Tag: vegetables

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Vegetable and Corn Frittata

We strive towards low carb lunches that are quick and easy to prepare, and yet meet some level of nutritional content. These frittatas meet those requirements and taste great too. Here’s the recipe I used, for a single dish lunch for 6 people, cooked in a 10.5 inch cast iron pan.

Ingredients:

  • Eggs, 14, beaten
  • Bell peppers, 1 medium, chopped
  • Onion, 1 medium, chopped
  • Green chilies, 2, finely chopped
  • Carrots, 1 large, finely chopped
  • Corn, 3/4 cup, boiled with a pinch of sugar
  • Coriander leaves and stems, handful, chopped
  • Salami, 6 slices, diced
  • Tomato, 1 medium, diced
  • Salt, pepper to taste
  • Oil for frying

Method:

  1. Heat oil, fry onions and green chilies until onions are translucent.
  2. Add the rest of the vegetables and cook till the bell peppers are soft.
  3. Reduce heat. Add the beaten eggs, stir to mix the vegetables with the eggs, then cover and cook for 10 – 12 minutes.
  4. Take off the heat and pop into a medium-hot oven until cooked through. Test by inserting a knife. If the knife comes out clean, it’s cooked.
  5. Overturn on to a plate an serve hot.

Notes:

  • Top with cheese if you like, and put back under a grill for a bit to melt the cheese.
  • Experiment with different vegetables. Keep in mind mushrooms will release plenty of liquid.
  • Add flavors in the form of basil leaves, ginger, garlic, curry leaves and more.
  • Sometimes, I like pouring on a tadka of hot oil, spluttered mustard seeds, ginger, kadi patta and a little urad dal.

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Chicken, Aubergine, Carrots

We ate this for dinner last night, and I had a completely different idea of how I wanted this dish to turn out. As it so happened, Indu wanted rotis with dinner and that didn’t really work for what I had in mind.

This dish has a thick, very delicious gravy, and the veggies within become quite soft and juicy. I love whole garlic, even though they don’t add a great deal of their flavour to the gravy or the dish as a whole.

Ingredients

  • Chicken, curry cut, 500gm
  • Brinjal, long, 1 medium-large, washed and cut
  • French beans, handful, washed and cut
  • Carrots, 1 large, washed and cut
  • Onions, 2 medium, peeled and sliced fine
  • Garlic, 40 cloves, whole
  • Garlic powder, 2 tsp
  • Chili powder, 2 tsp
  • Coriander powder, 1.5 tsp
  • Kalonji, 1/2 tsp
  • Star anise, 1 piece
  • Cinnamon, 1/2 inch piece
  • Black peppercorns, 1 tsp, ground from whole
  • Laung, 4 – 5 pieces
  • Salt to taste
  • Oil to cook

Method

  1. Marinate chicken with salt, chilli powder and garlic powder for 30 minutes. Drain.
  2. Heat oil in a pan and on high heat, fry the chicken pieces until cooked on the outside. Remove and drain.
  3. In the same pan, on low-medium heat, add all the remaining spices.
  4. Add the onions and garlic; fry till the onions just begin to brown.
  5. Add the chicken, stir well, add the brinjal and carrots; cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the beans, and continue to simmer, covered for another 10 minutes, stirring once.
  6. Mix well, so the little gravy there is, covers the chicken and everything else.
  7. Serve hot with rotis.

Notes

  • Increase the spices proportionately if you want more gravy.
  • I used mustard oil to cook
  • You can reduce the amount of garlic cloves if you wish by up to half. If you do, smash the garlic before adding.
  • This recipe results in very soft veggies. If you like them firmer/crisp, reduce cooking time, but remember to put the brinjal in first nonetheless.

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Millets, Curd, Vegetables

I ordered a bunch of different types of whole grains a few days ago, including a number of millet varieties from Amazon. The problem with trying to cook healthier, is that so much more time needs to be spent on prepping and purchases, whilst normal cooking is just so very simple. What do you think?

For today’s dinner, I asked Indu to pick up whatever she fancied from the vegetable shop downstairs, and I’d do something or the other with it. So she picked up some fresh coriander, tinda, beans, spinach, carrots, broccoli and aubergines. She also picked up a pack of dahi / yogurt.

We ended up with another take on curd rice, which is one of our favourite dishes, but without the rice.

Ingredients:

  • Millets, 150gm, boiled per your preferences, drained.
  • Yogurt, 200ml or as much as you want
  • Coriander, fresh; chopped
  • Set 1
    • Tinda, 4 pieces; peeled and finely sliced, blanched
    • Broccoli, one small, stalk peeled and sliced, florets very finely chopped
  • Set 2
    • Spinach, half a bunch; blanched and drained
  • Set 3
    • Aubergine 3 pieces; sliced in half lengthwise, salted, drained and rinsed
  • Set 4
    • Carrots, 2 pieces, finely sliced, blanched
    • Beans, handful, finely sliced, blanched
  • Spice mixture for curd + millet mixture
    • Mustard seeds, 2 tsp
    • Ginger, fresh, 1 inch; shredded
    • Kadi patta / curry leaves, 1 stalk
  • Mixture for Tinda + Broccoli
    • Green chillies, fresh; finely chopped
    • Ground into a coarse mixture
      • Aniseed, 1 tsp
      • Methi / fenugreek seeds, 1 tsp
      • Green cardamom, 1 piece, seeds
  • Chili garlic chutney smeared on aubergine before grilling
  • Oil and salt as needed

Method:

  1. In a little oil, splutter mustard seeds, fry kadi patta and ginger. Mix this with the boiled millet and curd.
  2. Grill the chilli chutney smeared aubergine.
  3. In a little oil fry the chillies, spice mixture for tinda and broccoli. Add the blanched tinda and broccoli. Stir fry for a few minutes. Set aside.
  4. Salt the spinach.
  5. Serve.

