Tonight I made green tea and ginger infused chicken cutlets with Asian noodles. This is a fairly straightforward, middle-of-the-week dish. It is also a paleo-friendly, gluten-free meal. My “noodles” we’re actually a julienned zucchini seasoned with garlic, sesame oil and a touch of honey. Delicious! I actually prefer the zucchini to regular pasta. As you can see from the photo, I also sautéed some sliced red bell pepper and green onions in a pan with some coconut oil, salt and pepper as a simple side dish.

Ingredients:

For the cutlets:

2 chicken breasts, sliced horizontally and then in half to create 8 thin cutlets
Salt and pepper
2 TBS honey
4 TBS water
1 tps sesame oil
1 teabag of green tea
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 TBS grated ginger (a frozen chunk of ginger with a micrograter works great, and saves you the trouble of peeling the ginger)
1-1/2 TBS coconut oil
1 lime
Dried red pepper flakes (optional if you want a touch of heat)

For the Asian noodles:

2 small zucchini squash
2 tps sesame oil
1 TBS coconut aminos (or soy sauce if that’s your fancy)
2 green onions, diced
1 small handful of cilantro, chopped
1 TBS sesame seeds

Directions:

Place your cutlets on a large cutting board, and spread some plastic wrap loosely over them. Give them a little pound with a meat tenderizer. You don’t have to beat them up, just a little to break the fiber and flatten them. Remove the plastic, and toss and little salt and pepper on the cutlets. Set aside

In small bowl, whisk together the honey, water, sesame oil, green tea, garlic and ginger.

Over medium-high heat, warm the coconut oil until it is shimmering. Then gently place the cutlets into the pan and brown both sides, about 3 minutes per side. You may have to do this in two batches, depending on the size of your pan.

Reduce heat to medium, and pour the ginger and tea mixture of the cutlets. Sprinkle a dash more of salt and pepper over them, and turn the cutlets once to coat both sides with flavor. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and set aside.

While your chicken is cooking, prepare your noodles: Julienne the zucchini into long noodles, and place in a microwave-safe bowl with 1 TBS water.

Season the noodles with salt and pepper, cover, and then microwave on high for 2 minutes.

Drizzle the sesame oil and coconut aminos over the cooked noodles, and stir to combine.

Plate your noodles and top them with the green onions, cilantro and sesame seeds.

Add the chicken to the plate, and dinner is served!