Simple lemony bell pepper salad

Refreshingly delicious this salad is not only for those who are on a diet but for anyone. It is healthy and delicious. The sweetness of the crispy fresh bell peppers interspersed with the lemony tangyness and sweetness of basil it  is an ideal summer time salad. Unfortunately in India we get the very best quality of bell peppers during the winters but going by our temperature and weather this can be taken at any time of the year. With a side of poached or grilled chicken it makes for a perfectly low calorie healthy meal. In case you are a green fellow you can use some sauteed mushrooms. The recipe is simple enough for anyone to try their hands on .

Serves 2

2 large bell peppers , I recommend using one red bell pepper and one yellow bell pepper for that lovely colourfulness which makes things cheerful

For the dressing
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp finely chopped basil
Salt and pepper as per taste
Pinch of chili flakes

Simply julienne the bell peppers. Make the dressing by first mixing everything together except the extra virgin olive oil and then slowly adding the oil little by little and whisking vigourously to create the emulsion for a delicious dressing.

It is very important  to use the dressing right before serving or still better serving the dressing in a separate bowl or jug. You see if you dress the salad ahead of your meal it makes the salads watery and soggy. You can always chop the bell peppers and keep it in the refrigerator and then prepare the dressing and serve it on the dinner table.

Chatpata Mix chat

I believe the little changes in your dietary habit can help you a lot. Now as someone who loves potatoes I advocate the use of potatoes. It is a complete misconception that this nutritious carbohydrate is fattening. It is your method of cooking which usually determines a dish's calorie etc. So deep fry it and you murder it of all its nutritional value but boiled or baked at 77 calorie for 100gm this is one of the healthiest snacks or food items ever.

Now healthy eating means you have to plan extra carefully to appease your taste buds. A wise man once told me that no diet would ever work if your taste buds remain unsatisfied. Having said that a little change helps a lot. For instance if you crave some mushy potato on any given afternoon or anytime that you want to have snacks replace the french fries or aloo tikkis (a famous spicy potato patty dish from Northern India) with some chaats made with boiled potatoes. The recipe I follow is nothing new. I add a little bit of extra virgin olive oil for extra health and to suit my taste. Try it for a quick snack session.

This mix chat takes me back to my school days as well. Those were the days when the street food hawkers would line up in front of every school luring children with lip smacking dishes. While most of my childhood was spent in longing for them since my parents never ever allowed me to have street food with logical fear for my health because tasty they are but lets be honest most of these items aren't that hygienic. Of course the moment I started getting my pocket money it was a different issue altogether. I would gorge on these delectable snacks throughout school, college and university. In those times it felt as if the chatwallahs had some magical potion. I later realized you can make the same stuff at home. The magic was the work of spices. So I hereby present by spicy chatpata meaning lip smacking snack. I have given it a healthy minty twist. You can even have this as a salad for a main course in which case you shall probably need to double or tripe your portion of salad.

Serves 4

You need

2  large potatoes
3 medium sized firm tomatoes
1 large onion
1 cucumber
2 tbsp finely chopped mint leaves
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
Juice from Half a medium sized Indian lemon
Rock salt as per taste
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp dried mango powder
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 green chili de-seeded and finely chopped

Boil the potatoes and if you are in a hurry simply drain them and place them in a bowl of ice water. It shall cool down in no time. Peel and cube them in bite sized cubes. Cube the tomatoes, onions , cucumber after peeling it. Mix the vegetables and potato with the extra virgin olive oil , spices , lemon juice , herbs and green chili. Enjoy your lip smacking snack.

P.S. You can always increase the number of chilies used. 

Tzatziki

Tzatziki 

Listen to your heart, listen to your soul, listen to your taste buds , look around where you live , be as confident as the head chef as advised by Gordon Ramsay, and you will be happy and all will be perfect. So I was involved in a bit of discussion about precision of the quantity of ingredients with my fellow bloggers. I maintain that you eyes , taste buds, love is all that is required. So Calcutta has this funny weather, cool in the mornings, quite hot during the day time. So I badly wanted a summer salad and something creamy and well voila I had cucumbers, garlic and yogurt, hung my curd for the creaminess than Tzatziki offers. 

See my affair with Tzatziki began when I had first lain my eyes upon its recipe way back in 2007. I was browsing through British Council's books when I decided to visit the cook-book section and laid eyes upon this beautiful book of salads. There were enough salads to last for years and years, cooked , uncooked, summer salads, winter salads, vegan, vegetarian, non-vegetarian etc. I took the pains of writing down as many recipes as I liked and those which had ingredients that are easily available fresh in India.  

See I was always for fresh ingredients for reasons of health taste etc but ever since I got married my environmental friendly husband had pointed out how much fuel we waste by importing things. While I still cannot resist cheese I guess it did have an effect on me so I try and buy these which are locally made and India is producing some tatsy Gouda, Goat's cheese and an array of other cheeses. Thanks to J.Johnson in New Market I get to compare these cheeses with the foreign ones and must say that the taste of our Indian brands are not that bad. Well of course I still use some imported products but am trying to reduce my footprints . Anyways so this tzatziki is much simpler than it sounds. Do not head of towards the market to buy a jar of Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt is nothing but hung curd. So if possible make curd and hang it in a muslin cloth till all the whey has been drained else buy a packet of curd and hang it either ways you have lovely creamy yogurt :) 

For years I have followed the recipe from this beautiful book on salads that I had found in British Council which only dealt with salads. For no good reason I searched for yet other recipes and what I found made me chuckle. While my former recipe had called for a clove of garlic with the same amount of yogurt and cucumber Mr.Lebovit's recipe calls for 4 cloves. My former did not include olive oil this new one did. My former had paprika , this did not. So I headed straight for the market and was shocked to find that no one in such an old market has mint leaves which is available all the time. Maybe my friend's grandmother is right maybe this is the 'Kalikal' The dark times. 

