Low Carb Dinner - Episode 1

(Disclaimer: Apologies for the long absence. I'll try to be more regular from now on. Requests for recipes on Facebook posts will get priority)

I've been trying to live a low-carb diet for a couple years now. Unlike popular diets like Ketosis or Atkins - I don't try to completely shy away from carbs. To me, the daily diet is considered "low carb" if less than 45% of to total calories came from carbs.

Even when I have carbs, I try to go for the healthier options, like whole wheat bread or brown rice. However, you can still eat a lot of healthy grain and rack up the carb calories faster than your protein or fat intake. For those reasons, sticking to low carb vegetables like zucchini, carrot or cauliflower is your best bet.

Today I bring you a filling low carb dinner - shredded carrots with sautéed broccoli and chicken gravy. I must mention I don't shy away from ingredients to make the dishes tasty - the carrot is made with butter and the gravy has corn-starch for thickening agent. However, you may want to use more salt than I do to make these taste better - I typically try to control my sodium intake. The measures below are for 2 servings - my dinner and the leftovers for lunch at the office tomorrow. I must mention again than I almost never measure my spices while cooking, so these are eyeballed estimates than precise quantity.

Nutritional Value (per serving):  400 calories. 25g carbs, 35g protein, 15g fat (approx.)

Shredded Carrots

• Organic peeled and washed carrots - 1 lb
  I typically don't buy organic stuff. But these come peeled, washed and halved from Costco where the non-organic ones don't. I don't like to do a lot of prep-work before cooking, so I typically go for pre-cleaned chopped vegetables.
• Salt - 1 tsp (to taste)
• Red chilli pepper flakes - 2 tbsp (to taste)
• Butter - ½ tbsp

Put all ingredients together in the Crock-pot slow cooker in high setting for 4-5 hours. I like slow cooker better than steaming or boiling as the carrots remain drier and cook evenly in bigger batches. I actually prepared 5 lbs of carrot like this today so I can use this through the week. After the carrots are somewhat tender - shred them using the food processor. I love the Ninja Mega Kitchen System that I bought recently.

Sautéed Broccoli

• Broccoli florets - 9 oz
• Salt - ½ tsp (to taste)
• Pepper - 1 tsp (to taste)
• Asian chili paste
  The generic ones you find at grocery stores will do. May contain garlic for extra flavor.
• Olive oil - 1 tbsp

Coat a non-stick pan with olive oil and set it to medium high. Chop up the florets to smaller pieces and put them on oil. Sprinkle salt, pepper and chili paste and sauté for 5-8 minutes, to your desired doneness.

Chicken Gravy

• Grilled chicken breast - 9 oz
  I love the grilled chicken breast from Costco. It's pre-cooked, so just warming it up and adding herbs or spices can bring good flavor pretty fast.
• Low sodium chicken broth - 1 cup
• Cornstarch - 1 tbsp
• Salt - ½ tsp (to taste)
• Pepper - 1 tsp (to taste)
• Italian seasoning - ½ tsp
• Worcestershire Sauce - 1 tbsp

Once to the broccoli is done, pour it out and use the same pan. That way, you don't need extra oil. Make small chunks of the chicken breast and add it to the pan. Add salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. When one side starts browning out a little, add the Worcestershire sauce and keep sautéing a little longer. Pour cornstarch in a cup, add the chicken broth and mix it well. Add the mixture to the pan and raise the stove temperature so that the starch thickens to make the gravy.

Pour the gravy on top of the carrots with the broccoli on the side. If you're not too thrilled to eat carrot for dinner, sit in front of the TV with something you like to watch and eat while lost in the fantasy world. I just finished North and South and started Jessica Jones. Enjoy!

Bengali Fried Eggplants

First of all, there is nothing remotely healthy about this dish. The only reason I'm putting this online is to dedicate this post and say Happy Birthday to my very dear friend: Tamas Zsebe. I asked Tamas what gift he wanted from me for his birthday and all he asked for was to bring this dish to his party. Personally, I use as less oil as possible for my daily meals, but surely I make exceptions for holiday feasts and friends.

