Stuffed Chicken breast

It has been a long time since my last post and Facebook recently reminded me of that and so, I thought let's start cooking again, I mean a little fancy cooking and start blogging about it.

I have been wanting to try a stuffed chicken recipe for a long time, but most of it involved baking or chicken that was not spicy enough for my constant spice craving tongue. Yesterday, I bought chicken breasts from the store and thought will just make some chicken tikkas. However, right in the morning, my packet of milk curdled and I had some instant and fresh paneer on my hands!

And the idea sprouted - what if I stuff paneer into the chicken? That way my paneer will be still fresh when eaten and I can have chicken too!

And so I went about with making this dish. Having read so many recipes on stuffed chicken breasts, I had a fair idea on how to go about it, it was up to me to add my own filling.

Ingredients: (serves 1)

For the filling:

Paneer - 1/2 cup (It has to be as fresh and soft as possible so that you don't end up with a chewy and crumbly texture).

Chilli powder - 1/2 - 3/4  Tablespoon ( you can adjust it based on your spice level)

Salt

For the chicken: 

I medium sized chicken breast

Salt - per taste

Pepper - 1/2 teaspoon

Oregano - 1 teaspoon

Garlic Powder - 1 teaspoon

Butter - 1 cm cubes (2 nos)

Garlic Cloves - 1-2 nos

Method:

Clean and wash your chicken breast and split it from the centre. Basically, your chicken breast would be about 1 inch high, you need to make it to 1/2 inch or so, so that you have thinner pieces to work with. Then use a mallet and pound the chicken out evenly, so that it cooks better

Let's go to the stuffing next - Mix in the ingredients for the stuffing. Mix it well, if you find the mixture too dry and crumbly, feel free to add a spoon of curd, that should smoothen it out. Ideally your stuffing should come together and not be crumbly.

Once you make the mixture, place it in the centre of your chicken breast and roll it up. Ensure, that you don't really overlap the chicken too much. What I mean is that make, the chicken as flat as possible, so that you don't end up with a double layer of chicken meat, which would make it tough to cook. Of course, there will be a small overlap, else you stuffing will surely fall off.  

Now it is time to season the chicken breasts. Sprinkle salt, pepper, oregano and garlic powder over the chicken breast and rub. Do this on both sides and leave your chicken to marinate for 30 - 40 minutes. 

When the chicken has marinated long enough, heat up a pan and add in the butter. Grate in your garlic cloves into the butter and let the butter just be infused. Don't let the garlic completely burn, as slight browning is what we need. Place the chicken overlap side down into this sizzling butter and give it about 2 - 3 minutes on a medium-high flame. 

Then turn down the heat and cover the lid. After 10 minutes or so, flip the chicken and cook again. You will find the chicken juices in the pan, so the chicken won't burn out. However, keep checking on it. Do this side for about 6-7 mins and then cook the chicken on the sides as well. You may need a spoon or spatula to help you keep them standing on their sides. Let the sides brown too.

Once you see enough browning, turn off the heat and let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes. Close the lid and leave it. 

That is it, come back in 10 minutes and eat your heart out!

Hope you like this recipe :)