This year is all about the low sugar, low fat, low processed food. In the course of my culinary quest to achieve this I am rediscovering old recipes and trying out new ones. In the past I have always thought of chickpeas as a winter thing, mainly as an additive to soups and stews. In this summerish recipe they shine as the star of the dish.
Ingredients-
Oil spray
2-4 shallots, sliced.
I red capsicum, diced.
1 zucchini, diced
2x 400g cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed.
1 tbsp red curry paste
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 eggs
2 tsp mustard
1 tbsp leamon juice
1tsp pepper
optional: natural yoghurt or sour cream to serve
Method-
Preheat oven to 180C. Spray frypan with oil, add shallots, red capsicum and zucchini, then cook until soft.
Mash 1 can of chickpeas.
Throw all ingredients into a bowl and mix until well combined.
Press mixture into a baking dish and cook for around 25 minutes or until firm.
Serving suggestion-
Serve with yoghurt or sour cream.
Nutritional Stats (per serve)-
3.7g fat, 3.2g fibre, 5.9g protein, 105cal
This recipe is fast, simple and, supposedly, serves 8. We got 5 reasonable sized servings out of it and accompanied by a side salad it made a filling dinner.
*****for ease
**** for taste
Showing posts with label recipe/s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipe/s. Show all posts
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Monday, January 3, 2011
Asian-influenced chicken soup
I had a friend over for lunch today and decided to make up a couple of bowls of soup, the only recipe I've really created myself - it's certainly not unique, but I didn't start out with another recipe and modify it.
I think I've mentioned my soup before, but not really discussed it. It's really quick, very easy, delicious and low in fat and calories.
Serves one
Ingredients:
350ml chicken broth or stock (see note)
10g sliced dried mushrooms, broken into smaller pieces
1-2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
a cube of ginger (`1cm x 2cm), peeled
1 bulb of bok choy, stem chopped, leaves sliced
1/2 stalk of celery, diced
100g chicken breast (preferably free range), diced
a squeeze of lemon juice
2ml each sesame oil and soy sauce
cracked pepper
Method: in one saucepan heat 100ml of stock to a low boil and add the mushrooms. In a second pan simmer the garlic, shallots and ginger in about 50ml of stock for a couple of minutes, or until soft, then add 150ml of stock and the green vegetables. Reduce the heat in your first pan, and add the chicken pieces; cook for a two to three minutes. Add a squeeze of lemon, the oil and soy to the second pan, and stir in.
For an aesthetic presentation, drain the first pan and pour the mushrooms and chicken into a shallow bowl, then top with the contents of the vegetable pan, taking care to remove the ginger first - it's quite difficult to distinguish between cooked chicken and ginger otherwise, and a mouthful of lightly poached ginger isn't too delicious!
If you don't mind having cloudier broth, pour both saucepan contents into a bowl.
In either case, top with a turn of black pepper and enjoy.
Nutrition: the calorie count depends on the stock used (see note, below). The other ingredients account for 190 calories, 2.7g of fat (0.5g saturated), and 5.5g of fibre (courtesy of CalorieKing's online calculator).
Note: if available I prefer a can of broth from my local Asian grocery - it has almost half the number of calories as Campbell's stock, with more flavour. Campbell's salt-reduced chicken stock has 10 calories per 100ml, or 35 calories and 0.1 g of fat for the recipe above; Swanson's chicken broth comes in at 6 calories per 100ml, or 21 calories and 0.5g of fat for the above recipe. The canned broth has a little fat floating on the surface, so skimming that off drops the fat content a little.
I think I've mentioned my soup before, but not really discussed it. It's really quick, very easy, delicious and low in fat and calories.
Serves one
Ingredients:
350ml chicken broth or stock (see note)
10g sliced dried mushrooms, broken into smaller pieces
1-2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
a cube of ginger (`1cm x 2cm), peeled
1 bulb of bok choy, stem chopped, leaves sliced
1/2 stalk of celery, diced
100g chicken breast (preferably free range), diced
a squeeze of lemon juice
2ml each sesame oil and soy sauce
cracked pepper
Method: in one saucepan heat 100ml of stock to a low boil and add the mushrooms. In a second pan simmer the garlic, shallots and ginger in about 50ml of stock for a couple of minutes, or until soft, then add 150ml of stock and the green vegetables. Reduce the heat in your first pan, and add the chicken pieces; cook for a two to three minutes. Add a squeeze of lemon, the oil and soy to the second pan, and stir in.
