Low carb lunch recipes 1

Sugar and salt intake when kept in control gives us good health and keeps our weight in check. In this series, I will share few of my daily lunch platter. Ingredients are sometimes plenty but sometimes it is just fridge clearance. I have replaced sugar with stevia or jaggery when required.

I made butter garlic prawns served on a bed of sauteed brocolli and red and yellow peppers.

Also, I had removed excess water from the chana dal I had made earlier. It had very little salt and little turmeric . I added a pinch of kashmiri chilli powder, a punch of roasted cumin powder and a pinch of carrom seeds powder, flittle ghee and boiled for a few minutes.

To make garlic prawns, I peeled and chopped almost 10 fat cloves of garlic and sautted it in half a teaspoon of butter and half a teaspoon of oil. As soon as it started to turn brown, I added  the pre marinated prawns (with salt, black pepper powder and a tablespoon of cornflour).Cover and cook for a,few minutes. Keep turning it up and down . Remove the lid and stir fry for 2 minutes. Serve it on top of vegetable bed.

To make brocolli and peppers stir fry , add a drop of oil to your non-stick pan,add the cut vegetables. Add salt and pepper, two drops of white vinegar and sate on high flame. Remove it when there us still crunch in your vegetables. 

COMFORTING SOUP

COMFORTING SOUP
SERVES 2

Ingredients

1. 500 ml of Stock (vegetable/ chicken/ seafood)
2. 2 tbsps of garlic, carrots, spring onions, pakchoy or cabbage, sweet corn kernels, green or red chillies.
3. 10 medium sized fresh prawns deveined and cleaned
   4.One egg white
4. 1 tsp of butter or oil
5. 2 tbsps light soy sauce
   7.1 soup cube
6. Salt to taste.
   Procedure

Finely chop all the vegetables .Take oil in a wok and on high heat add garlic and chillies. Saute and before it burns add prawns and saute. Then add all the veggies one by one. Stir fry for a minute and add the stock, soy sauce and the soup cube as well. Reduce the flame and do not cover it. If you cover, the veggies will lose their colour and crunch. Cook for two minutes and add egg white by sitirring the soup with a fork as you add the egg white. Add salt only if required because the stock, soup cube and soy sauce would already have added enough salinity. Serve hot.

Caviar on Crackers

This is a very easy snack and my family’s favourite. I had crackers with me but toasted bread also works well. I made the creamy white layer by beating hung curd with a whisk and added salt and white pepper powder. I chopped an onion, a tomato and coriander leaves for the topping. I had two types of caviar : red and black. I layered the crackers with hung curd, topped it with caviar and chopped veggies. It tastes heavenly.

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Crabmeat Filling for Sandwiches, Wraps and Canapes

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In these rationing and trying days, my pantry gives me the pleasure of my lifetime. I found some crabmeat in my freezer and I had fresh bread with me.

And here was the heavenly combination that I made earlier and had made wraps and canapes also. Actually speaking, this is just a filling or can work as a dip with nachos or fries.

Makes 10 sandwiches

Ingredients

1/2 a cup of crabmeat

2 tbsps of mayonnaise

2 tbsps of cream cheese

Few sprigs of herb of your choice. I used finely chopped coriander leaves.

1/2 of an onion finely chopped

1/4 of a tomato (seeds removed) finely chopped

1/2 if a spring onion green chopped

1 tsp each of mustard sauce, tomato sauce, any hot sauce

A squirt of wasabi paste (optional)

1/4 tsp of black pepper powder

Salt to taste

1 tsp of olive oil.

Procedure

Combine all the ingredients except onion, tomatoes, spring onion green and olive oil.

Mix it well and keep it aside.

Take olive oil in a small shallow pan and once hot, add onion and fry till translucent. Then add tomatoes and saute. Now add spring onion greens and turn off the flame.

Add this to the mixture in the bowl. Mix well and store it in a box. Use it when required. Spread it on a slice of bread and cover it with another slice.

Or let a dollop of it sit on a cracker or canape. This looks very decorative as a snack on a platter.

Or spread it on a tortilla and make a wrap. Let your imagination run wild.