So the quest for high flavor, low fat foods is ongoing in this household. Enter an old favorite of mine: Souvlaki with Tzatziki. I first fell in love with this Greek dish when I lived in Montreal, of all places. There was this tiny skiing village north of where I lived (I actually lived about 40 mins north of Montreal), and we’d go up there from time to time to ski and eat, eat and ski, oh, and drink plenty too. This is a link to the wiki page if you’re interested in that town.
Anyhow, this tiny restaurant served the most delicious Greek meals and I fell in love. I also fell into a culinary quagmire because I had had no previous experience either eating or cooking Greek flavors and was forced by necessity, to learn to recreate these flavors in a pre-internet era.
Of course the protein of choice for souvlaki is lamb, but pork with do in a pinch. Ahh pork…who doesn’t love it? Well, my hips don’t, as a matter of fact. So chicken is going to be our protein of choice for the slimmed down version. Try this dish out, it is ridiculously FULL of flavor and virtually no fat to speak of.
Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki Sauce
1 32oz container fat free, PLAIN (no sugar added, not vanilla flavor) yogurt
2 lbs chicken breast meat, cut into 2 inch cubes
1 lemon
2 tbsp dried oregano
pinch of salt and ground pepper
Tzatziki Sauce:
Remainder of yogurt
1 cucumber, seeds removed
1 large clove garlic
2 tbsp very finely chopped or grated sweet onion or green onion
2 tsp oregano
1. Mix your chicken cubes with 1/2 cup of the yogurt. Squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lemon, and add the oregano. Season with salt and pepper, mix well and refrigerate for several hours to marinate.
2. For the tzatziki, line a strainer with 2 layers of paper towels. Put the remainder of the yogurt into the strainer and let drain for about 1 hour. This will thicken the yogurt to the consistency of the much more expensive, Greek Yogurt.
3. Grate the peeled and seeded cucumber and set in a strainer. Add about 1 tsp of salt and combine. The salt will sweat the cucumbers removing excess liquid. Let sit for about an hour, then squeeze to remove excess liquid before using.
4. Combine the thickened yogurt with the drained cucumbers, add minced garlic and onion. Combine and season with oregano, salt and pepper. Tzatziki is done. Refrigerate until ready to use.
5. Grill your cubes of chicken over moderate heat until cooked, then serve with the tzatziki sauce.
This dish is so easy and delicious you won’t believe it is so healthy. I like to serve it with rosemary and garlic roasted potatoes and a nice crisp salad. Enjoy!
