A couple of healthy recipes...

[gruntygiggles]

Just shared these in the weight loss thread, so will bring them to you all as well...

Healthy chilli...but you'll never know as it tastes amazing...


1kg minced beef
6 carrots
1 large onion
6 cloves garlic
1 handful of green beans
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1tbsp ground cumin
1 stick of cinnamon or 1tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground ginger
1tbsp fresh ground coffee or 1/2 cup strong black coffee
20g dark chocolate (min 70%)
2 cans chopped tomatoes
2tbsp tomato puree
2 red chillies
1 green chilli
1/2 pint strong beef stock.
25g sugar if you are cooking in 1.5 hrs to help with the tomatoes. Not needed if you cook for longer.

This is a very healthy chilli con carne (or chilli con coffee as it'll be in the book).
Work the minced beef through your hands a little to break it down a bit and place in a large, deep sided frying pan that is cold. When you have put the mince in, put the pan on a low heat to start with. This will allow a gentle heat to penetrate the meat and render out the fat. When the meat starts to sizzle, turn the heat to high and stir regularly to brown all over.
While the meat is browning, roughly chop the onion, carrots, bell peppers, green beans and garlic and blitz in a food processor to a fine chop. All pieces should be minute, almost like a paste. When the meat is browned, pour into a colander over a bowl and leave to drain fully. Hold the pan
over the sink to let excess fat pour out and you should be left with tiny beads of residual fat in the pan.This is much less than if you use oil or butter, so just put the pan back on the hob over a medium heat and
add the veg mix. Because it is so fine, it will soften very quickly and the veg will release all of their own waters to help this process, meaning less need for oil. When the veg has softened, add the cumin, cinnamon and ginger and stir well, cooking for another 2 minutes. Then add the tomato puree and cook for a further 2 minutes before adding the mince back to the pan (look at how much fat has drained off and smile) along with the canned tomatoes and beef stock. Bring to a boil, then simmer, stirring occasionally for 1 hour to all day. I like to add my chillies 30 minutes before serving, so that they impart their heat, but remain fresh, so finely chop the chillies, seeds in and add a tsp at a time, stirring through and tasting until you are happy with the heat. Now add the coffee, stir and cook for another 30 minutes. Finish by adding the chocolate and stirring through.

If you want to be super healthy, you can serve this in gem lettuce leaves that will act as cups. You could also make your own corn tortillas by blitzing in a food processor 500g drained, defrosted or fresh corn, a handful of fresh coriander, seasoning, 1cup plain flour and enough water to just bind to a dough. Portion into balls, roll out and cook for a minute each side in a flat pan with no oil until just browning each side.
With any chilli or meat based sauce, the longer you let it cook, the more the flavours will develop. I cook this for a minumum of three hours,
sometimes all day. Just make sure you don't let the sauce dry out by adding a little water when needed.

[gruntygiggles]

I was taught that basic recipe (the non healthy version) in mexico and they said they never used kidney beans so I've kinda got used to it without now. I add them if I have them, but most of the time I don't bother. Instead, I will blitz the kidney beans to a paste with some ground cumin, chilli and salt, add a little chicken stock and gently cook for 5-10 minutes to serve on the side.

I heard about adding chocolate in Mexico, so started doing that and I can't remember why I first added coffee, but if you can use fresh ground coffee rather than made up black coffee, the flavour is even better. Just don't use instant...lol.


I should say, the slightly less healthy version...but the one I make as my very best chilli is the same basic recipe as the healthy one but no carrots or green beans.

Just get 1kg of beef skirt and chop into 1/2 inch chunks. Brown well in batches in a little oil and if bits stick to the bottom..it's all the better for it...let them burn .
When all browned, remove and add the chopped onion (don't blitz it for this recipe...it's good to have it chopped). Cook until just soft and add the garlic, chopped not blitzed. Cook for 1 minute, add the spices, then the puree, and cook as per the healthy recipe.

With this one, you need to cook for a minimum of 4 hours to cook the beef down as it's a very tough cut, but is full of flavour and becomes super moist and tender. It's far and away the best way to eat chilli when you get proper chunks of melting meat...nom nom nom!

[gruntygiggles]

Chicken and Cauliflower curry

Really healthy curry
4 skin off chicken breasts
1 head of cauliflower
1 handful green beans
4 carrots
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
2 inch piece of ginger root
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
4-5 black cardamom pods (use green if you don't have black)
1tbsp garam masala
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 can chopped tomatoes
1tbsp tomato puree
2 red chillies
3/4 pint chicken stock
salt and pepper

Chop the chiken breasts and place in a bag with a tsp groundnut or veg oil and shake together to give the chicken a light coating of oil.
Blitz in a food processor the onion and carrots.
Paste the garlic and ginger together in a pestle and mortar, or you can blitz or grate in.
Place the chicken in a large deep frying or saucepan and gook over a medium heat to just seal it, then remove and set aside.
Now, add a further 1tsp oil and the mustard seeds and cardamom pods.
Cook for 30 seconds (if the pan is on too high a heat, the mustard seeds will pop and burn so keep the heat medium to low). After 30 seconds, add the ginger and garlic paste and cook for 1 minute. Now add the onion
and carrot mix and cook for 2 minutes, then add the garam masala, ginger, turmeric and cumin and cook for a further minute. Next add the tomato puree, cook for 2 minutes and return the chicken to the pan. Add the chopped tomatoes, finely chopped chillies and the chicken stock, stir well and cook for 10 minutes with a lid on.
Now chop the cauliflower into florets and chop the green beans into 1 inch pieces and add to the curry. Stir and cook for a further 5-8 minutes with the lid off to cook the veg and reduce the sauce. Taste and add salt to your liking.

