Indian Beans Recipe - Fat Free

For things that need hours of boiling, why add fat? You can't taste it. You won't miss it. The stew will taste just as delicious with or without the oil. So try this recipe and see if you enjoy this lower calorie version.

1 cup black eyed peas, soaked for 4 hours
blended to a puree: 1 large tomato, 2 x 1inch pieces of ginger, 1/2 onion cut into big chunks
1 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder or flakes
(Optional) MDH Chana masala powder
salt

1. Boil the soaked beans for 2 hours in 2-3 cups of water.
2. Throw out the dark boiling water. Add fresh water. 2 cups.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients. Boil for 2 more hours.

DONE!

Or if you want to slow cooker this, put all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cook on high for 6 hours.

DONE!
Because there is no added fat, I just count the calories/points of the beans.

Enjoy!

Baked Pakora Recipe Test Results

Baked Pakoras

I made my own recipe for Baked "Pakoras. These were very good. And a teeny tiny fraction of the calories.

Ingredients:
1 head of Cauliflower cut to bite-size pieces
1-2 Broccoli heads cut to bite-size pieces
2 green peppers cut to 1inch pieces
salt to taste
2 tsp. Garam Masala powder
1/2 cup ground chick pea flour
2 tsp turmeric powder
(optional) any other spices like chilli powder, amchur, etc. 
2 tbsps oil

Steps:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.Wash all the veges and coat evenly with the oil.
3. Sprinkle the remaining ingredients one-by-one and toss thoroughly and evenly.
4. Lay a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Lay out all the vegetable pieces evenly on the cookie sheet. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until cooked.
5. You could flip the vegetables over mid-way through the cooking process.

Serve as is or with Ketchup, Indian Mustard, Hot sauce or anything you like.

Older Post:
I love pakoras but they are deep fried and don't serve my weight loss purposes well. Ergo the search for a healthy pakora recipe.

I found this online:

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=453708

The recipe writer says it's delicious. I believe the writer... I just need to test it for myself. I will let you know how it turns out.

Cheers!

Cabbage Bandha Kopir Chhenchki

Kalo Jeera phoron
Red chillies
Mustard oil
Shredded Cabbage
(Optional) Jeera powder for taste - very little
Cover and cook
Salt

Lau Ghonto

Lau/Zuchini/Squash - Shredded or sliced thin
Cumin seeds
Whole Gorom Moshla
Ginger
Green chillies
Red chillies
Turmeric
Tomato
Optional - Fish pieces/Shrimp pieces
Optional - Bori/Pokora
Salt

Meat pie

I watched a great meat pie recipe here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKfhcQet-6M

I think I added some garlic for flavour. But kept the recipe mostly the same. I think I also thickened the meat with some flour. Here are the pictures of the wonderful pastry top.

The pie came out quite delicious!! Didn't last very long.

Delicious Breakfast

Just some nice photos of breakfast one morning.

 Croissant, fried eggs, and breakfast potatoes.

1 large baking potato, diced
1 large yam, diced
2 tsps of oil
1 tsp oregano
salt
pepper
Put it all together and cook on medium heat in a skillet or put in a 350degree oven for 40 minutes till it's all tender. :)

Summer Squash with Shrimp (Chinese inspired)

I got inspired by a delicious dish I had eaten at my friend's house. It's one of those unobtrusive, family, Chinese recipes that don't get served in restaurants. It was a bitter melon and ground pork dish. I had totally different ingredients: some farmer's market summer squash and some shrimp. Here's what I came up with... it was quite delicious! It was hearty, healthy and very filling with a cup of steamed rice.

2-3 medium summer squash sliced thin (about 4-5 cups)
6 medium shrimp, deveined, peeled,washed
2 tbsp black bean paste
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame seed oil
1 tbsp garlic minced
2 thin slices of ginger
salt, to tastepepper, a pinch
2-3 tsp vegetable oil

Take a nice big wok if you have one, easier to cook with.

1. Warm the oil on medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger till aromatic.
2. Add the shrimp. Cook till just pink. Add a tsp of soy sauce and a sprinkling of salt. Stir.
3. Add the squash, black bean paste, remaining soy sauce, some more salt, a little pepper, and the sesame seed oil. Mix well.
4. Cook for 20 minutes on medium heat till the squash is cooked.

What to do with all those Bananas?

Make Banana Bread!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/banana-banana-bread/

Or turn them into muffins.

I put a chocolate icing on top. Icing is a pretentious word for melting 1/4 cup of chocolate chips with 1 Tbsp of skim milk in the microwave for 30 seconds ... or until it's smooth, liquid and easy to spread. Stir patiently and thoroughly and spread it on the cake immediately. The chocolate will harden quite quickly (in about 5 minutes or so).

And OFCOURSE I substituted half the butter for unsweetened applesauce.

(source: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/ rakratchada torsap)

Chicken Soup куриный суп

A simple, healthy soup.

What you will need:

4 Whole Chicken thighs, washed
2 medium onions, peeled
2 large potatoes, peeled
1 large carrot, diced
1 stick celery, diced (optional)
1-2 tsp oil or butter
salt
pepper
2 tbsp dill
a dollop of sour cream to serve

1. Take a large soup pot, fill with approximately 12-15 cups of water. Place the chicken in the pot, make sure the chicken is submerged in the water. Add one whole onion in the pot. Cover pot and boil for 40 minutes.
2. In a separate pan, warm some oil. Dice the second onion and add it to the pan. Mildly fry for 5 minutes on medium heat. The onions shouldn't get any colour, they should just soften. The recipe doesn't call for celery, but I added one diced celery into the pan to saute as well.
3. Add the sauteed onions and celery to the soup pot. Add salt, pepper, dill and carrots.
4. Immediately after step 3, Take the chicken out of the pot but keep the soup boiling still.
5. Peel the potatoes. You can add them whole to the soup pot or dice the potatoes and add. Boil for another 30-40 minutes until the potatoes are tender.
6. Finally shred the cooled chicken and add to the soup pot. Let the soup come to a boil once more.

And you're done. I've managed to make the recipe look difficult, but it's the simplest thing ever. Enjoy!

Here's a couple of good videos for it:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fTUlJ-lAmk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wVffxH08Eg

Good Eats at Banff

I actually took some pictures of the food I ordered...

So the first place was the Wild Flour which is a wonderful place that serves wholesome, earthy, tree-hugger type food. The food is very delicious. The bakery is attached and you can see the bakers at work while you wait in line to order your food.

The day I took this picture I got the Swiss Cheese, Arugula, Ham and Tapenade pressed panini sandwich. I ended up taking the ham out because I didn't feel like eating meat that day. The sandwich was warm and deeelicious!!

 

The next morning I decided to try something other than a chain for my latte. I chanced upon the first of 3 cafes, all called Evelyn's. Despite there being three of these on the same street that only spans about 5 blocks, I was very happy with what I received. The food was delicious, the view from my chair was perfect for people watching, and the weather was phenomenal... how could I possibly complain? I also ordered the Vegetable Puff Pastry. Little did I know that it was Indian inspired and turned out to be so spicy that I couldn't handle it more than 1 bite every 5 minutes. But it wasn't bad. The filling was ok, but the texture of the pastry was perfect.

 The view I enjoyed...