Lentil Chicken

Sorry to any regular followers, for not posting for some time. I have been busy travelling and tasting yummy foods. Recently experimented a variant of Dhansak..... lets call it urad-chicken or lentil chicken.I tried cooking chicken with various lentils, but it comes out best with white split urad dal (matpe beans). A very quick, easy, nutrious recipe and very appealing to the taste buds too.

Ingredients--
White urad dal- 1 cup, washed and soaked for atleast 1/2 hour.
2 chicken breasts cut to bite size pieces.
1 medium onion diced
Ginger-garlic paste 1 tbsp
1 tsp each of cumin powder, corriander powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and garam masala.
Oil spray -1 noozle.
2 cardamom pod seeds.
2/3 bay leaves.
2 cups water
salt to taste.
lemon juice-1 or 2 tbsp.
2 green chillies split lengthwise.
chopped corriander leaves to garnish.

Method--
1. Marinade the chicken with a little salt, ginger-garlic paste , lemon juice and set aside for 15-30 mins.
2. Cook the lentils with the water(2 cups) and some salt(remember there is salt in chicken too). When cooked, mash them to form a thick liquid, set aside.
3. Heat a pan and spray with oil. When heated well, pop in the bay leaves and cardamom seeds.Fry until bay leaves turn golden.
4. Add the chopped onion and fry until you get a nice aroma.
5. Next add the marinated chicken and all the powder spices. Fry well moving them in the pan for about 5 minutes. See that all chicken is well coated with the spices.
6. When chickens are all sealed and nearly done, add the mashed lentils, stir well to mix with the flavours in the pan, add the split green chillies, and cook covered on low heat for another 5 minutes. If too thick, you can add some water at this point.check salt and add if more is required. Cook covered, until chicken is fully done. Keep stirring in between.
7. When done, turn off the heat and garnish with the chopped corriander.

8. Your lentil-chicken is ready. Serve with plain boiled rice or fried rice or roti, naan etc.... whatever you fancy. I served it with peas and carrots pulao.

A low fat Fish curry--Mach-tenga (fish in tomato gravy)

I am currently in India, Assam. Fish and rice is the staple food here.
I tried the brilliant Assamese dish Mach-tenga (fish in tomato gravy), with my oil free twist.
It came out excellent! Try it out.

Ingredients:
Fish-cut into 1 inch fillets
2-3 tomatoes chopped
1 medium sized onion chopped
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 stem curry leaves(around 10 of the leaves)
2tsp turmeric powder,
salt to taste
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp of cumin powder
1 tsp corriander powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 green chilli slit lengthwise
1 bunch of green corriander chopped

Method:
1. Marinade the fish with 1 tsp turmeric and a little salt for 1/2 hour
2. Grill the fish until lightly done. Frying or grilling of fish is done to get the raw smell of fish away. if you like the smell of fish intact, then skip this step.
3.In a pan, spray with spray oil. I didn't have spray oil abvailable here, and used 1 tsp of sunflower oil.
4. Pop in the mustard seeds and let splutter. Add the curry leaves, ginger-garlic paste and the chopped onions and salt to taste.
Cook until onions are transparent.
5. Add the left over turmeric and the cumin, red chilli powder and corriander powder, fry for a minute. You'll get the nice aroma of spices and ginger-garlic now.
6.Add the chopped tomato, and fry until tomato starts leaving water.
7. Add 3 cups of water.
8. When water starts boiling, pop in the fish,the slit green chilli, give it a good stir, and cook covered for 1-2 minutes.
9. Turn off the heat and add the chopped corriander.

Your mach-tenga is ready. It is best when served with plain boiled rice.

