Recipe: Chicken and spinach jumbo shells

Bring a taste of Italy home with this signature pasta dish!

Method

•  Boil water in a large pot and add salt to it. Cook the macaroni in the boiling water as indicated on the packaging.

•  In a separate pan, heat the oil. Once the oil is prepared, add chicken and spinach leaves and allow them to cook for about 10 minutes.

•  Add onions and ginger garlic paste to the chicken and cook it for another five minutes.

•  Pour in the tomato puree, chilli sauce and soya sauce and sprinkle the turmeric powder, red chilli flakes and salt on top. Mix the ingredients thoroughly.

•  After about five minutes, add the vegetables to the mixture and fry until they are cooked through.

•  Layer the chicken and vegetable mixture over the boiled jumbo macaroni. You can even stuff the mixture inside the jumbo shells or toss them together to make pasta salad.

•  Garnish the dish with some finely chopped coriander leaves and serve warm.

Top 10 benefits of eating spinach leaves

Leafy greens like spinach provide many more health benefits than other foods when compared calorie for calorie. Check out these interesting facts on why you should include spinach in your daily diet.

•  Spinach is an extremely nutrient-dense food, low in calories yet rich in vitamins, minerals and other elements necessary for a healthy body. This green is a great source of vitamin K, vitamin A, magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, protein and omega-3 fatty acids. Spinach also contains vitamin E, vitamin C and vitamin B2 in considerable amounts.

•  One of the greatest plus-points of spinach is that it is readily available. Also, the versatile food can be eaten raw in a salad or cooked, eaten as a main course or soup. You can also indulge in a spinach smoothie if you wish to drink the goodness it has to offer.

•  Loaded with flavanoids, spinach acts as an antioxidant and protects the body from free radicals and illnesses, including cancer-causing elements. In addition to this, the antioxidants found in spinach leaves work to keep cholesterol at bay whereas folate and magnesium lower blood pressure and strengthen the cardiovascular system.

•  Spinach contains anti-inflammatory properties which can improve arthritis, osteoporosis, migraines and asthma.

•  Lutein, a substance found in spinach, protects against eye diseases like cataracts and macular degeneration.

•  The mineral iron is extremely beneficial for women during menstruation and childbirth as iron is a component of haemoglobin which carries oxygen through the body. Growing children and adolescents should also increase their spinach intake for energy and faster growth.



Published in The Express Tribune, Ms T, December 14^th, 2014.