Tag: Keto

Baked Chicken Breast

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Super simple but so delicious and healthy.

You Need:

  • Chicken Breasts with or without the bone behind them.
  • A tablespoon of garlic paste.
  • Salt and pepper as per your preference.
  • Extra virgin olive oil. Must be adequate for liberally coating the chicken.
  • Parchment paper.
  • Both the flat and the grill tray for baking.

Rub the olive oil, garlic paste, pepper and salt on the chicken. Let it marinate for about twenty minutes.

Wrap the chicken in parchment paper. Use two sheets if you need. Make a small hole on top. Place this on the flat tray.

Bake in a preheated oven at 220C for twenty minutes.

Remove. Carefully open the parchment paper. Leave the paper on the flat tray. Keep the chicken on the grill tray. Keep the inner side facing up. Put both trays in the oven and bake for another fifteen minutes. Keeping the flat tray below the grill tray will prevent the juices that drip from ruining your oven. Leaving parchment paper on top of the flat tray makes clean up easy.

After the fifteen minutes, turn the chicken so the smooth side faces up. Use only top heat and grill for five minutes. Check for internal temperature of 75C at the thickest part using a meat thermometer.

Let it rest for about five minutes before slicing.

Garnish with fresh herbs.

Beets and Greens (Water Amaranth)

Posted in Keto Diet, Uncategorized, Vegan, VegeterianLeave a comment

beets

You Need:

  • 2 Medium Beets, Grate them using the attachment that yields long strips.
  • Water Amaranth or Ponnaganti Kura, couple of bunches.
  • 5-6 Garlic cloves, sliced up.
  • Coriander Seeds about a teaspoon.
  • Cumin Seeds about a teaspoon.
  • Freshly ground pepper powder as per taste.
  • Two tablespoons of mustard oil.

This is a relatively simple recipe. We are using an oil, which already has a rich flavor in it. We complement that flavor by sauteing the cumin, coriander seeds and garlic in it. Use low to medium heat. We don’t want to burn anything. As it starts smelling real nice and the garlic is still white, add the leaves. Stir fry in the open vessel at medium to high heat, till the greens start becoming a bright shade of green. This is an indication that they are almost cooked. Beets don’t really need to be cooked. So we add them now and mix them in. When the contents have all become hot, sprinkle pepper powder and season with a little salt. Switch off the stove and continue mixing everything.

Serve with a dollop of curd. If you want it Vegan, then replace with any equivalent condiment of your choice.

This is an excellent low calorie but loaded with vitamins and minerals kind of meal.

Fish Curry in 25 Minutes.

Posted in Keto Diet, Seafood, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Fish Curry

I actually measured the amount of time it took me to prepare this dish. From start to finish. The fish was at room temperature.

You Need:

  • Approximately one dozen Anchovies.
  • One Onion.
  • Three or Four Green Chilies.
  • Three or Four Tomatoes.
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Paste.
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric.
  • 2 Teaspoons of Coriander Powder.
  • A nice big fistful of coriander leaves.
  • Red Chilly Powder – Optional. I did not use it.

Start heating about 2 tablespoons of oil and while it heats, chop up the onion and remove the top part of the chilies. Start sauteing the onions and green chilies. While they cook on medium, chop the tomatoes. When chopped, add them to the onions. Add the garlic paste, coriander powder, turmeric powder. Season with salt. Mix well and let them cook on medium heat.

On another stove start heating about 100 ml of water.

Finely chop the coriander. By now the oil would have started to separate from the tomatoes. Only after this happens, add the coriander and hot water to the masala.

When the gravy starts to get a rolling boil, add the fish. High heat for about 2-3 mins, so that the fish gets to the same temperature.

Cover and cook on low heat for another 6-8 mins.

Open and dry up the consistency if needed. But I highly recommend that you don’t reduce it a lot. That watery gravy is just perfect to soak into dosa’s or idlies.

I paired this up with some green moong dosa’s to keep the meal low carb.

Chicken in Mint Sauce

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You Need:

  • Two Drumsticks and Thighs of Chicken. Dry and slightly salted.
  • Mint Puree with a bunch of mint leaves, two green chillies, garlic cloves and a little olive oil.
  • 100 ml fresh cream.
  • A tablespoon of butter.

