Winning recipes

Congratulations to Sara Khan for winning this amazing hamper from Astral Foods

Sara submitted the following recipes:

Chicken sosaties

1kg Goldi chicken breasts (cut in big cubes)

MARINATE IN:

1¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon red chillies

3 tablespoon mayonnaise

3 tablespoon Italian salad dressing

1 teaspoon mixed herbs

Other items

1 bottle pickled onions

Pineapple cubes

3 green and red peppers

METHOD:

1. Put the cubes of chicken on skewers with pickled onions, peppers,
pineapple cubes (as desired).

2. Baste with butter and braai

3. Serve on platters with sauce.

SAUCE:

125g melted butter

2 tablespoon tomato sauce

2 tablespoon mayonnaise
lemon juice to taste

Crushed garlic

METHOD:

Boil together and pour over chicken sosaties.

Braai chicken breasts

12 Goldi chicken breasts

2 tablespoon lemon juice

salt to taste (± 2½ teaspoon)

½ cup yogurt

½ cup cream

2 tablespoon garlic paste

1 tablespoon ginger paste

2 teaspoon roasted and ground jeeru

2 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon coarse black pepper

ghee or butter

Make incisions on the chicken breasts and rub in lemon juice, and salt. Refrigerate for a few hours

Mix the rest of the ingredients and marinate drumsticks for two hours

Braai, basting with ghee or butter.

Braai chicken masala

1 Goldi chicken, cut up into pieces for braai

1 teaspoon ginger garlic

1 tablespoon crushed red chillis

1 tablespoon mustard sauce

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoon flour

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoon tomato sauce

Mix all ingredients and marinate chicken. Braai while basting with oil.

Chicken myths busted (and an exclusive competition)

Chicken is certainly one of the world’s favourite and cheapest sources of protein. But more often than not, chicken gets a bad wrap for being filled with hormones, inorganic, mutant and so on. But these are mostly myths that people believe, and ultimately discourages people from eating chicken – the most versatile protein around.
Especially being a mom, we want what is best for our children, we want them to grow up big and strong and healthy without having to worry about the food they eat being unwholesome.
I sometimes overhear moms in coffee shops or at the stores saying to their children, no you can’t eat that it’s not good for you. What’s alarming about that is the fact that sometimes it’s to do with chicken.
I think the problem is that a lot of people are misguided or misinformed about various foods especially chicken. Astral is a leading South African poultry producer with brands like Festive , Goldi and County Fair which are fresh, frozen and crumbed chicken. They have approached me about this very topic and wanted to address some common misconceptions in the hope to help moms to continue to buy nutritious food and make good food choices for their family.
“We hope that by debunking some of the myths around chicken that this will make for a highly informed consumer public who knows what they are buying and what they are consuming. It will also hopefully encourage our public to buy local and support our local industry,” says Chris Schutte, CEO of Astral.
Schutte goes on to set straight the more common poultry fictions around:
1. Do chickens grow so fast because they are injected with growth hormones?
No, definitely not!  No chickens produced by any of Astral’s poultry operations are injected, fed or in any way whatsoever subjected to hormones. In order to obtain the desired growth and weight targets, a perfect combination of superior genetics, scientific nutrition and best farming practices are ethically applied. Be assured, eating our chicken products is perfectly safe for you!
2. Are all chickens injected with water before being sold?
No, not entirely true! Our fresh chicken, never frozen, is 100% natural. In fact, excess moisture is removed from fresh chicken through an air chilling process before being packed. However, we do flavour enhance IQF frozen portions (Individually Quick Frozen) with a water based brine, to improve meat tenderness and succulence by means of a scientifically applied injection method.
3. Are chickens restricted from movement by being kept in small wire cages?
Not true at all! In Astral, our chickens are raised in large poultry sheds designed to keep them as comfortable as possible. The disinfected floors are bedded with wood shavings, sunflower husks or wheat straw which allows them to scratch and move around as they please. Our chickens also have unrestricted access to light, clean water and nutritious feed 24 hours a day.
4. Are chickens reared on a diet of maize only?
No, only approximately half of the ration is maize! Maize, the main energy source in a chicken’s diet, comprises approximately 50% of the feed ration. In addition, specially formulated protein ingredients, together with key vitamins and minerals, are added to create the perfect balanced diet and is fed to our chickens in the form of easily digested crumbles or pellets.
5. Do antibiotics administered to chickens remain in the meat and are they dangerous to our health?
No, not entirely true! Antibiotics are administered to our chickens when necessary through feed intake and under the strict guidance of a registered veterinary practitioner. Any incidental antibiotic residues are well within the legislated maximum residual levels (MRL). It is standard practice to withdraw antibiotics from feed according to the manufacturers’ guidelines. This is done at least five days prior to slaughter to ensure no residues remain in the meat. Astral additionally tests the livers and muscles of slaughtered chickens through an independent laboratory for traces of antibiotic residues.
Astral is also running a fabulous competition for this week only:
• Send in your best chicken recipe for braai day (the recipe involving one of their brands such as Festive, Goldi or County Fair, stands the best chance of winning)
• The best recipe received by 17:00 on Friday 23 September will win a chicken hamper for them and their family courtesy of Astral
About Astral

Recipes can be posted as comments below or emailed to info@muslimmums.co.za

Astral is a leading South African integrated poultry producer. Key activities consist of animal feed pre-mixes, manufacturing of animal feeds, broiler genetics, production and sale of day-old chicks and hatching eggs, integrated breeder and broiler production operations, abattoirs and the sale and distribution of various key poultry brands.

EDITOR’S NOTE: ASTRAL FOOD PRODUCTS IN SOUTH AFRICA ARE CERTIFIED HALAAL BY THE MUSLIM JUDICIAL COUNCIL (MJC)

Lunchbox idea: Wholewheat bagel with chicken and tomato

a simple lunchbox idea that children can make themselves. thanks to http://kidscookbook.co.za

• 1 wholewheat bagel
• 2tsp butter
• ½ cup sliced cooked chicken
• 1 tomato, sliced
• Lettuce

Slice bagel in half. Spread with butter. Place a few lettuce leaves on the bottom half. Top with chicken and tomato slices. Place the top half of the bagel on the top.