Dieters Delight - Shorabit Adas

The soup made of red lentils - a very traditional Middle Eastern recipe - is loaded with goodness. It's extremely simple to make, not to mention very tasty. There are various recipes to this, but what's given here is the simplest of all, made with the ingredients readily available.

Ingredients (Serves 1)

Red Lentils (Masoor dal) - 1/4 cup
Onion - 1/2 - chopped
Garlic - 1 clove
Cumin - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tsp
Water - 1 1/4 cup
Mint leaves - few

Optional: (these are variations and I didn't use them in my recipe)
Carrots - 1 chopped
Red Pumpkin (parangikkai) - 1/2 cup chopped

Recipe:

Heat the oil in a pan, add the cumin and saute for a few seconds. Add onions, garlic and saute for a minute. Add the washed red lentils and let it absorb the flavor of the onions and garlic. (At this point you can add the vegetables) Add salt. Add the water and pressure cook until soft. (I used an electric cooker and cooked for 20 minutes). Puree this in a blender.

Strain through a sieve. You won't have much of a residue. Return this back to the stove and heat through gently.

This is typically served with warm bread :-)

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Dieter's Delight - Grilled Paneer on a bed of sprouts

I have tried lots of ways to lose weight, but what really helped me are eating right and working out right. Having said that, it's not easy to eat right and work out always. There have been pangs of emotional eating, raiding the fridge at midnight (like Nigella - oh she has such a negative impact on weight loss), eating because you go out in a group and you can't help resist temptation (yeah OMG did that to me) and then the bakers shower their love on you by baking these wonderful cakes and you can't help but indulge. 

And suddenly, I've been seeing too many posts on weight loss and a friend also remarked that I'd gained weight :-( So, it's back to basics - firing it away on the treadmill, combined with lots of reps of Surya Namaskar, a zero-carb high-protein dinner and a bit of weight training to balance out the cardio. And Green tea with mint and a dash of lemon :-)

For a vegetarian like me, protein options are limited. Tofu (I really don't like this much), Soy milk, Sprouts and Paneer are easily available and some of the best choices when it comes to eating tasty and healthy food. 

So here's tonight's dinner

Boil sprouts in a microwave (for about 5 minutes on high). Let it cool.

Add finely chopped onions, green chillies, mint and coriander.

Add some salt to taste.

I have a taken recent liking to green tabasco. So I added a couple of drops of that.

Mix well. Rest for a few minutes.

Meantime, slice the paneer into long strips. Brush with some olive oil. I added some chilli flakes, mint, coriander and salt. (I used my MR sandwich maker, dumped these strips in there and let them grill, turning them over at regular intervals)

That's it and we are done. Happy dieting. (Warning: Do not watch Nigella's show when you eat this. I loved the coconut ice-cream she made today and was looking at my bowl of salad and shaking my head in disbelief)

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