Methi Chicken (Chicken with Fenugreek leaves)

Usually methi chicken traditional dish uses some dried methi leaves(kasoori-methi). I love the pungent-bitter taste of the raw fenugreek leaves(methi), which is usually missing when used dried kasoori-methi powder. So I tried cooking the chicken with raw methi leaves, to capture the raw taste of methi with the taste of chicken. It was so yummy. At the same time I successfully cut on the oil used too. Here is my version of low fat methi-chicken. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breast fillets, cut into bite size pieces.
Handful methi leaves, chopped
2 tomatoes, pureed
1 onion chopped
2 green chillies chopped
4 tbsps low fat yogurt
1 bsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
a spice emulsion created by mixing 1 tsp each of cumin powder, corriander powder and turmeric powder in 2 tbsps water.
spray oil

Method:
1. Heat a pan. Add a nozzle of spray oil and when heated add the chopped onions and chopped green chillies.
2.When onions are slightly cooked, add a tsp of plain yogurt.fry for 30 seconds in low heat, and turn the heat off, let cool.
3.Once cool, gring this onion-yogurt mixture into a paste and set aside.
4.Once again heat the pan, and spray a noozle of spray oil, when heated add the cumin seeds.Add ginger garlic paste.
5.Once cumin seeds are browned,and ginger-garlic leaves nice aroma add the raw chicken,add the spice emulsion, sprinkle over the garam masala and fry until chicken is sealed and lightly cooked.
6.Add the chopped methi leaves and salt and the pureed tomato.Cook covered, until methi leaves are cooked, and wilted.
7.Add just a tiny amount of well beaten yogurt and water if you want a light gravy. Simmer till the chicken is cooked.

Low Fat Easy Chicken Curry

Chicken tikka masala is Britain's favourite curry dish.I wanted to try a low fat version of this brilliant chicken dish.But instead of taking the big leap at one single step,as a first step, I tried appling my ways of cuting fat and get a decent chicken curry dish.My plan is, if successful in this, I'll expand my low-fat chicken curry ranges.

So my low fat and easy chicken curry version goes this way--

Ingredients

2 chicken breast fillet, cut into bite size pieces.
1 large onion pureed
2 tomatoes pureed
2 tbsp garlic-ginger paste
4tbsp plain low fat yogurt
1 tsp cumin seeds
1tsp each of cumin powder, corriander powder, red chilli powder and turmeric
1 tbsp garam masala powder
1 tbsp lime juice
salt to taste

Method

1.Marinate the chicken with the half of the ginger-garlic paste, lime juice, salt,cumin powder, corriander powder. set aside for approx. 30 minutes.
2. Grill the chicken in the oven, until sealed, and lightly cooked.Set aside.
3.Heat a pan and spray a noozle of spray oil.
4.Pop in the cumin seeds, when starts crackling,add the onion puree and the other half of the ginger-garlic paste.Fry until you get the nice aroma.
5. Add the dried spice powders, fry for about a minute.Add 2 tbsps of yogurt and fry well.
6. Add the pureed tomato and cook until reduced a little. Add salt to taste, remember there is a little salt in the chicken too.
7. Add the grilled chicken and mix well.
8. Reduce heat, and add the remaining yogurt.
If gravy is too thick, you can add a little water at this point.Mix well, and let cook for another2-3 minutes.
9. Curry is ready, serve & njoy. I served it with a simple peas and carrots rice.

Low fat Dal Makhani

Dal Makhani, is probably the most recognized delicacy of northern india, originating in Punjab.It is also highly nutritious as it contains beans. A very popular vegetarian dish in northern India.It is part of a everyday punjabi meal. As all Punjabi cuisines,this dish is also heavy in dairy & hence fat.

On my quest of low-fat recreation of the popular indian dishes, I cooked it in the following way.
I was a bit in doubt, on the success of this experiment, as I planned to totally skip the main ingridient "makhan" (butter) in this makhani(buttery) dish. But it came out very well, and pretty close to the original. A tad less on the smoothness though (due to lack of butter & creame), but tasted very good.

