A healthy Meal

Alka Keswani — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:28:24 +0000

Its Confession time now and I am about to divulge few food secrets of mine. I hate to drink milk, gorge on panipuris and sevpuris atleast thrice a month, I drop in a blob of butter in pavbahji while cooking it (my hubby don’t like to have butter, but he wants a restaurant like taste too….duh !), I can’t resist anything deep fried, I love rice more than wheat, I go weak in my knees at the sight of samosas, I love to eat in restaurants, skip my breakfasts….so what else is remaining to list me in unhealthy eaters…..huh.?? Well these pathetic food habits had led me to loads of health troubles and I am seriously thinking of switching to ONLY HEALTHY DIET….but that’s what I do…just think…never act! But before you all sign me off as a hopeless case, let me count on some good things too, like I have just one cup of tea everyday, no hard drinks or soft drinks, no pastries, cookies, cakes, no sweets and yes I love all the vegetables right from turnip to pumpkin, from bitter gourd to broccoli. I make it a point to have at least one kind of pulses everyday and I eat rice once in two days. So that puts me back in your good books …hopefully ! But still, now when I finally decided that enough is enough, I know I will need tons of moral support and some strict watchful eyes over me to get rid of all the extra pounds that I carry with myself (my weight). That’s where Mansi of Fun and Food came to my rescue ,when she announced Healthy cooking event. Then there is Sangeeth of letusallcook who boosted me further with her EAT HEALTHY….Protein rich food event And ofcourse Pooja of Creativepooja who is hosting VOW-Bottlegourd event, all together forced me to come up with a healthy meal, which need not be bland,which is easy to make and yet gave me a satisfying feeling of eating healthy. Thank you ladies for prompting me to assemble this meal..I enjoyed making it and eating it too… The meal here, consists of rice, dal, roti, salad, kadhoo ki subzi (bottlegourd),Gulabjamuns (sweet dish) and sindhi papad ….I guess its healthy enough,,what say ladies??? Dal chawal recipe is already posted here Rotis are simple flat breads made from wheat flour. Salad consists of chopped cabbage,carrots and boiled and chopped beetroot. Gulabjamun ….hmmm…the recipe will be shared here soon, I promise (since this goes for Healthy cooking..lets not go into details of this fried -Khoya- in- syrup dessert) The remaining veggie is Kadhoo, or bottlegourd(lauki) So lets get into it’s details… Kadhoo (lauki) helps in maintaining blood pressure and cholestrol, helps controlling diabetes, reduces fats so is useful in weight loss.It is a rich source of vitamins and minerals, it enhance growth of WBC and increases immunity.It has high amount of fibre, which is really necessary for healthy stomach.So just grab this humble veggie, you will surely be benefited from that (source..alibaba.com) While surfing the net about healthy stuff, I also came across Doctor NDTV Here is some important nutrition data ,which gives a rough idea, about the calories, protein, carbs and fats in about 100 gm of each ingredient used in this meal Ingredients Energy in kcal Protien (g) Carbohyrates(g) Fats(g) Wheat flour 341 12.1 69.4 1.7 Cabbage 27 1.8 4.6 0.1 Beetroot 43 1.7 8.8 0.1 Carrots 48 0.9 10.6 0.2 Bottlegourd 12 0.2 2.5 0.1 Tomato 20 0.9 3.6 0.2 Rice 345 6.8 78.2 0.5 The recipe is as follows Thoom tamate mein kadhoo (bottle gourd in garlic tomato base):(this pic is for you pooja for VOW bottlegourd event) Print A healthy Meal Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 25 mins Serves: 2 Dal rice and bottle gourd curry in garlic tomato base, a complete meal Ingredients Bottle gourd 1 medium sized Ginger about an inch Garlic 5-6 cloves Salt Tomato 1 Green chilly(es) 1-2 Turmeric powder ¼ tsp Coriander powder ½ tsp Oil 1tspn Coriander leaves for garnishing Method Wash and peel bottle gourd.Cut it into thick slices or chunks. Add some salt and shallow fry these in little oil till light brown. Remove from pan and keep aside. Now take minimum possible oil in same pan and add crushed/pounded ginger -garlic. Saute it, till light brown and then add chopped tomato. Add salt (little, as there is already some salt in bottle gourd), chopped green chillies, turmeric powder, coriander powder and mix it properly Add fried bottle gourd and cook on medium flame for about 2 min. If needed add a tsp of water and let the flavors mix properly. Garnish with coriander leaves and enjoy this healthy, quick fix veggie 2.2.1 Dear Medha tagged me for meme: Here are some facts about me 🙂 What are five things on my to-do list for today (non-work related)? Just the usual ones….Ironing, helping my son with his homework, grocery shopping ,cooking and then just off to ZZZZZZZZZ (yes sleeping is also a work for me…a rather important one …lol) What are five snacks I enjoy? Panipuri Samosa Mirchi pakora Bread potato rolls Vegetable sandwich (at last something healthy) What things would I do if I were a billionaire? Well I wish to do loads of things…but the most close to my heart wish is opening a school for kids, where kids will learn important skills and gain real knowledge, not just bookish stuff..that too with lots of fun, no stress, no heavy bags, no unnecessary homework.Just lots of field work and practical knowledge. Places I’ve lived: Just Mumbai Jobs I’ve had: Well I had never moved out of my comfort zone (read ..home) to work for earning money…I opted marrying a dependable guy for that 😉 So if managing a home (no matter how messy it is) and looking after kid is not a work..then guys …I am unemployed 🙁 And I wish to tag pooja,sia,Sri and shilpa for this meme That’s all folks,thanks for bearing me all this long !

