Recipe: Indonesian-inspired chicken

This family-friendly recipe for chicken with a creamy Indonesian-style sauce is a quick and simple mid-week meal.

Monique le Roux Forslund has made it her mission to give her family a sugar-free and carb-conscious lifestyle.

“By making the right choices when it comes to food, you have the opportunity to influence your health and, ultimately, your future,” she writes.

And, having followed a sugar-free diet for the past 10 years, she credits this with her good health and vitality.

Try her recipe for Indonesian-inspired chicken, one of 80 recipes in her new cookery book Sugar-Free and Carb-Conscious Living

Indonesian-inspired Chicken Ingredients 4 skinless, deboned chicken breasts, grilled until almost cooked through 6-8 rashers of bacon, cooked to your liking (reserve 1-2 rashers for topping) 2 tablespoons desiccated coconut or coconut flakes (optional) 1 1/4 cup cream 2/3 cup creme fraiche 3 tablespoons tomato puree 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1 teaspoon sambal oelek salt and ground black pepper to taste 1 cup salted peanuts, chopped for topping Method Place the chicken pieces in an ovenproof dish. Top each piece with 1-2 rashers of bacon and scatter over the coconut (if using).

In a bowl or jug, whisk the cream lightly. Add the creme fraiche, tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce and sambal oelek and stir to combine. Season to taste.

Pour the sauce over the chicken.

Sprinkle over the peanuts and the reserved bacon (chopped).

Bake in a preheated oven at 180C° for 15-20 minutes or until the topping is golden.

Serves four.

Sugar-Free and Carb-Conscious Living by Monique le Roux Forslund is published by Penguin Random House and retails for about R240.