Lunch time for me. And thinking of about lunch time got me thinking about food. My hubby has been advised to lose some weight. Of course I have been getting that advice most part of my life. For Hubby though it is necessary as he has a back injury and the extra weight is not doing him any good. Usually when we think about low-fat high-nutrition food somehow the image of a boiled broccoli or boiled bland anything keep dancing in front of our eyes. Not the most appetizing sight I must admit. A lot of times we shy away from so called "healthy" food because most of the cases Healthy generally equals to bland, low taste, boring blah. So I have recently ventured into the hunt and experiment for food that is high on nutrition and taste and low on fat and calories. Who says you can't have it all? Today I am going to share two recipes that have been met with nod of approval from my family especially my father in law (who happens to be good critic of food). So I thought they are ready to be shared with the rest of the world!
The inspiration for the soup recipe comes from WWW.MarthaStewart.com. That is one website I am completely in love with. If you are looking for any kind of recipe this is one place I would suggest you give it a shot. The second recipe is inspired by a blog I came across while doing some random browsing. It is from www.about.com in their Thai Food section.
Chinese Style Vegetable and Meatball Soup
Serves 4-6
This recipe is very versatile. You can either opt for mince chicken or mince beef for the meatballs. Throw in all kinds of vegetable that you may have at hand. The flavor does differ a bit depending on what vegetable you throw in. I would recommend the capsicum (bell pepper) as it gives a lovely fresh flavor to the soup.
For the Meat Ball:
Minced Chicken or Beef - 300 grams
Minced Ginger - 2 tablespoons
Finely chopped Spring Onion (Shallots) - 4 tablespoons (both white and green parts)
Corn Flour - 2 teaspoons
Salt - to taste
For the Soup:
Dried Red Chili - 1 to 2 (seeds removed, cut into fine rounds - best done using a pair of scissors)
Thinly sliced Ginger - 1 1/2 tablespoons
Thinly sliced Garlic - 3 cloves
Finley chopped Spring Onion - 2 tablespoon
Thinly sliced mixed vegetable - 2-4 cups (Capsicum, Carrot, Green Papaya, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Snow Peas, Peas, Bean Sprout, etc.)
Some leafy green vegetable - 1 cup (bok choi, chinese cabbage, cabbage etc.). Wash the leaves but leave them whole
Water - 4-6 cups
Soy Sauce - 2-3 tablespoons
Salt - to taste
1. Mix all the ingredients of the meat ball together. Make small balls with the mixture and set them aside.
2. In a soup pan, heat the water. Once the water starts to boil, add the ginger and garlic slices and the chili flakes, turn down the heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
3. Gently drop the meat balls in the water. Add the harder vegetable like Broccoli, carrot, cauliflower, snow peas, etc. and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.
4. Add the remaining vegetable including the leafy vegetable and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes until the vegetable are cooked but still remain a bit crisp (except the green leafy ones which should be nicely tender).
5. Add the soy sauce, check the seasoning and add some salt if needed. Sprinkle the chopped Spring Onion and simmer for another 1 minute or so.
6. Remove from heat and serve hot.
Enjoy!!!
Note: To make this dish heartier you can add some noodles (egg noodles, udon or soba noodles) to the soup. This would make this an excellent one dish meal.
Easy Thai Style Fish in Green Sauce
Serves 4-6
This is another dish which is cooked using absolutely no oil what so ever. If there are people who avoid fish dishes due to the fishy smell this dish would be palatable for them as well. The sauce is a lovely fresh aromatic sauce that nicely goes well with plain steamed rice.
Firm White Fish - 300 - 400 grams (cut into medium size pieces)
Finely chopped Tomato - 3 tablespoon
Chopped mushroom (button or oyster) - 3 tablespoon
Salt - to taste
For the sauce:
Coriander Leaves (Cilantor) - 1 cup (loosely packed)
Spring Onion (Green Parts) - 1/2 cup (loosely packed)
Brown sugar - 1-2 tablespoons
Kaffir Lime Leaves - 4-6 (I didn't have them so I just used regular lime leaves)
Coriander Powder - 2 teaspoons
Cumin Powder - 2 teaspoons
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Red Chili Powder - 1/2 teaspoon (more if you want it hotter)
Garlic - 4 cloves (each halved)
Ginger - 1" cube (cut into coarse pieces)
Water - 1/2 cup
Thai Fish Sauce - 2 tablespoon
Coconut Milk - 1/2 cup
1. In a blender blend all the sauce ingredients together until you get a smooth puree. If required add another 1/3 cup water.
2. Heat a wok or a pan, pour the blended sauce and bring it to a simmer. Reduce the sauce to 2/3 the volume.
3. Gently slide the fish pieces in this sauce, coat the fish with the sauce and cook covered over medium heat till the fish is almost cooked. Time to time you may need to gently move the pan to coat the fish and avoid it getting stuck to the bottom.
4. Uncover an sprinkle the chopped tomato and mushroom pieces. Gently swirl the pan to cover the fish, tomato and mushroom with the sauce. If you think the sauce is a bit too thick, add 1/4 cup water and swirl the pan to mix the sauce well.
5. Cook covered for another 5-8 minutes. Check seasoning.
6. Remove from heat and serve hot with steamed rice.
Enjoy!!!!
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