Whey Chicken / High Protein Diet

Whey chicken is an an innovative dish created by me :)) going with most popular flavors of Lemon and Rosemary Chicken.

If u are thinking what and why I chose whey - It is the water left behind after making paneer (shown in steps pic 5). I was making some rasmalai and was left with lot of whey so I thought of putting it to good use instead of throwing it as it has high protein content.
I must say I am extremely happy with the experiment and plan to  make it more often. I was little apprehensive on how my spice loving family would receive it but to my utter surprise they were little annoyed that I did not make more. The chicken was succulent and juicy. Infact it was so tender that it was falling apart and bursting with flavors in each bite.

The citrus of the lemon peel and whey simply does wonders here I promise u will not miss the regular Indian spice.The wafting aroma while the chicken cooks oh that is sure to make ur neighbors hungry too!

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Ingredients:
Chicken -6 pieces (with skin)(Thigh or leg pieces )
Meyer lemon - 1
Rosemary sprigs - 2 (if dried about 1 tsp)
Black pepper corn- 1 tsp (crushed)
Garlic - 1 pod
Whey - 2 cups
Vegetable oil 2-3 tsps
Salt to taste

(see method for instruction with picture numbers.)

Prep work
1..Wash the chicken well and pat it dry with a paper towel.(Do not discard the skin as it crisps up and leaves the meat tender and juicy till end.) Marinate with salt and leave aside for an hour.
2..Break the garlic pod and separate the garlic flakes (with peel otherwise it will burn).
3.. Peel the lemon with a potato peeler (without the bitter white part) .

Method:
1.Heat a cast iron pan and add the vegetable oil
2.Carefully brown the chicken pieces to a nice golden brown color. (Need not cook it)
3.Remove the chicken pieces from the pan and discard the fat and oil remaining in the pan.(Need not clean completely)
4.5.6..Heat the same pan again and return the chicken pieces to it.Evenly spread the garlic with peel,lemon peel,rosemary and pepper crushed around the chicken.
7.8 Pour 1 cup whey on to the chicken, reduce heat and simmer for half an hour.Cook it covered.
9.Turn it to the other side carefully, pour the remaining whey and simmer it for another 15 minutes to half an hour depending on the chicken and gravy u want.I went for a dry one.In the end press the garlic and serve with chicken discard its peel and lemon peels and rosemary sticks if any.

I Served it along with salad and cooked semolina (cooked in milk and cheese) which is very soggy so I did not need the chicken gravy.U may use the gravy to serve on top of the chicken.

Taking pics in bright light is a dream for the time being so please bear with me and adjust with my phone pics and dark pics.Thank you for understanding.
Hope you like it.
Meena