CC - Chicken Chillevip the healthier way

Mention the two words Chicken Chillevip and I'll come running, faster than you can ever imagine and I don't normally run, unless I'm being chased and even then I'd consider my options before taking off. Or if there is a ball. I will chase a ball, a football i particular, but provided with an indoor hockey stick, I will also chase a small plastic ball. Perhaps I'm more of a dog than a human... 

Back to Chicken Chillevip. This is one of my absolute all time favourite meals, one of those that I will eat hot or cold and when I'm so full up that I can't physically move any more. It is totally divine, unless you don't think that banana belongs in savoury food. If that's what you think, you are wrong. Sorry, but you are. Banana is what makes this dish so special and you can't have too much of it. Unfortunately I only had one this time, or I would have covered the surface completely with fruit coins.

In Sweden there is a dish that was invented in the mid-70s, called Flying Jacob. It features pretty much the same ingredients as Chicken Chillevip, which I believe is someone's adaption of the more famous dish. Whomever made the adaptions was a genius!

The main ingredients for Flying Jacob is cooked chicken and diced bacon, banana, peanuts, whipped cream and fairly mild chilli sauce. Rice is served on the side. There are no peanuts in Chicken Chillevip, the bacon has been swapped for ham and the rice is placed in the bottom of the tray. That way it is flavoured by the sauce while cooking, although it also makes the dish less saucy. If you prefer your meal swimming, you are better off going for Flying Jacob.

I have already admitted to resorting to running when I hear a rumour of Chicken Chillevip - CC -being served. What I'm about to tell you know is even worse. I will have at least two portions, if not three. Once the tray has been brought back to the kitchen after dinner, I will pick at the cold leftovers, which are just as nice as the warm food. 

Quickly, cover the dish up and place it in the fridge for tomorrow! It isn't safe there though. This is the only dish I will uncover ever so slightly, enough to get a fork in, while it is in the fridge. That way nobody will notice. Never mind that there is another big chunk of it gone. I'll blame the house gnome. When it comes to CC, I lose all self control. Tragic, but true. 

My partner is one of those who is wrong, who doesn't think banana belongs in food. How he can not like this meal is totally beyond me, but I still love him. In a way, it is a good thing because I now rarely cook CC, which of course mean I have less opportunities to lose self control.

Earlier today a Swedish friend visited me and when I told her that I had leftover grilled chicken in the fridge and a banana in the fruit bowl, she mentioned the C-meal. There was no bending of arms, no convincing required. In a split second I had abandoned my plan to cook a ziti and done a C-turn in favour of my favourite meal.

There was only one big but, or actually a couple. I didn't want to over eat and if I did happen to do it anyway, I didn't want it to be too damaging. There was also a large cauliflower that needed to be used. That turned out to be a great combo, especially as I also had a tub of Greek yogurt in the fridge.

This low calorie version was lovely, almost as lovely as the real thing, but not quite. Of course there was a difference. Nothing can replace whipping cream and rice and still taste exactly the same. The sauce is the key to success though. If you get the basic flavour of the sauce right, you can get away with almost anything. So the million dollar question is, would I make this again and recommend it instead of the original recipe? Yes, if you are watching your waistline. Does the lower calorie count make up for the lack of that little extra something, the divine element of the meal? Yes, for me it does. I shall keep making this version until I visit mum next time and then thoroughly enjoy her full on Chicken Chillevip. There won't be any cauliflower or yogurt anywhere near it.

Should you want to cook my healthy version of Chicken Chillevip, I will share my secret. I will however also let you know what I have swapped from the Original Divine Dish - ODD. The amount of the ingredients depend on how large the tray is, so you are going to have to figure that out for yourself.

cooked chicken in bite size pieces

cooked ham in small pieces

at least one banana

cauliflower florets (or rice for ODD)

Heinz chilli sauce (the quite mild version)

Greek yogurt (or whipped whipping cream for ODD)

If you don't have Heinz chilli sauce, you can replace it with of a combo of:

chilli paste, such as sambal oelek

tomato puree

ketchup

I used the combo for the sauce this time.

1. Get the chicken torn into smaller pieces and ham cut, but don't slice the banana yet, or it will go brown. Leave it for later.

2. Boil the small cauliflower florets (or the rice). 

3. Add the yogurt (or whipped cream for ODD) and chilli sauce or the combo to a bowl.

4. Mix well and do a taste test. It is meant to have a bit of heat, but also be quite sweet.

My sauce wasn't sweet enough with only yogurt, tomato puree and chilli paste, but when I added a squirt of ketchup, it was just right. Make it to your taste. Some people (I have been told) like a bit of curry powder in the sauce. I haven't tried that.

5. Drain the cauliflower (or rice) and place it at the bottom of an oven proof tray. You want a shallow layer, or the ratio between ingredients won't be rightl

6. Add a layer of cooked chicken.

7. Add a layer of cooked ham.

8. Slice the banana (s) and spread the coins evenly over the meat.

This looks like a lot of banana, but it isn't even close to what I would prefer. I used one banana, but I would happily have used three. Trust me, you can't have too much banana.

9. Carefully spread the sauce over the banana. 

 I didn't have quite enough sauce. You want it to seep into the ingredients below. Perhaps the yogurt didn't behave like cream, perhaps I simply had too little.

10. Bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes at 200 degrees. Note the colour. You want the pink sauce to turn orange. If it isn't orange, it isn't ready.

11. Serve and hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I do.

Here you can see that there wasn't even remotely enough sauce. The cauliflower was still white. With a bit of mixing on the plate, I solved the issue, but it didn't look very nice, so I didn't take another photo. Mind you, it did make the meal resemble the ODD, with small rice grains rather cauliflower florets. There is also another reason why I didn't take another photo. There wasn't time. All of a sudden the plate was empty.

So, did I have another helping? Only a tiny one, honestly. Did I attack the defenceless tray in the fridge? No, this version wasn't as nice cold as hot, hence save from fridge raiding expeditions. Another bonus. There will be leftovers for dinner tomorrow. Yay!