You know how it is, you find a recipe and tear it out of a magazine or print off the internet, it spends the next 6 months attached to the fridge with a magnet from a holiday 5 years ago, then you finally take it off the fridge and put it in the folder of “Recipes I am Going to Cook One Day”, having transferred the name of course into the “Recipes to Try” box on the white board or into Evernote on your phone
In my house one recipe that made this journey is Adam Liaw’s youshoku dish, Chicken Doria. Youshoku cuisine takes Western dishes and adapts them to something uniquely Japanese. Doria originated in France but is now found almost exclusively in Japan. Like a lot of people, when I think Japanese food I think sushi or miso soup, so when I read this recipe for Chicken Doria at goodfood.com.au (definitely one of my fave recipe websites) it didn’t actually leap off the page as Japanese. It is basically chicken, veges and rice covered in white sauce, sprinkled with cheese and grilled until bubbly and golden brown. But it did sound rather yummy, so when I found some chicken on special I retrieved the recipe from my file and gave it a try.
I have to say that I am the microwave master of the white sauce. However, this time I did what the recipe said and heated a clove studded onion in the milk before making it the traditional way. It was definitely worth the effort, the hint of cloves through the dish was gorgeous.
It was definitely a winner taste-wise, but probably only about a 5 on the healthy eating scale of 1 – 10, so I thought I would have a go at adapting Chicken Doria and pushing it higher up the health scale.
The first thing I did was replace the rice with quinoa, my favourite food of the moment. I used the Tri-Colour Macro which mixes white, red and brown quinoa.
Instead of making a white sauce I used ricotta, but because I loved the taste of the clove studded onion in the white sauce I added a clove to the water when I cooked the quinoa. I couldn’t really taste it when I tried the dish straight from the grill, but it must have infused into the dish overnight because when I had some leftovers for breakfast the next day you could definitely taste the cloves. Maybe it is one of those dishes that just taste better the next day.
All the rest of the ingredients were the same, except on top I sprinkled some finely grated manchego cheese. Healthy versus traditional doesn’t always go down well in my house so I cunningly served it up without saying what it was, and it went down a treat. Definitely a lighter meal and more healthy, just as delicious as the original in its own way, but probably not quite making it to the comfort soul food category. On a cold and wet winter’s day I think I’d be going for the traditional version.
CHICKEN DORIA RECONSTRUCTED
Ingredients
600g chicken thigh fillets, sliced into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
1 cup frozen peas
2 cups sliced button mushrooms
8 cups cooked quinoa
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp tamari
1/4 cup tomato sauce
500g ricotta cheese
1 egg yolk
finely grated cheese such as parmesan
finely chopped chives, to serve
Method
- Cook the quinoa as per instructions on the packet. Place the clove-studded onion and bay leaf in the water with the quinoa. Remove the onion and bay leaf when the quinoa is cooked.
- Heat the oil in a large wok over high heat. Add the chicken and fry until lightly browned. Add the onion, mushrooms and peas and toss until the onions and mushrooms are softened. Add the quinoa, salt, soy sauce and tomato sauce and toss for about five minutes until the quinoa is coated and fragrant.
- Stir the egg yolk into the ricotta.
- To assemble the doria, place the quinoa mixture into a gratin or baking dish and cover with the ricotta. Scatter the top with cheese and grill under an overhead grill until the cheese is browned and bubbling. Top with chives and serve.
So here it is, my healthy version of Chicken Doria, a Japanese dish, adapted from a French dish, with just a hint of Spain. I know that many of you adapt recipes to make them more healthy. I’d love to hear about it.