Ingredients:

Whole urid dal(urd beans--black beans)--2 portions
Rajma dal(red coco beans/red kidney beans)-1 portion
green chillies-2
ginger--1 inch piece
garlic cloves-2
ginger-garlic paste-1 tbsp(apart from the above mentioned ginger-garlic)
1 bay leaf
1tsp turmeric
1tsp cumin seeds
1tsp cumin powder
1tsp corriander powder
1tsp chilli powder
1/2 cup milk (cream can be used for a more smoother version)

Method:

1.Soak 2 portions of whole urid dal and one portion of rajma overnight.
2. next day boil the soaked dal with some adrak and green chillies cut into small pieces.Use less water than normal.
3. When cooked, mash the dal a little, keep aside.
4. Heat a non stick pan and spray one noozle spray oil.Pop in the cumin seeds and the bay leaf (fat rich version uses 2-3 knobs of butter here, instead of spray oil) .
5. When cumin seeds are fried,add the ginger-garlic paste and cook until you get the nice aroma of garlic-ginger..
6. Add pureed tomato, cook till tomato is reduced.
7. Add cumin powder, coriander powder, chilli powder(if desired a hot version), fry for 5-6 mins.
8. Add the cooked dals & fry for a while.
9. Add milk to get the dal to required consistency.(For a richer version you can use single cream).
10.Sprinkle garam masala and cook covered for another 2 minutes.
11.Serve & NJOY.

Quick & easy lentil recipe

Easy to cook dal(lentils) oil free. I wish to share a very simple recipe. The following recipe tastes best with Moong dal(yellow lentils), but also works with red lentils. Give it a try, and share your experiences.
The quick & easy way is --

1.Wash the lentil/dal well.
2.Soak for 30 minutes, and then drain the water.
3.Add the lentil to a pan ( pressure cooker if using).
4.Add 3 times water(if using 1 cup of dal, use 3 cups water) and salt to taste.
5.Add chopped ginger and garlic.
6.Add a green chilli slitted(for less heat, remove the seeds before adding).
7.Cook in low-medium heat until lentils are soft.(if using pressure cooker, until the cooker whistels.)
8. Mash the lentils well, I use a hand beater.
9.Add chopped tomatoes, & chopped corriander, adjust water to required consistency, if too thick. Cook covered for another minute. If you wish to make it thicker,cook uncovered.
(If using pressure cooker, add tomatoes along with the lentils at step 3.)

This lentil goes very well with Plain rice/jeera rice /puffed rotis.
It is recommended that pressure cooker be used in cooking lentils, beans etc. It is a very efficient way to cook healthy meals in much lesser time, and also helps cut your energy bill. Try it and you'll fall in love with it.

A oil-free brunch

Poha(rice flakes) is used for breakfast/snack in India. Serves well as a filling brunch.It is one of the simplest thing to cook. The variations for this recipe are many. Every household has their own way. One of the best I tasted was prepared by my SIL.I liked her way, it gave a refreshing flavour, a good change then my usual way.Recently, I experimented my own recipe's oil free version. I kept everything as is, simply removed the oil & frying bit from there. So as usual this included a lot more stirring and covering and addition of water. Always prepare oil free dishes in low-medium heat.

Following is how I cooked it

Ingridients:
Poha/pawa(rice flakes)
2 tomatoes
1 medium onion
2-3 green chillies
A handful of peanuts
1tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
1 tbsp Chana dal (split chick pea/garbanzo beans)
1 tbsp white urad dal(white matpe bean)
Corriander leaves for garnishing


Method:
1. Wash the poha well until water runs clear, drain the water out well (turning on a seive helps) and set aside.
2. Chop the green chillies, onions,tomatoes and corriander finely.
3. heat a pan, add the chana dal and urad dal, peanuts and brown them.
4. Add the chopped green chillies, onion, and dry-fry them, stirring often and covering in between.
5. Add salt(to taste), and cook covered for 1-2 minutes, until onions are cooked.
6. Add the turmeric powder. fry well for a minute. Make sure you fry the turmeric powder well, else it can leave a raw smell of turmeric beind, which is not very soothing.
7.Add the chopped tomatoes.
8. Cook covered until tomatoes leave some water, stirring ocassionally.
9. When tomatoes leave water, if it feels very dry/less water, add a tbsp of water, and cover.
10. Add the drained poha, mix well to coat with the mixture in the pan and leave covered for a minute.
11.Garnish with the chopped corriander and serve.
12. Optionally, add a few drops of lime juice.

