It’s Deepavali next week in Singapore and what better way then to celebrate this Festival of Lights with a super favourite comfort food of mine (and most of us, let’s admit it!) – Tandoori Chicken!
After so much experimenting with spices and the combination of it, I have to say this one comes in pretty darn close to tasting like those Tandoori Chicken in Little India. Best thing? I only used whole food ingredients, zero fat or oil and nothing but the good stuffs.
Happy Deepavali to my Indian friends all over the world. Now let’s get this cooking!
Meal Prep: $4.50 Tandoori Chicken and Basmati Rice
Serves – 3
Time needed – 15 mins (Preparation), 6-12 hours (Storage), 45 mins (Cooking)
Cost – Approximately $4.50 per serve
Here’s what you need:
- 600g chicken breasts
- 300g cooked basmati rice
- 3 tomatoes, sliced
- 1 cucumber, sliced
- Juice from 1/2 a lemon
- 1 cup natural Greek yogurt
- Spices
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp rock salt
- 1 tbsp crushed garlic
- Lemon wedges
Here’s how you do it:
- Begin by mixing the yogurt, juice from half a lemon and spices together, adding the spices one at a time.
- Whisk or mix them all together with a spoon until a thick paste is formed.
- Add in chicken breast into the mixture and mix chicken and the tandoori paste well.
- Divide and place chicken in ziplock bags and store it in the fridge for at least 6 hours, or up to 12 hours for maximum taste.
- Once you’re ready to cook it, preheat oven to 220 degrees celcius. If your oven has the roast function, use it. Otherwise fan-forced is fine.
- Remove chicken breast from ziplock bags and place it on a roasting rack. Make sure they don’t touch each other.
- Place in the oven and cook it for 20-30 mins, before turning them over and cooking for another 10-15 mins.
- When it’s ready, remove from oven and let it cool. It’s now time to put it in containers.
- With 3 different containers, add in cooked basmati rice. Divide chicken breasts equally – if you’re not fussed about macros, then just guesstimate how much you need every day. I had it at half breast (about 200g) per day. Finish off with your veggies – this is important!
- Finally top it off with lemon wedges.
- Enjoy!
How much this costs:
*Keep in mind that this numbers are a rough guide. It depends on where you buy it and when. At the end of the day it’s possible to eat healthy without breaking the bank. Also, ~ denotes the items that should already be in your pantry for a long time or it’s a very small amount. I’ve also added about $0.50 to the final number to account for those ~ items.
- 600g chicken breasts $5.00
- 1 cup Greek yogurt $1.90
- 1 lemon $0.55
- Tomatoes $0.45
- Cucumber $0.65
- Spices – depending on where you are, I have this at approximately $4.00
Total price = ~ $13.50
Price per serve/meal = ~ $4.50
How much calories and macros:
Calories: 571, Protein: 65g, Carbohydrates: 33g, Fats: 15g