For an aesthetic presentation, drain the first pan and pour the mushrooms and chicken into a shallow bowl, then top with the contents of the vegetable pan, taking care to remove the ginger first - it's quite difficult to distinguish between cooked chicken and ginger otherwise, and a mouthful of lightly poached ginger isn't too delicious!
If you don't mind having cloudier broth, pour both saucepan contents into a bowl.
In either case, top with a turn of black pepper and enjoy.
Nutrition: the calorie count depends on the stock used (see note, below). The other ingredients account for 190 calories, 2.7g of fat (0.5g saturated), and 5.5g of fibre (courtesy of CalorieKing's online calculator).
Note: if available I prefer a can of broth from my local Asian grocery - it has almost half the number of calories as Campbell's stock, with more flavour. Campbell's salt-reduced chicken stock has 10 calories per 100ml, or 35 calories and 0.1 g of fat for the recipe above; Swanson's chicken broth comes in at 6 calories per 100ml, or 21 calories and 0.5g of fat for the above recipe. The canned broth has a little fat floating on the surface, so skimming that off drops the fat content a little.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Bliss balls
A couple of years ago I regularly watched a program called Good Chef, Bad Chef which starred now-celebrity chef Gary Mehigan (better known for co-hosting Australian MasterChef) and nutritionist Janella Purcell. Each week's program had a theme - like Melbourne Cup picnic, and each co-host would prepare accordingly. Gary's food was invariably a luscious, full-fat offering, while the more puritanical Janella would just as invariably express shock and create lower fat, often vegan alternatives.
I've purged my home of all the high-density, low-nutrient foods I used to turn to when I was bored or peckish, which has left me in the cold when I crave something sweet. Yesterday, after seeing a bottle of tahini in the pantry, I remembered Janella had made bliss balls, and I decided to make some too.
Recipes abound, but are all variations of the same basic pattern - just add more of what you like and less (or none) of what you don't. In essence you need a cereal base, nuts and seeds and dried fruit, a binding agent, a sweetener, and a coating. I MagiMixed the following based on what I had to hand:
3/4 cup puffed rice (beautifully crackly crunchy)
1/4 cup puffed quinoa (to add grain variety to my diet)
A date
A couple of dried apricots
A small handful of sultanas
A smaller handful of diced dried pawpaw
1/4 cup each walnuts and brazil nuts
1/2 cup LSA (ground linseeds, sunflower seeds and almonds)
I then poured in about 200ml tahini (shaken to mix the oil and paste) and about 100ml rice malt syrup to taste - you could also use honey, golden syrup, or a fruit concentrate syrup like pear.
When I was happy with the consistency I rolled them into balls and coated them with sesame seeds. You can also lay the mixture in a tray and bake at 180 for about 20 minutes to make muesli bars but remember to score the mixture first!
Either way you get a sweet treat that's nutritionally dense, satisfies a yearning for a mouthful of something delicious and, though high in calories, is chock full of good fats, and too rich to plough through mindlessly. - Alex
I've purged my home of all the high-density, low-nutrient foods I used to turn to when I was bored or peckish, which has left me in the cold when I crave something sweet. Yesterday, after seeing a bottle of tahini in the pantry, I remembered Janella had made bliss balls, and I decided to make some too.
Recipes abound, but are all variations of the same basic pattern - just add more of what you like and less (or none) of what you don't. In essence you need a cereal base, nuts and seeds and dried fruit, a binding agent, a sweetener, and a coating. I MagiMixed the following based on what I had to hand:
3/4 cup puffed rice (beautifully crackly crunchy)
1/4 cup puffed quinoa (to add grain variety to my diet)
A date
A couple of dried apricots
A small handful of sultanas
A smaller handful of diced dried pawpaw
1/4 cup each walnuts and brazil nuts
1/2 cup LSA (ground linseeds, sunflower seeds and almonds)
I then poured in about 200ml tahini (shaken to mix the oil and paste) and about 100ml rice malt syrup to taste - you could also use honey, golden syrup, or a fruit concentrate syrup like pear.
When I was happy with the consistency I rolled them into balls and coated them with sesame seeds. You can also lay the mixture in a tray and bake at 180 for about 20 minutes to make muesli bars but remember to score the mixture first!
Either way you get a sweet treat that's nutritionally dense, satisfies a yearning for a mouthful of something delicious and, though high in calories, is chock full of good fats, and too rich to plough through mindlessly. - Alex
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