Note: you can also add chopped vegetables(peas goes very well with this recipe). Microwave the vegetables beforehad, and add after the tomatoes in step 7 , in this recipe.

10 tips to avoid burning in oil free recipes

Avoid burning of food, in oil free cooking. Here is a few tips....

I have mentioned those tips on & off in my previous recipe posts.

1.Create an emulsion of the spices(mix all spices with 2/3 tsps of water) to be used, and then add to the pan.
2.Pre-cook in microwave/steam for a few minutes, foods that take longer to cook(eg: potatoes,beans etc.) before adding them in the pan.
3.Grill/pressure cook meat before adding them in the pan.
4.While dry frying onions, adding a little salt, help cook the onions quickly, and also releases water from the onions, which avoid burning.
5.If any vegetables can be added to the recipe, pureed, then do so.Pureeing vegetables will get the juices out and help increase moisture in the dish.
6.If puring anything for the purpose of adding to the hot pan,add a little water to the puree, in the pureeing process.
7.Stir often... every 1-2 minutes. that'll also help the food cook evenly.
8.Mostly cook covered.Covering will retain the water in the dish.
9.Use kitchen timers.
10.Don't move out of the kitchen, until cooking is complete.

Are you aware of any other tips? Please share.

Low fat recipe for Navratan Korma (Vegetable Korma)

This is purely my low fat recipe version of the very tasty and popular restaurant dish Vegetable korma also known as Navratan Korma.I went very lean on any fat used in this dish.
Please do post your experiences, if you follow this recipe.

Ingredients:

1.Peppers(red or yellow preffered), peas, carrots,beans,cauliflower, brocolli all cut into small 1cm cube sizes.
Easier way is to use a frozen pack of cut vegetables and add whatever else is missing.
2.6-10 whole almonds(equivalent flaked almonds will also do).
Traditional cooking uses cashew nuts.I substituted with almonds to lower cholestrol.
If you are allergic to nuts, you can use shredded coconuts instead, but the taste will differ a bit.
3. 10-12 pieces of raisins, soak in warm water before use.
4. 1 large Onion.
5. Milk . I used skimmed milk here, but feel free to use your regular milk. The authentic recipe would use creame. If you wish you can substitute with evaporated milk as well.
6. 1 tsp cumin seeds
7. 1 tsp turmeric powder, 2 tsps cumin powder, 2 tsps corriander powder, 1 tsp red chilli powder
8. 2 tsps Ginger-garlic paste
9. 2 tsps garam masala.
10. 2 bay leaves,
11. 1 inch piece of cinnamon stick

Method:

1. Toast(dry) the almonds and set aside.
2.Heat a pan and dry fry the onions.Add a pinch of salt and the turmeric powder,red chilli powder, cumin powder, corriander powder, and fry stirring often, until raw smell of turmeric is gone.
3.Blend the roasted almond and onions adding a little water to form a thick paste.
4. Microwave the cut vegetables with a little water until slightly done(will take 1-2 minutes depending on the power of your microwave). To cook the vegetables quickly you can add some salt to it.
5.In the heated pan,add a spray of spray oil(the paste to be added is too thick and sticky). Add the cumin seeds and fry.When they are fried, add the ginger-garlic paste and stir fry, until you get the lovely aroma.
6. Add your almond-onion paste, and fry for about 30 seconds.
7.Add your microwaved vegetables along with the water in which it cooked, and mix well with the paste in the pan.
8.Add some milk until required consistency is achieved.
9.Add the bayleaf, cinnamon stick,raisins & cook covered for 1 minute. Stir in between.
10. Sprinkle the garam masala, stir, and cover for another 30 secs.
11. Turn off the heat, add chopped green corriander, give a good mix, and let it sit for 2-3 minutes.
12. Serve & enjoy.