This is nice served just with chapatis. To make these, get some chapati flour (from all supermarkets) in a bowl, add a pinch of salt and then add water, mixing with your hand a little at a time until you have a firm but pliable dough. Portion, roll into balls and roll out, then cook on a dry flat frying pan over a fairly high heat for a minute on each side. In this house, we use the chapati's by tearing a bit off and using it with our fingers to pick up and eat the curry.

[the_lone_wolf]

Damn you Cheryl

Just got back from the gym and now I'm even hungrier

Will be picking your brain for healthy meat recipes when I see you...

[gruntygiggles]

Coolio, anytime Marky Mark!

[gruntygiggles]

Talking of sweetcorn....using them for fritters works really well, but not blitzed to a pulp like most recipes.

Stick a pint of frozen sweetcorn into a bowl of hot water for 30 seconds to defrost. Drain well and tip into a food processor. Add 2tsp ground cumin, a good pinch each of salt and pepper, 2tbsp plain flour and a generous hanful of fresh coriander leaves. Pulse for 2-3 seconds, then add 1tbsp cold water, pulse for anothr 2-3 seconds and repeat until it ust comes together.

The sweetcorn will still have a lot of texture which is good. Just tip the mix out onto a lightly floured surface, bring together in your hands and shape into individual fritters, about 1cm thick. Cook in a little oil in a parge pan until brown and just crispy on each side.

These are great as an alternative to quorn or bean burgers if you are serving for vegetarians, but meat eaters will love them too.

I had pan fired haddock with lentils and poached eggs last night. My method was as follows.

Guess what size portion of lentils I would need.

Then boil lentils until they looked like what I thought they might look like when done.

Chop half a red onion and a generous handful of cherry tomatoes. Add to frying pan. Add lentils. Add a completely uneducated measure of fishstock and then a healthy squeezse of lemon juice.

Brush haddock with oil and add to hot griddle pan. cook on one side for 3 minutes, turn, add parsley butter and season. Meanwhile, realise that eggs have not been put on to poach.

Poach eggs.

Take all off the heat, serve and hope that dinner will not end up being cheese on toast.

[gruntygiggles]

Sounds lush Davey! That's pretty much my approach to cooking. If it's good, I then have to guess how much of it all I used, write it down before I forget it, then cook it again following the recipe and tweak til it's right so I can write it and use it in the book.

It's the best way, well at least the most fun. I sometimes see a recipe or something on a menu and then just have a think about how I would like to eat it and go from there. I get the odd failure but generally it turns out alright.

Still can't quite cook everything in a roast to be ready at the same time though. Probably why I'm usually found eating them in the pub!

[gruntygiggles]

Originally Posted by DaveyF

It's the best way, well at least the most fun. I sometimes see a recipe or something on a menu and then just have a think about how I would like to eat it and go from there. I get the odd failure but generally it turns out alright.

Still can't quite cook everything in a roast to be ready at the same time though. Probably why I'm usually found eating them in the pub!

Ah.....when you nail it, it will be easy. Don't be afraid to let your meat rest for aaaaages. So long as it's in a warm place it will be fine and the gravy and warm plates will mean it will be hot at the table. As an example, at Christmas, my turkey will cook for 2hrs 30 mins for a 17lb bird and rest for a good 40 minutes breast side down. It's super moist and still hot when you carve it. Leaves the oven free though. Put your roast potatoes in 10 minutes before taking the meat out, they can go at the bottom of the oven for this 10 minutes. Then, when you take the meat out, move the shelves so you have one high up for the roasts and one about 1/4 way up the oven. Turn the roasts, put them on the top shelf and put your yorkshire tray in (with the oil or fat added) on the bottom shelf. Whack the oven up to 230-240c/gas 8-9 and after 5 mins, if you put your yorkshire batter in a jug, you can just pull out the tray, pour the batter in and close again straight away. 35 mins later, you'll have perfect yorkshires and roasts. If I am doing roast pork, when I take the meat out to rest, I take off teh crackling and put that on a shelf above the roasts to baste them in flavour as they cook, but you'll need three shelves or two ovens for that.

While they are cooking, get carrots cut into batons into a frying pan with a handful of brown sugar, good knob of butter and a little water...cook on hight heat til they are cooked and the liquid has reduced to a glaze. Do your other veg and after pouring off excess fat, get your roasting pan on the hob, add the flour to cook it out then add your veg waters as usual and it will all be ready together.