Notes for organising the cooking.

  1. Chop everything that needs chopping.
  2. Boil a pot of water. Add washed millet. Keep this going till the end. It’ll probably take that long to cook.
  3. Boil another pot of water. Use this to blanch the carrot and beans mixture, the tinda and the spinach. Set aside.
  4. Follow steps 2, 3, 4 from Method above.
  5. Drain and rinse millet.
  6. Follow steps 1, 5 from Method above.

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Veggies, Veggies, Veggies

Breaking an intermittent fast, or the last meal before beginning one can make quite a difference to how we feel and the success of the oncoming fast. Plus, due to the low quantity of food and frequency of meals, we need a boost of nutrition if we are to avoid excess nutritional supplements.

This recipe was created for The Right Side of Life, a Safal community on Facebook. If you’re interested in eating healthier and involving food in different aspects of wellness, this is a group for you. We’re planning lots of activities and content for this group that I’m sure you’ll love!

This recipe is of a style I favour for this purpose – lots of flavour, lots of vegetables, plenty of fibre, low carb, lots of different nutrients and so on. Give it your own twist by adding other vegetables such as differently coloured bell peppers for instance, which would taste and look great in this soup. Also, this isn’t very spicy, so you might like to add some of that too per your own preferences.

I’ll just list the ingredients, of which there are many, and ask you to please watch the video for the method. It’s just about putting them all into a pot one after another, simmering for 5 minutes and then a few steps to finish. The ingredients are listed in order of use.

Ingredients:

  • Oil
  • Garlic, sliced
  • Spring onions (whites), sliced
  • Onions, sliced
  • Spring onions (greens), chopped, 3/4 of whatever you have.
  • Mushroom stalks, finely chopped
  • Mushrooms, sliced
  • Light soy sauce
  • Vinegar
  • Honey
  • Carrots, sliced
  • Paneer, diced
  • Singhada, coarsely chopped
  • Chinese cooking wine (optional)
  • Green chilli sauce
  • Add-It Vegetable Gravy Seasoning
  • Dried red chilli
  • Mustard greens
  • Green peas
  • Spring onions (greens), remaining amount
  • Coriander leaves, chopped
  • Dark soy sauce
  • Oranges

Yeah, that’s a lot. Don’t forget the dark soy sauce, or the soup looks really dull and drab.

Method:

Watch the video below please. :)

Notes:

  • Go slow with the vinegar, they can be mild to sharp depending on the brand.
  • A dash of Chinese sesame oil over each bowl will lend a lovely aroma.
  • Add green chillies for spice if you wish
  • Add more vegetables if you want
  • Replace mustard greens with spinach or other greens if you want.
  • Using a stock cube might be an interesting touch.
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Chicken and Vegetables in Alfredo Sauce

Sometimes, we feel the need to eat rich foods without compromising on flavour in the name of health. I do that too every so often, and dishes like this are the end result – loads of calories packing a bunch of flavours and textures.

You can choose any pasta of your choice to go with this dish. We chose penne and next time, may go with hand-made noodles, which always taste so very good!

chicken and vegetables in alfredo sauce on a bed of penne.

Ingredients:

  • Broccoli, 1 medium sized piece, trimmed and finely chopped
  • Bell pepper, red, 1 medium sized piece, trimmed and finely chopped
  • Mushrooms, button, 1 packet, trimmed and finely chopped
  • Chicken breast, optional, 250gm, finely chopped
  • Garlic, fresh, peeled and finely chopped
  • Garlic, powder, 1 tbsp
  • Italian spice, per taste
  • Chili flakes, per taste
  • Salt, per taste
  • Cream, 200 gm pack
  • Butter, 100 gm pack
  • Cheese of your choice, 100gm, grated

Method:

  1. Melt butter in pan
  2. Saute the garlic first, then the mushrooms and then the chicken
  3. When the chicken is no longer pink anymore, add the bell pepper and broccoli and mix a bit.
  4. Add the cream, mix in all the spices (garlic powder, Italian spice, salt, chili flakes), lower the flame to a simmer.
  5. Cook for 2 – 3 minutes to soften the bell peppers a little.
  6. Stir in the cheese.
  7. Serve hot on a bed of rice or pasta.

Notes:

  • We used Domino’s spice sachets. If you don’t have any of the two, basil+oregano works well. Fresh basil, even better.
  • You can also add onions if you like to the initial mixture
  • You can also add other vegetables like peas, finely chopped cauliflower, blanched spinach among others to increase the nutritional density.