Smoked Chicken Quinoa Bowls with Zucchini, Harissa Roasted Chickpeas and Pesto Mayonnaise

The season is beginning to turn, and we’re all getting ready to put away our comfort-food pants. It’s not quite salad time yet, but everyone is becoming more and more aware of what they eat. With our first 30 day health & fitness challenge afoot (and I say that tongue in cheek) we too are joining the high-protein clean-eating masses in their quest for a healthier, better looking version of ourselves. Well, we’re easing into it. Slowly.

Our all time favourite kitchen appliance (after the bean-to-cup coffee maker), is the Phillips Air Fryer. It is basically a small convection oven that heats up super quick and cooks small quantities of food in a jiffy. It really is the number one must have appliance for singles who cook and small families.

If you do not have one of these, you can use your regular oven. Simply increase your cooking time by about 50%. Here’s an example of how we use ours for a healthier lunch or dinner…

Serves: 2

Cooking and preparation time: 45 Minutes

Ingredients

• ½ cup uncooked quinoa or quinoa bulgur wheat blend
• Stock cube
• 1 Large smoked chicken breast
• 1 Avocado
• 4-6 Zucchini
• 1 cup Cooked chickpeas
• 1 tbsp Harissa paste
• 2-3 tbsp Mayonnaise of your choice
• 1 tbsp Basil pesto
• 1 Lime
• Olive oil
• Chives or spring onions to garnish
• Soy sauce to taste
• Salt & pepper to taste

Uncooked Quinoa and Bulgur Wheat

Sliced smoked chicken breast

Harissa coated chickpeas

Quinoa bowl with harissa roasted chickpeas

Sliced zucchini/ courgettes

Method

Cooking  the quinoa:

• Boil 2-3 cups of water with the stock cube.
• Reduce the heat, add the quinoa and boil for 12-15 minutes until tender.
• Remove from heat, drain the remaining liquid and cover. Set aside.

Courgettes/ Zucchini:

• Rinse and slice zucchini into 3 mm discs.
• Arrange courgettes in Air Fryer basket, and drizzle with olive oil.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes at 200°C, occasionally shaking the basket to flip the courgette discs.
• Once the zucchini in cooked and browned, remove from the Air Fryer, and set aside.
• Add salt to taste.

Chickpeas:

• Rinse and drain chickpeas if using tinned chickpeas.
• Remove excess liquid.
• Stir in 1 tbsp harissa paste and make sure all the chickpeas are covered.
• If your harissa paste is too thick, water it down with 2 tbsp soya sauce
• Bake chickpeas for 8 – 10 minutes at 200°C in your Air Fryer
• Once the harissa paste is dry, and the chickpeas are darker in colour, you can remove from the air fryer and set aside.

Pesto-Mayonnaise:

• Mix pesto and mayonnaise together.
• Optional: you can add a squeeze of lime juice.

Harissa roasted chickpeas

Roasted zucchini / courgettes

Quinoa bowl with smoked chicken, roasted zucchini and harissa roasted chickpeas

Quinoa bowl with smoked chicken, roasted zucchini, harissa roasted chickpeas and avocado

Quinoa bowl with smoked chicken, roasted zucchini, harissa roasted chickpeas and avocado, served with lime and a pesto- mayonnaise dressing

Putting the bowl together:

• You will use half of everything you have prepared for each bowl.
• Spoon Quinoa into the bottom of the bowl.
• Spoon in the chickpeas and zucchini slices.
• Slice chicken breast into thin slices, and arrange in bowl.
• Spoon in the pesto-mayonnaise dressing.
• Garnish with lime slices and finely chopped chives.
• Add soy, salt and pepper to taste.
• Nom-Nom-Nom.