Sweet Ginger Chicken with Broccoli and Quinoa

This is an easy and nourishing meal to prepare – good for a weekday dinner – containing protein, carbohydrates and healthy fat. If you are super organized, prepare the chicken in the marinade in the morning to allow the flavours to really soak in. But 20 minutes of marinating time is just fine and flavourful too!

Prep Time: 15 minutes / Total Time: 40 minutes / Servings: 3-4

Ingredients

• 1½ cup uncooked Quinoa

• 3 cups Water

• ¼ teaspoon Sea Salt

• ¼ teaspoon Pepper (or 5 grinds of a pepper grinder)

• 2 Tablespoons of fresh Ginger – grated or minced

• 3 Garlic cloves - minced

• 3 Tablespoons Tamari

• 2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup

• 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

• 3 Boneless Chicken Breasts – cut into 1-inch pieces

• 6-8 Boneless Chicken Thighs – cut into 1-inch pieces

• 2-3 Cups Broccoli – chopped

• Salt and Pepper to taste

• 1/3 cup Pumpkin Seeds

• 1/3 cup Sunflower Seeds

• 2 Ripe Avocados

How It’s Made

• Rinse the quinoa in a fine meshed sieve and put it into a medium sized pot.

• Add 3 cups of water, the salt and pepper and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

• Once it comes to a boil, turn down the medium-low, cover the pot and allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes until all of the water is gone and the quinoa is tender. Turn off the heat.

• Let sit, covered for 5-10 minutes then fluff the quinoa with a fork.

• While the quinoa is cooking, mix the ginger, garlic, tamari, maple syrup and EVOO together in a large bowl.

• Add the cut-up chicken and mix thoroughly with the marinade so each piece of chicken is covered in the marinade sauce. There should not be a lot of marinade liquid once all the chicken is coated.

• Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

• Heat a large frying pan or wok on medium-high heat. Add the chicken and the marinade left in the bowl and stir to start the chicken cooking. Turn down the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

• If the mixture starts to stick or if there is very little sauce, add water, ¼ cup at a time, stirring to incorporate the water into the sauce. You want to have some sauce to cook the broccoli and for serving.

• After 10 minutes, add the broccoli to the pan with the chicken, cover and continue to cook until the broccoli is tender and is also covered in some sauce – 8-10 minutes.

• Again, add ¼ cup water at a time and stir to incorporate if you have very little sauce.

• Check that the chicken is cooked - remove a larger piece of chicken and cut it in half. There should be no pink in the middle. If there is, continue cooking and check again every 2 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.

• Taste and season with salt and pepper to taste.

• To serve, spoon quinoa on a plate or bowl. Spoon chicken-broccoli mixture on top. Drizzle all over with pan sauce.

• Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.

• Cut the avocado in half, discarding the pit. Take a soup spoon and scoop out the avocado flesh as close to the peel as you can to have a half avocado in your spoon. Put this onto the side of your plate or bowl and cut into slices.

Enjoy!

Variation

• Serve over rice noodles or seasoned rice instead of quinoa. You can also serve the chicken over salad greens if you are cutting carbs.

• Add additional colourful veggies at the same time as the broccoli – red and orange peppers cut in thin strips, carrots cut in thin discs or matchsticks…