Rainy Day Sunday

Hmmm.... new diet plan, or I should say eating plan, but really a non-eating plan... going well. Two meal replacements per day, great vitamin supplements, nice cleansing activity. I like it.

As a foodie, I really look forward to dinner. I am keeping it clean and healthy, but creative. Two nights ago I made a vegetable soup, with stock I had in the freezer - very handy, I make it regularly from the bones of Whole Foods chickens stored in the freezer in Zip Locks until there are enough to fill the pot.

Yesterday, my friend Vivien gave me a few apples from her tree. Cute little Granny Smiths. I had chicken sausages in the freezer, too. Since it's cold, blustery and rainy, it seemed a good night to make my favorite European Country dinner - Mashed potatoes and sausages with sautéed red cabbage and apples in Balsamic Vinegar. Truly warming and delicious. No butter in the mashed potatoes lowered the calorie and fat count. Small portions, lots o' water....

Back to Gourmet Indian in Minutes tomorrow.

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More Gourmet Indian Cooking

Veggie Curry was great. The addition of the (basically) fried cheese really added value to the meal. I cut the Paneer into cubes, floured, egged and bread-crumbed the results, and fried them in a small amount of ghee. then drained it well. Delicious.

Enough for three nights, served with lettuce or rice or...

Last night I experimented with Macchi Lahsuni, salmon with garlic crumb, page 44. This was really good - crumbs so delicious I was tempted to eat them with a spoon out of the bag. Didn't...

Tonight I found the recipe on page 65. Kozhi Chettinad Dosa ( spicy fried chicken-stuffed crepes). First of all, it is not fried chicken, so don't freak out. The recipe calls for 10 ounces of cooked chicken, shredded. A perfect opportunity for a Whole Foods Roasted chicken.  Toss with onions and some aromatic and zippy spices (anise, cumin, chili powder, garam masala) and heat through. The Rice Pancakes, or Crepes were a little tricky, and I could have done without, since I am, after all, on a weight losing, health building plan. But, they were fun to make. And beautiful, lacy things, like praline lace cookies, wrapped around spicy chicken. Served with a salad.

I love this cookbook (Gourmet Indian in Minutes by Monisha Bharadwaj). It is simple, but not as simple as Monisha thinks. Perhaps after some more practice, I can keep to her "15 minutes to prep, 10 minutes to cook," but I am realizing that I have grown lazy since the Chopra Center days about my Indian spices and skills. I loved this recipe because it did not have any turmeric (why does everything in Westernized Indian cooking have turmeric in it?) and because the chicken came already cooked!

Next two nights we are eating with friends, so more next week about my Indian cooking experiment.
(love my meal replacement drinks, BTW. Great B vitamins.)

thanks for listening. GB

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Making Paneer!

Well, here I am, back after a few months hiatus. But new things are happening, food-wise. Yesterday I began a diet/food plan, based on a nutritionally sound program called Isagenix. Two meals replacement drinks/day, supplements and a good cleanse. Just what I need.

My husband, David, and I both work at home, so we work whenever - sometimes late into the evening. For me, the two meals replaced must be breakfast and lunch, since we like our social time, and generally make dinner together. And, if I am going to only have one meal a day, I am going to make it interesting.

So, I have decided to improve my Indian cooking skills and repertoire this first month by making good, healthy, low calorie dinners from Monisha Bharadwaj's fabulous book, Gourmet Indian in Minutes. The edition I am using was published in 2008 by Kyle Books. Lots of great color photos, delicious looking recipes.

Last night I made ghee and paneer cheese, recipes from my book, A Simple Celebration, the Nutritional Program for the Chopra Center for Well Being, published by Random House/Harmony Books in 1997. Both recipes pretty simple, really. For the cheese, I bring 1 1/2 gallons of whole milk to a boil, til it begins to foam. Then I add two quarts of buttermilk, turn off the heat and stir. The curds and whey begin to separate. When it's cooled a bit, I add some salt and strain it through cheese cloth in a strainer and squeeze out the remaining whey. The more whey you get rid of, the harder the cheese will be. Refrigerate overnight, setting the strainer over a bowl to continue to catch the dripping whey, before removing from the cheesecloth bundle.

For ghee, simmer unsalted butter in a large, heavy pan with high sides until it goes through two foaming cycles - it's burbling off the liquid. It will start to brown the milk solids that fall to the bottom - the browner you let it get, the nuttier it tastes. Strain it through cheese cloth, too, into a glass jar.

Tonight I am cutting the paneer into cubes to sauté and add to Monisha's recipe for Sindhi Kadhi (Vegetable and Tomato Curry) on page 97. Stay tuned for the final menu and recipe.

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