To this day I am often asked how to achieve the balance between healthy eating and flavourful food. I usually get a quizzical look in my eye, raise an eyebrow, try to convey a demeanour of deep and earnest thought, then simply reply “Why are the two mutually exclusive?”

Here’s the thing, food already has taste. Some have rich and luxurious flavours while others are so pungent they turn the palette. Either way, the taste is there. More often than not our food is stripped of its flavour during preparation: boiling, frying, broiling, etc, etc.

And worse yet is that it’s losing its nutrients! So no taste and no nutrition; welcome to 90% of our lives, a scary statistic I just made up now, but it’s probably more accurate than any of us would like to admit.

But fret not, creating quick, healthy and flavourful dishes is really not that daunting a task. Today’s recipe is a perfect example.

STEAMED APPLE CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 skinless organic chicken breasts
• 2 tsp avocado or extra virgin olive oil (like any of us have extra virgins laying around)
• 3 cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 2 small onions, peeled and finely diced
• 2 carrots, trimmed, peeled and finely diced
• 1 small red pepper, deseeded and finely diced
• 1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
• 20 baby corn, trimmed
• 250 ml freshly pressed apple juice
• 100 g raw beansprouts

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 200 C
2. Take a large piece of aluminum foil and place the chicken breasts in the centre. Drizzle over the oil and add the ginger, garlic and vegetables. Draw up the sides of the foil and pour in the apple juice.
3. Scrunch up the foil to seal everything in and place in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven, check that the chicken is cooked (if it’s still pink in the middle put it back in the parcel and cook longer), and when cooked allow to rest for 5 minutes.
5. Open the parcel and serve each person immediately.

Serves 4 happy people.