Another Mexican-inspired dish for you today. According to Wikipedia, the dish originated from Puebla, Mexico. Regardless of where it started, it’s a pretty good dish. Shredded chicken in a tomato and chipotle sauce. I found a great version from Better Homes and Garden where they made a mango version. I’m taking a step further and adding lentils. Almost every dish I have made with chicken thighs so far has made really small portions. Nothing like eating dinner and feeling hungry. It’s almost like the stereotypical fancy restaurant in the movies. A slab of cold meat and five peas and you have dinner. I know here in America we eat monstrous portions, but there’s no reason to have portions so small they aren’t worth eating. So adding some lentils it is. The original recipe otherwise is pretty good in terms of stats.
- 269 Calories
- 6g Fat
- 140mg Cholesterol
- 817mg Sodium
- 324mg Potassium
- 22g Carbohydrate
- 32g Protein
- 13% Vitamin A
- 48% Vitamin C
- 6% Calcium
- 14% Iron
Really the only things that need boosting are the A and C. The sodium can be lowered by removing the added salt. I also plan to serve this with brown rice. Here’s what I changed:
- I removed the added salt to reduce the sodium.
- I replaced the tomatoes with pumpkin puree and red bell pepper.
- I added brown lentils to bulk out the dish.
- I increased the servings to 8 to reduce the calories enough to add rice.
Here are the final stats:
- 257 Calories
- 5g Fat
- 105mg Cholesterol
- 185mg Sodium
- 196mg Potassium
- 30g Carbohydrate
- 29g Protein
- 137% Vitamin A
- 102% Vitamin C
- 6% Calcium
- 19% Iron
Here is the final recipe:
Mango and Lentil Chicken Tinga
Serves 8
- 1 sweet onion, cut into wedges
- 1 mango, halved, seeded, peeled, and diced
- 2 pounds chicken thighs, skin removed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground chipotle chile pepper
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 15oz can of pure pumpkin puree
- 1 cup brown lentils
- 1 cup mango nectar
- In a 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker place onion and mango. Top with chicken, lentils, pumpkin, chipotle pepper, garlic, cumin, ginger, and cinnamon. Pour chicken broth, and mango nectar over all. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 4 to 5 hours or on high-heat setting for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Using a slotted spoon, remove chicken from cooker; cool slightly.
- Remove chicken bones. Discard bones and shred chicken. Return shredded chicken to cooking liquid.
- To serve, use a slotted spoon to transfer the chicken mixture to shallow bowls. Add a big spoonful of cooked white rice to each bowl. Spoon broth around rice and chicken and serve.
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