Heat a heavy bottom pan and melt butter. Add the chicken and cook till it’s about 80% done. You will know this as the color will have fully changed and it may leak out almost clear oils.

Add the mint puree and immediately after that the cream. Mix everything. Season with salt after checking. Cook covered on the lowest heat setting for about ten minutes. Sprinkle some chilly flakes for color.

Enjoy.

Steamed Chicken, Broccoli with Strawberries

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Super healthy way to start your Monday.

You Need:

  • One chicken breast. Soak it in salted water for about 30 minutes.
  • Broccoli Florets. Soak them in salted water for at least 20 mins. This will help get rid of debris and worms.
  • Cut Strawberries.
  • Pepper Powder.
  • Some toasted nuts and seeds.

I used my pressure cooker for steaming the broccoli and chicken. Its a normal 5 Liter cooker. First I kept a small steel plate up side down. This gave a little extra height. On top of this placed a steel colander. The water must NOT touch the colander. This is very important. Remove the weight and the rubber gasket from the pressure cooker’s lid.

Get the water to a full boil. Reduce the heat. Carefully place the broccoli florets in it. Use a pair of tongs to do this safely. Close the lid. Get the heat to high. Give it a few seconds for the steam to start appearing in the cooker’s opening. Reduce the heat and give it approximately 3 mins. Remove the florets and keep aside.

Now place the chicken breast in the colander. Sprinkle pepper powder. Close the lid and increase the heat to full. When the steam starts appearing in the opening, start a timer and reduce the heat. 12 mins later, remove the chicken. Be careful. Hot steam is dangerous. Use a digital thermometer to be sure that the chicken is safe to eat. It must be over 70C in the thickest part. The temperature will continue to rise even after you remove it from the steam. My chicken breast reached a maximum of 79.9C.

Slice the chicken, combine it with the steamed broccoli and strawberries. There is no need of any dressing. Sprinkle some toasted nuts. They look good and they are very nutritious.

 

Tomato Canapes with Anchovies

Posted in Keto Diet, Seafood, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Boost your heart health with super Omega from fresh Anchovies.

You need:

  • 500 grams of fresh anchovies.
  • 3 large tomatoes, cut into thick rings.
  • Chopped Coriander or Basil.
  • Chopped Garlic cloves.
  • One chopped green chilly.
  • Two tablespoons of Olive oil.

It’s best to remove the bones from the anchovies. After washing them, leave them in the freezer for about twenty minutes. Remove the bones by simply peeling them out. It’s very easy and you may only need to make a tiny snip at the tail end. Most fishes will simply part ways with the middle bone without much resistance.

Heat olive oil, lightly fry the garlic and green chilly. Spread out the tomatoes slices without stacking them on top of each other. Let them cook till they have softened. Do not add any salt. Flip the tomato slices. Spread out the fish on top of the tomatoes. Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves. Cook on low heat. The color of the fish will rapidly start changing into opaque white. It may take no more than 10 mins for the fish to be cooked. Carefully move the tomatoes to one side and the fish to the other. Use high heat to dry it up. This will take no more than 2-3 minutes.

Enjoy.

Uncomplicated Fish Masala

Posted in Keto Diet, Seafood, UncategorizedLeave a comment

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This is a recipe for anyone who is intimidated by fish. Its super simple and fail safe.

You Need:

  • Dill leaves or Coriander : Couple of bunches.
  • 2-3 Green chilies.
  • 5-6 Tomatoes.
  • One inch piece of ginger.
  • 5-6 cloves of garlic.
  • Pomfret, you can use either white or black. This recipe will work fine with Sea Bass, Pink Perch, Lady Fish, Basa etc.

Put all the ingredients except the fish in a blender. Puree it. Season with salt.

It does not matter if you used more tomatoes or more herbs. Just taste it once its pureed and adjust accordingly.

Use a heavy pan, which has a lid. Heat some oil in it. Fish tastes best when its cooked in mustard oil. But you can use any oil you like. When the oil is shimmering add the pureed masala. Let it cook on high heat for about 3-4 mins. As it cooks, it will start bubbling and sputtering. Let it do that for another 2-3 mins. Reduce heat. Spread out the fish and cover it with the masala. Cover the pan. Let it cook on low heat for no more than 15 minutes.

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Open the and if needed simply dry it up a little.

This goes great with both rice and roti.