7 good reasons to go oil free in your recipes

My recipes posted so far are complete oil free ways of cooking.
Well, do we need to be so strict on ourselves?..... the answer is no, not always.
we can possibly use the healthy oils.
In this post I put forward my good reasons to go for oil free recipes, even in Indian cooking.
They come out a tad less in taste, but much healthier. For some you don't even notice the difference.
Infact for long, I had a misconception that olive oil is healthy so I can use it in & out.
I have been using olive oil only for all my cooking. But cooking process was usual frying.. etc.
Yes, extra virgin olive oil is healthy, when used raw(drizzling over salads etc.)
The type of cholestrol in Olive oil is the good one which helps lower the bad one.
Frying process turns the healthy unsaturated fat into saturated fat, whatever oil it is. Read these discussions for a better view--
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/779243

One another important fact I came across, while used for frying, chose a oil with high smoke point.Olive oil has a low smoke point, so takes longer to heat and hence food absorbs more oil in the process of frying. A good review for oils for frying can be found in
http://chinesefood.about.com/od/cookingfaqs/f/stirfryoil.htm
This was an eye-opener for me, and now I store canola oil as well for my one off usage when cooking traditionally.
Why Canola see
http://www.healthycookingrecipes.com/cookinghealthyarticles/canola-cooking-oil.htm


If you are struggling hard with the stickiness problem without oil, a better way would be to use spray oils.
They can help. It will not be oil-free anymore, but you'll be using the bare minimum oil/ fats.
These are low calorie, low cholestrol versions. It is not only for people who were on a diet but also for people just want to have a healther life style.

So to summarize.....

1.All fats have calories and have more calories per gram than proteins or carbohydrates.(Dr. Gourmet)


2.A teaspoon of any fat has about 45 calories so even frying in olive oil can add a lot of calories.(Dr. Gourmet)

3.People who eat diets high in fried foods are 35 per cent more likely than "prudent" eaters to suffer acute heart attacks.(Canadian research).

4.Trans fats are formed during the refining of liquid vegetable oils (e.g., canola and soybean oil).
Trans fats are also created when manufacturers use a process called "partial hydrogenation.", used to turn liquid oil into a semi-solid form, such as shortening or margarine. So why use these oils at all?

5.Frying process turns unsaturated fat to saturated fat. Saturated fats also raise blood levels of "bad" cholesterol. However, at the same time, they also raise blood levels of "good" cholesterol.

6. Frying can increase cancer risk
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-382571/Frying-increase-cancer-risk.html

7. Frying in oil makes your kitchen surfaces sticky, and hard to clean.Basically frying in oil gets in grease in your body & home!!

8. http://www.udoerasmus.com/articles/udo/hbaco.htm -- a good research article on oil in food.

Hence my attempts to avoid frying/using minimal oil(spray oil) and turn to alternate methods of grilling/microwaving or steaming foods.
My recipes in this blog will reflect that.
Fry foods less often. If you do have to fry foods, use healthier oils that contain a higher proportion of monounsaturated fats, and have a relatively high smoke point. Do not re-use the frying oil.

Oil free recipe for Aloo-gobi (Potato-Cauliflower)

I was at a get-together at a friends .
Nearer the dinner time, we suddenly realized , we migth run short of some sabzi(side dish). Instantly my friend
prepared this aloo-gobi.It was very quick, and tasted very good, and was completely oil free.
I'll like to share this recipe with you.

