Hello & welcome to Milly White Cooks! Today’s recipe is for my heart-healthy slow-cooker Chili Blanco ,which is from my easy low-fat low-cholesterol Mediterranean Diet cookbook. It’s also naturally gluten-free and dairy-free too, if you serve it with dairy-free yogurt. This recipe will feed four people generously but is only 305 calories each, with just 10 grams of total fat and three grams of saturated fat per serving. You can find the links to my cookbook in the detail box below. Let’s get started, you’ll need: 8 chicken thighs with the bone-in, these weigh 900 grams or two pounds with the skin on but I’ve removed the skin and visible fat and left the bones in. Next I’ve got 100 grams or half a cup of dried beans these are cannellini but I also sometimes use pinto beans instead. I’ve soak them overnight in cold water and they’re now rinsed and drained. Alternatively use 235 grams or 1 cup of ready cooked in beans that you’ve also rinsed and drained. This is 250 grams or two cups of mushrooms.
I’m going to use a medium fennel bulb which is about a hundred and fifty grams of fennel or one-and-a-half cups, roughly chopped. Fennel is crunchy and sweet with a mild anise flavor and is absolutely delicious. However if you have trouble sourcing it, simply replace it with three large celery stalks instead. You’ll need 2 bell peppers preferably red or yellow rather than green. 1 medium onion, 3 mild chilis, 25 grams or one-and-a-half cups of fresh coriander sometimes called cilantro, 2 garlic cloves, 1 lime which i’m going to divide. 480mls or two cups of reduced salt gluten-free chicken stock, Tabasco hot source. Then a mixture of spices starting with 1 teaspoon of ground cumin, 1 teaspoon of ground coriander, a quarter of a teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper, three-quarters of a teaspoon of dried oregon and half a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper and a quarter of a teaspoon of reduced sodium salt. You’ll also need some rapeseed or olive oil spray and not in view i’m going to use one tablespoon of corn flour or cornstarch and finally, to serve, 4 tablespoons of 0% fat Greek yogurt or a dairy-free equivalent if required.
Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel for more healthy cooking inspiration, now let’s get cooking! I’ve heated a large sauté pan over a medium heat and spritzed it lightly with olive oil spray. I’m going to start by adding the diced onion and fennel plus the peppers that I’ve be seeded and sliced. Love the sound of that sizzle! Give everything a good stir to combine then allow to saute for 5 minutes until softened, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile clean and slice the mushrooms and add these to the pan too, cooking for a further five minutes. Now I’ve removed the coriander or cilantro leaves from the stalks which I’ll set aside. Then I finely minced the stalks, which hold loads of flavour along with the garlic and de-seeded chilis. Gosh these are going to give so much flavor to the dish, so add them to the pan and stir in the dried herbs, spices, salt and pepper to cook for 1 more minute. Transfer the sautéed vegetables to your slow cooker. if you’re using uncooked beans, add them to the pot to at this point but do not add the ready cooked beans if these are what you are using instead.
Pour over the chicken stock and stir. Add the skinless chicken thighs to the slow cooker, there’s no need to sear them. Oh, it’s getting a little full in there! Dissolve the corn flour or cornstarch in two tablespoons of water and stir it into the stew. Add 3 or so dashes of Tabasco hot source, use more or less dependent on your own taste. Give everything a really good stir, pop the lid on the slow cooker and turn the setting to low cook. Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours. If you don’t have a slow cooker, transfer into a casserole dish or Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid and cook in a preheated oven then cook for 2 hours instead.
30 minutes before serving, use a slotted spoon and remove the chicken thighs to a plate. Use a fork and spoon to roughly shred the meat off the thigh bones. Discard the bones and also the knuckles. Return all the thigh meat to the slow cooker. At this point if you’re using tinned beans, make sure that they are thoroughly rinsed and drained and add them too. Finally, squeeze-in the juice of half of the lime and add most of the reserved coriander leaves. Give everything another good stir, pop the lid back on and cook for a further 30 minutes. Serve in warm rustic bowls, you can see how thick hearty and delicious this chilli Blanco looks! Top each portion with a tablespoon of yogurt, few chopped coriander leaves and a wedge of lime. If you like this video, please do give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel for more healthy cooking inspiration. Don’t forget you can find me on my blog MillyWhiteCooks.com as well as Twitter Facebook and Pinterest too. You can find this recipe in my best-selling easy low-fat low-cholesterol Mediterranean Diet cookbook with over a hundred more heart-healthy recipes, you’ll find all the links in the detail box below.
Please also let me know if you make this or if you’d like to see a video of any other of my recipes. If you’re interested in finding out more about eating for low cholesterol then watch my video 31 fabulous low-cholesterol diet foods. Thank you so much for watching and bye for now .