Well Tzatziki I would make with our without mint. I listened to my taste buds. Used 3 cloves of garlic, added the olive oil and did not use paprika. I had a happy happy happy lunch . Here is to everyone's happiness no matter how varied their taste buds are. here is to cooking from the heart 

This post is especially dedicated to someone I know who has recently moved to another country for higher studies and have started cooking on her own. Easy to make , healthy and tasty to have I hope this strikes a chord with all of you. Now there are varieties of this recipe which has dill leaves parsley and even paprika so experiment to your heart's content. 

What goes in is simple : 

1. 1 large cucumber chopped in small bite sized pieces. Now authentic ones demand that you deseed and chop them but why waste food? So I never have deseeded cucumbers 
2. 250gm of curd / yogurt hung and drained of all its whey in a thin cloth 
3. 3 cloves of garlic (see as I have written in the post please listen to your taste buds even if you are new in the kitchen. So you must be knowing if you like garlic or not so if you like it strong then add 4 cloves (maximum) and for mellow flavours you can do with 1 clove. Now cloves are also tricky there are many sizes so cook with your eyes. 
4. 1 tsp castor sugar which I usually leave out if the yogurt is fresh 
5. A handful of chopped mint leaves (Due to unavailability of mint leaves I had to leave them otu thsi time but it tasted wonderful, of course the minty leaves when added which I have previously done leaves you with a summery feel) 
6. Salt as per taste
7. 1 tablespoonful of extra virgin olive oil (why extra virgin because ti is the best one for your health so cheers to your heath) 

Its simple simple, make hung curd, it takes about 1 hour to 2 hours or could be less but I just leave it hanging and complete pending work. It would be creamy enough to make you smile if creamy dishes make you happy without creating panic for your hips :) Mix the Evol (extra virgin olive oil) , salt , minced garlic (mincing the garlic as small as you can ensures a uniform taste ) chopped mint leaves and add add your cucumbers. You should ideally start with the oil and curd and then slowly add salt and then garlic and finally the mint leaves. Ah of course the cucumbers as well at last :) Mix well and enjoy a simple lunch with perhaps some steamed fish or chicken :) Here is to everybody's health. 

Fiery Poached fish

Puddings and pies and all things nice are the best things in life but soon enough you realize you have ballooned to an obscene weight and then suddenly you realize you would like to be eat good things with a happy mind and a happy heart.

So this girl started walking 4.6km every morning, started following a strict diet of no chocolates or harmful food for the weight but then again with all that exercise one does need to get some nutrition and fruits and salads alone cannot provide it because even if they do produce nutrition for someone who is a slave to her taste buds one needs to make everything tasty and lets face it with a nation headed towards 50% obesity we must take care of our health.

Here is an easy peasy recipe for lunch or dinner. the secret is in the sauce :)

One starts off with the fish. One has to make slits on each side of the fish to make sure that the marination penetrates the fish rendering a wonderful result.

Marinating the fish is extremely important and so here is where the sauce/marination comes along.
Long ago I had learnt that our Tibetan sisters soak red chili in vinegar along with garlic and ginger and makes it into a paste to make this hot sauce. some even add tomatoes. I make this sauce which is my kitchen staple.

To make marination:
Garlic (the number of cloves would vary greatly as per taste like I always stress on it we all have different taste buds so I used about 5 medium sized  garlic cloves , medium as compared to when is generally available here in Calcutta's fresh market )
Dried Red chilies (number varies as per how hot you can handle) I used 3 dried chilies :)
1 tsp Red wine vinegar
Black pepper as per taste
Very little olive oil I suggest 1 tsp
Salt as per taste

Soak the garlic , black pepper , salt and red chilies in red wine vinegar. Set this rest for at least 4 hours to 5 hours and then blend away adding a bit of oil to render it creamy. That one ingredient which gives it a nice twist is some cumin powder rubbed on the fish.

So the fish soaks up all the goodness for 1 hour to 2 hours

Meanwhile toss up your salad:

The ingredients are simple enough :
1 tiny sized cucumber
1 small sized boiled potato
1 Onions
1 tomato

The dressing is something I threw in:

Homemade mustard sauce 2  tsp
Honey 2 tsp
5 jalapeno chopped  pieces (had to use the ones from the jar) or 1 whole jalapeno
salt and pepper
3 tsp Extra virgin olive oil if you like it smooth or 2 tsp if you like the sharp taste of mustard :)

Blend everything away in a blender. The mustard gives it a sharp bite while honey mellows down the hotness of the fish.

Back to the fish:

Brush a flat pan with olive oil and place the fish and cover and cook for 1 minute and turn over and cook for another minute. use very little water just so that you get all the marination and use it on the fish else it would get stuck and let it get poached for 7 minutes on each side.

In the end you have a low calorie, healthy nutritious lunch and regular healthy lunches gives you the advantage of indulging sensibly once in a while in utterly butterly delicious goodies.