and cook for 4-5 minutes, before adding in the prawns. Stir-fry until the prawns turns pink. Set aside on a separate plate.
- In a deep pan, add in olive oil on high and add in onions, garlic and cili padi. Stir-fry until the smell rises.
- Add in water and then the lentils. Let the water boil.
- Once the water is boiling, add in curry leaves and turmeric. Let the water boil and then turn the heat to medium.
- Toss in the carrots and pumpkin, reduce heat to low and then let it boil.
- Once the water is boiling, add in the cooked chicken and prawns! Let it cook further for about 5 minutes, until the water is reduced.
- Build your meals!
