Brazilian Chicken Stroganoff for the Brazilian

My boyfriend, the "Brazilian" is originally from Brazil, and often talks about how he misses the great food from there.  He is also my work out partner and the trainer put him on a healthy eating program as well.  However, the Brazilian is blessed with great metabolism, so his diet- while low fat, is focused on helping him put on weight/muscles.  Sadly he does not cook, but I thought I would surprise him and attempt to create a healthy version of Brazilian Chicken Stroganoff to eat over the long weekend. 

If you've never had Brazil's version of Stroganoff, they traditionally use a tomato base and a heavy cream which makes it dreamy... In Brazil this dish is typically served over rice and topped with crisp potato sticks (like Piknik stick chips).  This dish is so popular in Brazil that it's served in fast food chains, as a topping on pizza, baked potatoes and other creative creations. 

To lighten it up I nixed the heavy cream and substituted Greek yogurt.  (If you haven't jumped on the Greek yogurt bandwagon do so ASAP!)  Greek yogurt is great as it is super creamy, low in calories and packs in extra protein.  My three favorite brands to use are Fage, Chobani and the Trader Joe's 0% Fat.  My attempt below is a combination of 3 different recipes that I found online. 


Brazilian Chicken Stroganoff

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion minced

1 clove garlic minced
1 teaspoon salt

1 basket white mushrooms (sliced)

1 lb chicken cut into 1 inch cubes
1/2 cup fat free chicken stock

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons ketchup

3/4 cup Greek yogurt or non fat sour cream

1.  Put the chicken, garlic, spices and 1/2 the onion in a bowl and mix.  Let marinate for at least 1 hour. 

2.  Heat up olive oil in pan and add in the rest of the onion and mushrooms and saute until tender.  I ended up adding in a variety of dried mushrooms in as well, since I thought it would amp up the taste.

3.  Add in the chicken with marinade, let chicken start to brown.   Add 1/2 cup of chicken stock (I've seen some other recipes use cognac or wine, which I'm sure is yummy, but since we are trying to keep this healthy I went with the chicken stock) to make a thick sauce.  Cook for 5 minutes on medium heat or until chicken is done.  If mixture looks dry add in a splash more chicken stock. 

4.  When done mix Greek yogurt, mustard and ketchup in a bowl and add in to pan. Mix briefly and serve with potato sticks.

Notes: In hindsight I wouldn't cook this again in my cast iron pot, since it didn't provide a nice brown on the chicken.  I might also use the 2% Greek yogurt since the 0% seemed to separate a little (maybe due to the protein?), though the taste was fine.  Oooh an even better choice instead of the chicken broth + Greek yogurt might just be a low fat cream of mushroom soup! 

Served over brown rice with sauteed spinach

This dish is traditionally served with rice and maybe some Pan de Queso.  I ate it over brown rice and the Brazilian had it over some mashed potatoes (his healthy complex carbs).  Below is the instant mix to make Pan de Queso (cheesey breadballs) and the potato sticks I got from the Brazilian market by my house. 



Brazilian yumminess