Ingridients:

Medium sized one cauliflower(gobi)
2 medium sized potatoes
1 medium size onion finely chopped
1tsp hing
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 inch piece root ginger grated
2 big cloves garlic minced
salt to taste
Green corriander leaves

Method:

1. Cut the cauliflower into a little bigger than bite size pieces, microwave for 2 minutes.
2. Cut the potatoes into bite size pieces, microwave them covered in water for 7-10 minutes, and set aside.
3. heat a non-stick pan. When pan is heated, reduce heat to medium flames.
3. In the pan dry fry onions.
4. Add all the spices, fry until the raw smell of spices(specifically turmeric) is all gone.
5. Add the salt, cook covered.
Cooking covered, after adding salt, onions will be releasing water, on its own.Add a little more water if required.
6. Add the par-boiled cauliflower and potatoes,
stir carefully, not to break, stir well to coat the vegetables with the spices,cook covered for 5 minutes.
Stir in between to avoid sticking to the pan.
7. Sprinkle the garam masala, mix well & cook covered for another 10 minutes.
8. Check doneness of potatoes, and if not done add half cup water (try keep water to minimal)and cook covered for another 5-6 minutes.

9. When potatoes are done,garnish with chopped corriander, and serve.

In this dish par-boiling the vegetables ahead helped cook with less water, keeping the vegetables crisp.

Getting Started--Low fat recipe for Palak Paneer

If you are visiting this blog, you are interested in fat free cooking as well... welcome!
Lets share our experiences and tastes.

Cooking is my hobby, my passion.
and as vouched by my family & friends... I am a good cook.
In search of reduced fat diets, experimenting with food,I have learnt to go fat free.
Indian food is usually oil & fat heavy.Traditional indian cooking tends to include frying in oil, ghee,addition of dairy products like creame etc.

Although I like cooking the traditional way when I play the gracious hostess, I like to go for the leaner version for everyday cooking. Not entirely depriving my family from traditional Indian tastes, I have come up with several alternate ways of cooking by which you can still enjoy the great Indian dishes..but with a healthy twist.

In this blog, I wish to share my experiences, and welcome you to share your tips/experiences for the same.I shall be including my TIPS, within the recipes, which you can later use in your own experiments as well.

A few items I find very handy to support your fat free cooking--- non-stick pans(no surprise there), a hand blender or food processor(basically something to puree your stuff).

In this first post, I wish to share the recipe of the popular indian dish Palakh-Paneer(spinach with Paneer cheese).
However, if you wish to go dairy free, you can replace paneer with firm tofu, and milk with soya milk.

My fat free palak-paneer recipe:

ingridients:
Spinach
1tsp Whole cumin seed(jeera)
2 tomatoes
250 gms paneer(firm tofu--if using tofu)
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
1 inch piece of ginger root
1 tbsp plain yogurt
Some milk
Salt to taste

Method:
1.Wash the spinach, cut the paneer(tofu) into bite-size cubes.
2. Puree the onions, set it aside.
3. Puree the tomatoes and set aside.
TIP:using purees increase the water content and aids fat free cooking
4. Mix the cumin,corriander, turmeric and chilli powder in a bowl with a little water, to make a liquidish-paste.
TIP:Adding water to the spices, keeps it from burning while cooking, even in the absence of oil.
5.Microwave the spinach with the ginger and garlic cloves for 5 mins(or until all the spinach wilt, give a good stir in between.)
6.Remove from microwave and puree the spinach and ginger-garlic into a fine paste.
7.Heat well a cooking pan, not smoking, but well heated.
8. Pop in the cumin seeds, and dry fry them until you get a nice aroma,
and the seeds get toasted. Take care,keep stirring. These seeds tend to burn very easily.
If burnt they'll give a bitter taste.
9.Add the onion puree. Keep stirring until turned golden.
10. Add the pureed tomato to the pan.stir well.
11.Add the spice emulsion created in step 4, cook for a few minutes.
12. Add the spinach puree.Cook for 2 minutes.
13. Add the cubed paneer(tofu), salt(to taste) and allow to cook covered for 2-3 minutes.
14.You can add some milk(soya milk), until you get the deserved consistency for the dish.
15. Decorate with the yogurt and serve.
TIP: Use plain set yogurt to replace creame.You'll hardly notice the difference.

Keep watching this space for more fat free recipes and cooking tips.