Honeyed Five Spice Chicken Pocket

One of my favourite pastime is trying out new recipes. Last weekend, I'd made "honeyed five spice chicken pocket" for my brunch. The recipes is from the book Healthy One Dish Cooking that I bought from Reader's Digest few months ago. The basic recipe is simple and I have modify it slightly based on the stuffs that readily available in my pantry :)

This simple meal take about 40 minutes preparation time, including the marinating of the chicken. I think the chicken will taste much better if I allow it to marinate longer but my tummy is hungry. So, I just marinate it for half and hour. Cooking time take about 20 minutes and the stuffs I prepared is enough for 3-4 people. You can always reduced the amount if your are cooking for fewer people.

What do you need?

1/4 cup (60ml) lemon juice
2 tbsp honey (or more if you like it sweeter)
1/2 tsp five spice powder
3 skinless chicken breast fillets
4 large pita bread (use wholemeal pita bread if you are a health conscious)
3 lettuce leaves, shredded
16 cherry tomatoes, halved (If you don't have cherry tomatoes, you can use normal tomatoes but it will be less sweeter)
1 carrot, peeled and coarsely grated ( I do not really have a grater, so I try to julienned it)

To make the lemon and herb yogurt dressing, you'd need:

1/2 cup (130g) natural yogurt (use low fat if you are health conscious)
1/2 lemon, zest grated and juiced (you can get about 2 tsp of juice)
2 tbsp of chopped fresh flat parsley (get it from the herb section in your supermarket. You can also use other herbs such as dill or chives.. whichever you prefer.. just don't use oregano or other strong smelling herbs please.. )

How to make it?

1) Combine lemon + honey + five spice powder in a shallow dish that is large enough to hold the chicken breast in single layer. Mix together until well blended. Make some deep slashes in each chicken breast and put it into the dish. Rub the marinade all over the chicken, ensuring that it get into the slashes. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate it in the fridge for 30 minutes

2) To make the dressing, blend/mix the yogurt + lemon zest + juice + parsley and season to taste. Cover and chill until you need it

3) Bring the chicken to room temperature and grill the chicken for about 20 minutes (or until cook). Occasionally, baste the chicken with the marinate and turn in to the other side halfway into cooking. Once the chicken is done, thinly sliced it diagonally and set aside to cool

4) Sprinkle the pita bread with little water and warm it under grill for 2-3 minutes. Meanwhile, toss the lettuce, tomatoes and carrot with the dressing. Slice open one side of each pita bread and make a pocket. Stuff the chicken and the salad into the pocket and serve immediately

How does it taste?

The five spice powder adds some Asian flavour to the pita bread sandwich. I would prefer to add in more seasoning to the chicken so that it has more bodied taste. I'd add in some garlic and ginger if I were to do it again. The dressing has a refreshing taste and taste much better with normal yogurt (as compared to low fat). Adding lemon juice to the yogurt make it thinner and it also make the dressing too sour for my liking. The dressing taste a bit bland, so I spiced it up with sprinkling of chopped bird eye chilies and some salt. A dash of Tabasco sauce can also add colour to it. Instead of tossing the lettuce, tomatoes and carrot with the dressing I just spoon the dressing over the assembled pita.

It is simple dish and the chicken and dressing can be made in advance and we can have this as cold sandwich instead. Using pita instead of sandwich bread really make you feel full afterwards. I prefer to dip the chicken directly into the dressing while it still hot rather than having it with pita or any other type of bread. The mild sweetness of the chicken complement the the dressing very well.

I'd give this recipes 3 out of 5 stars.