You can find plenty of references of "Begun Bhaji" (a.k.a Bengali Fried Eggplants) online. I'm adding a couple at the bottom of the post for reference. 

Serving Size: 4-6 slices per person

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

• Eggplants - 2, medium sized
• Salt - 1 tbsp
• Turmeric - 1½ tbsp,this is the star spice for this recipe. Don't skimp out on this
• Cayenne - 1 tbsp, substitute with Paprika and reduce quantity for less heat
• Corn Starch - 2 tbsp, this is the ingredient that differs from standard recipes. This helps with the crispy texture better
• Vegetable Oil - as much as needed to keep the shallow fry going. I prefer Corn or Soybean oil for frying

Steps:

• Cut the eggplant length wise
• Take each half and cut half-moon slices
• Mix salt, turmeric, cayenne/paprika and corn starch together
• Sprinkle the spice mix on the slices. Gently toss and rub the mix on the slices to make sure they are coated thoroughly.
• Refrigerate the slices for a couple hours. This helps the eggplant lose water. Use a rack for easier draining.
• Heat oil in a wok or stir-fry pan. When the oil is ready for frying, start adding the slices in. Don't overcrowd the pan. 
• After 3-4 minutes, check if the frying side has a nice brown texture. If so, flip over the slices
• Keep frying the other side for 2-3 minutes.
• Once both sides have browned sufficiently, take them out of the pan and put them on paper towel to so that is soaks the excess oil. Eggplant is like a super-soaker for oil, so make sure you put in multiple layers of paper towel.
• Complete the frying in batches, serve warm and crispy.

Similar recipes:

• http://bengalihomecooking.com/begoon-bhaja/
• http://www.thebangladeshikitchen.com/recipes/begun-bhaji-fried-eggplant-1/
• http://myindiantaste.com/crispy-fried-eggplant-baingan-bhaja-recipe/

Allons-y!

About 6 years ago I started living by myself in Houston, TX. I didn't know too much about cooking, but I've always loved food. I didn't want to rely on restaurants and wanted to make food that I like.

At the beginning, meal time meant long Skype calls with my Mom while she walked me through step by step on making a dish. Soon, I started getting the basics and felt confident enough to venture on my own. This resulted in some pretty good Bengali dishes.

Post by Tanvir Anwar.

After I moved to Seattle, WA in 2010, I slowly started getting into the Pacific Northwest health consciousness train. I realized I was gaining weight and needed to cut down on carbs, specially rice. Also, I got more exposure to cuisines from different parts of the world, thanks to my friends and Amazon being located downtown Seattle.

I started experimenting more and more with different dishes and cooking techniques, but always added a little flare of my own. I even won a Chili cooking contest at work.

Post by Tanvir Anwar.

For about 3 and half years now, I've given up eating rice for every meal. I even switched to brown rice for 80% of the time I do end up eating rice. I had a revelation of living healthy after I turned 30, but the biggest change came last year. I started tracking my calories in MyFitnessPal and started cutting down on junk food and fat. Now a days, my regular cooking involves putting a healthy spin on dishes that I like by cutting down on carbs and fat.

Post by Tanvir Anwar.

Through my Facebook posts, I've received numerous requests from my friends to share my recipes. That is the main reason I started this blog. Most of my dishes are inspired spins on food I ate, or recipes that I followed online. I'll try to add original credits to my recipes as much as possible.

One final caution before you move forward. In my cooking, I still stay true to my roots most of the time. I hail from "Puran Dhaka" and feel the urge to add traditional spices and a "little" heat on most of my dishes. I'll try to add comments on how to tone them down, but don't blame me when you burn your tongue or feel uncomfortable the next morning by following my recipe.

So now friends, are you ready to take a culinary journey in the lands of spice with me? Allons-y!