Recipe: Grilled Chicken Packets

Grilled Chicken Packets
From: the American Institute for Cancer Research

Grilling is great. Enveloping a chicken breast and vegetables in a foil packet before setting them on the grill is even better. This method, which my family favored long before a foil manufacturer recommended it, gives food appealing, concentrated flavor and leaves little or no clean-up.

It is also the perfect solution to avoiding the risk grilling can pose to your health.
The American Institute for Cancer Research advises that eating grilled meat, poultry or seafood exposes us to carcinogens called heterocyclic amines (HCAs). These substances form on foods as they cook on the grill or under the high heat of the broiler, whether or not char is formed. And when fat drips onto the heat source, it creates flare-ups and smoke that then deposits on the food another group of carcinogens, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

A simple way to avoid these carcinogens and still enjoy grilled animal meats is putting them under wraps. Tucking poultry, fish, or meats into foil packets before putting them on the grill avoids the problem. The food gets the flavorful aura of grilling, especially if you leave the top loosely sealed, but it neither chars nor is openly bathed in smoke.

Even with vegetables, which aren't susceptible to the carcinogens, you should take care not to let them blacken or char. With hard foods like peppers and onions, some precooking helps avoid this. Lightly steam slices of baking potatoes, sweet potatoes and wedges of onion or bell pepper. Dry them well and rub with a bit of olive oil before placing them on skewers for kebabs or directly on the grill.

To follow Grilled Chicken Packets, try a heavenly grilled dessert. Place fresh peach halves on a big square of foil. Mix ground cinnamon and brown sugar into some low-fat sour cream. Spoon this over the fruit. Top with a couple of crumbled Italian amaretti cookies. Seal the foil into a packet. Grill until the peaches soften, about 15 minutes. Cool 10 minutes, then serve.

1 Spanish onion, cut in 1/2-inch slices
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled, quartered and cored
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and cut in1/2-inch strips
12 oz. skinless and boneless chicken breast, cut in 4 pieces
1 cup "lite" coconut milk
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tsp. finely minced fresh ginger
4 tsp. curry powder
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 cups cooked brown long-grain rice

Heat grill or preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Lay out 4 10-inch long sheets of heavy-duty, wide foil. Place one-fourth of onion slices in center of each piece of foil. Cut each apple quarter into 4 slices and arrange over onion. Lay one-fourth of pepper strips over apple. Cut each chicken piece into 4 strips. Arrange over peppers.

In small bowl, combine coconut milk, curry powder, ginger, cilantro, and salt and pepper to taste. Season to taste with pepper. Pour a quarter of mixture over chicken and vegetables in each packet.

Bring sides of foil together and roll down over center of packet. Roll each end in to seal.

Place packets on grill, cover grill and cook until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Or set packets on baking sheet and bake until chicken is done, about 20 minutes.

Divide cooked rice among 4 plates. Open packets carefully to prevent steam from scalding skin. Spoon contents of each packet over each bed of rice and serve.

Makes 4 servings.

Per serving: 395 calories, 6 g. fat (3 g. saturated fat), 59 g. carbohydrate, 27 g. protein, 6 g. dietary fiber, 83 mg. sodium.