A PERFECT CHICKEN RECIPE
We all love chicken, at least most of us do, and no one ever doubts the benefits of chicken.
But what makes a chicken recipe a perfect one? other than the taste of course.
Chicken recipes are often prepared along with vegetables. Perhaps our ancestors had an idea without all today's knowledge and somehow they were so convinced that would barely make a chicken without the fresh vegetable on the side.
Sometime we even ask why most of healthy salads come with cooked chicken like our Pasta & Chicken Salad
and here's why:
Lets imagine a healthy average person with an active lifestyle. A male or female who has an active job but no exercise, just like an average person.
I should mention here that male and female's body is slightly deferent but the general required nutrients on a daily basis are not that different.
If this healthy person needs to have a normal functioning life he/she needs to intake about 3100 kcal in a given day. And that is for the whole day which can be divided by 5 (breakfast, dinner, lunch, brunch, and few snacks). Of course the best practice as we know today is to use more of those calories during or towards the morning and less towards the night.
Thanks to our society and our way of living, we don't have to worry about the lack of calories as much and in fact more focus on how not to eat more than enough. Thats where the chicken actually beats beef or pork.
Chicken has more calories than beef and pork, yes and i'm sorry to disappoint you but it does! So what makes chicken different than the beef or pork? why not eat more beef or pork instead of chicken if we want to lose weight?
it's the unhealthy counts of cholesterol and fat. In 100 grams of cooked chicken you'd have about 85mg cholesterol and for the same amount of cooked beef it's about 347mg and pork's a whopping 504mg which is 1.5 time more than what our body needs or can or should have each day. If you still want to keep both of those tasty meat together in balance try Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breast.
But please keep the unfocused veggies in far right of this picture in mind when serving, that's the key to keep this delicious wrap healthier and balanced than what it could've been.
Perhaps that explains our second question "why most salads come with cooked chicken". Cholesterol and the fact that chicken has more protein than beef or pork is what draws attention.
Chicken has 6 percent more protein than beef and about 3 percent more than pork. So an healthy salad recipe with all those fresh herbs does not come up short of vitamins but what it lacks is protein! that's when a cooked low cholesterol chicken comes in handy. And chicken also brings more of vitamin B6 and B12 and minerals such as phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium to the table.
Now back to our first question "what makes a chicken recipe a perfect one?". To answer that question we must study our chickens little more and find out what they are made of.
Chicken is a great source of low fat protein. It is a great source of tryptophan. Tryptophan can enhance your mood, helps you fall asleep and it's known as a natural anti depressant. Now we know why we were forced (or been told frequently) to have a bowl of chicken soup when sick or feeling down. So don't feel bad for trying a mouth watering Creamy Chicken Soup after a tough day at work.
Chicken drumsticks or crispy chicken ain't bad either. They are delicious and nutritious and since we usually eat them with nothing on the side, we take more amounts of that phenomenal tryptophan and protein at once. But they're just not a perfect chicken recipe since they're not fully nutritionally balanced.
Chicken has good amounts of vitamin B6 and B12 along with protein. it almost completes the list of nutrients your body need but just almost…
There are few things that chicken alone can't provide enough and you'd still need something on the side.
That's what ranks chicken down to Grade B Plus on nutrition chart. Darn!
To make a perfect chicken recipe you need to add those supplementary ingredients to your chicken and find a recipe that calls for those ingredients. Please keep in mind that whatever recipe you use or we recommend here does NOT disqualify any other chicken recipe as most of soups and chicken salads or recipes are already (intentionally or unintentionally) designed to have those nutrients that chicken lacks.
One simple but crucial vitamin that you would need on daily basis is vitamin A and about 3000 IU of it. Although chicken contains some vitamin A, C, D, and E, it's just not enough and/or valuable source of it. So by adding a good proportion of any ingredients that contains high amounts of vitamin A is essential such as fresh cilantro or dill or parsley. Another crucial vitamin we need would be about 90g of vitamin C. As we know use of fresh limes can add that value to our recipe, not to mention that fresh cilantro, dill and parsley are also rich in vitamin C. Vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K are another vital vitamins that we need to add to our chicken recipe in order to make it perfect. Fresh Parsley is a great source of vitamin D.
So far we know that serving fresh herbs with chicken gets you most of the minerals and vitamins you need. But what is that secret ingredient that can work like magic?
It's not really a secret, Drum rolls…
It's the good old beans.
Any kind of it.
Pinto Beans are very nutritious, so are Fava beans. A simple combination of chicken and beans can make your recipe to a complete meal. It will have most (if not all) of the vitamins and minerals as well as protein your body needs.
One of the most famous Iranian dishes is Baghali Polo Morgh or Fava Beans, Rice and Chicken.
Baghali Polo Morgh is the real deal. A perfect combination of Chicken, herbs and Beans.
If you like your chicken barbecued or grilled, simply serve a bowl of beans stew on the side or even better Black Beans Salad http://www.aashpazi.com/black-beans-salad or Green Beans Salad
For few more juicy and delicious chicken recipes click Chicken Recipes