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Kadhoo (lauki) Ja Kofta

Alka Keswani — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 01:47:25 +0000

Health Zeal says that “The bottle gourd is low in saturated fat and cholesterol yet high in dietary fibre, vitamin C, riboflavin, zinc, thiamin, iron, magnesium and manganese. It also contains moderate amount of vitamin-B complex. Its high water content makes it very cooling. Medicinally, it is used as a purgative, an antidote for certain poisons and a cure for cough. An infusion of the seeds can be drunk to cure chills and headaches “ Yet this humble vegetable is neglected and people consider it as a vegetable for elder generation or have a notion that this vegetable is eaten only during illness I do agree that when kadhoo is cooked simply, like chopped and cooked in tomato gravy,or stir fried with dry masalas, kids make faces and youngsters run away (yes you can be strict with kids to eat kadhoo, but youngsters would definitely flee) coz, the dish doesn’t look appetizing to the people who are not used to the flavour of this sweetish veggie So in these circumstances I always stick to my tried and tested method of camouflaging veggies, so that kids can’t recognize what they are eating (cheating…….yes…..but necessary to develop liking in kids for such healthy veggies) So here is one recipe which is bit high on calorie content, but wise ladies …you can trim off calories by baking koftas in microwave (if u have one) or shallow fry with minimum oil This is again a recipe for dual entries …One is for dear Pooja of My Creative ideas who is hosting an event of Bottle gourd as Vegetable of week And another one is for sweet Sia of Monsoon spice hosting a lovely event called WBB-Summer Feast. Sia this would not be a recipe for breakfast, but for brunch, it’s a sure relish Print Kadhoo(lauki) Ja Kofta Rating 3.0 from 1 reviews Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 45 mins Serves: 3 Lauki ke kofte or fried, spicy bottle gourd dumplings cooked in onion gravy Ingredients For Kofte Bottle gourd (Kadhoo) 1 medium sized Gram flour 2 tbsp Oil 2 tsp Salt A pinch of baking soda Turmeric powder ¼ tsp Coriander powder 1 tsp Garam masala powder ½ tsp Cumin seeds 1 tsp Annardana or dried pomegranate seeds (optional) a spoonful Green chillies 3-4 Coriander leaves Ginger as much preferred Garlic 3-4 cloves (or if available use 2 tsp of chopped saayi thoom or spring onions) Oil for frying For Curry Onions 2 Tomato 1 large sized Green chillies 2-3 Ginger about an inch Turmeric powder ¼ tsp Coriander powder 1 tsp Garam masala powder ¼ tsp Salt Oil 1-2 tsp Kitchen king powder and kasuri methi powder (strictly optional) ¼ tsp and 1 tsp respectively Method To Make Kofte Peel and grate lauki, rinse with water and boil in salted water for 2 minutes Let it cool,then squeeze out water (you can use this water as vegetable stock for gravy) add very little salt, turmeric powder,chopped green chillies, garlic, coriander leaves and garam masala powder. Taste and adjust the seasoning Then add two heaped tablespoons of gram flour (besan), one spoon of oil, a pinch of baking soda, cumin seeds and mix properly Grease palms of your hands and take a small portion of this mixture and make a round or oval shape Fry it properly on medium flame in hot oil, till crisp brown.Repeat the procedure for rest of mixture (If koftas tend to break, then either oil is not properly hot or you need to add some more amount of besan) To Make Gravy Fry chopped onions in little amount of oil, till brown Add grind-ed tomato, green chillies, ginger and turmeric powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, kitchen king and kasuri methi and fry till thick paste is obtained. Alternatively one can fry the onions, then grind them to attain a smooth gravy Add salt and little water to achieve gravy like consistency. Let it boil for few minutes and simmer it till the rawness of masalas is gone (if using pressure cooker wait for 4 whistles) While serving, place few kofte in bowl, pour hot gravy over it and garnish it with coriander leaves. Never boil the kofte in gravy, as they are very soft and would crumble and get mashed easily. Tastes best with phulkas or Rotis 3.5.3251

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A healthy Meal

Kadhoo (lauki) Ja Kofta