Winters mean a lot of seasonal produce and we at Fitness Roar love to eat local and seasonal. Foods, when eaten according to their season, have a more dense nutrition packed in them. In winters tomatoes, corns and pineapples are all available locally. So we got Executive Chef Anil Dahiya, Hotel Bristol, Gurugram to share some guilt-free recipes. For the diet conscious use stevia or any sugar-free. Here are Pineapple Rice Salad, Tamatar ka Halwa and Bhutte ki Kees for you to try this weekend:
Pineapple Coconut Cashew Rice
| Ingredients | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Long grained rice | 1 1/2 cups |
| Crushed pineapple chunks (In the form of pineapple juice) | 1 (20 oz. Can) |
| Unsweetened coconut milk | 1 (13.5 oz. Can) |
| Sweetened coconut flakes | 3tsp. |
| Thai red curry paste | 1 tsp. |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp. |
| Ground ginger | 1/2 tsp. |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp. |
| Pepper | 1/8 tsp. |
For Garnish
| Ingredients | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Lime juice (According to taste) | 3tsp. |
| Salted roasted cashews | 1/2 cup |
| Chopped cilantro | 1/2 cup |
Freshly cracked salt and pepper
Method
- Pour pineapple juice (collected from crushed pineapple) in a measuring cup. Add coconut milk in 3 equal cups – add water if necessary.
- Transfer the liquid into a large pan and bring to a gentle simmer
- Stir rice, coconut milk, sweetened coconut flakes, thai red curry paste and onion powder.
- Bring it to a boil then cover and reduce heat to low (dial should be a little above lowest setting).
- Simmer for approximately 20 minutes or until rice is tender, stir for 15 minutes and add water if necessary.
- When rice is tender, remove the pan from the heat and let it rest for 5 minutes.
- When ready to serve (not before), stir in lime juice, cilantro and cashews.
- Taste and season with freshly cracked salt and pepper and additional lime juice to taste if desired.
Tomato Halwa
| Ingredients | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Tomatoes | 10-12 |
| Sugar | 2 cups |
| Ghee | 1/2 cup |
| Cashewnuts | 20 |
| Raisins | 2 tablespoons |
| Green cardamoms | 6 |
| Cloves | 4 |
| Tulsi leaves | 1/4 cup |
| Rose petals | 1/4 cup |
| Edible camphor (optional) | 1 a pinch |
Method
- Wash the tomatoes, remove the eye and make an incision on the lower side.
- Boil water and blanch the tomatoes for 2-3 minutes. Drain, peel, deseed and chop.
- Reserve the pulp with the juices. Grind the cardamom with 1 tablespoon sugar to a fine powder, sieve and keep aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of ghee and fry the Cashewnuts and Raisins to golden brown.
- Wash and shred the Rose petals and Tulsi leaves and reserve.
- Boil the sugar with ½-cup water and make a single-thread syrup and keep aside.
- Heat the ghee in a wide kadai (utensil), roast the cloves in it, till they start to crackle.
- Add the tomato pulp and cook till the liquid dries up. Cook on low heat.
- Increase heat and add the hot syrup slowly.
- Reduce to low heat, keep stirring to avoid burning and cook till it starts to leave the sides.
- Sprinkle the Cardamom powder, Rose petals, Tulsi leaves and the Camphor.
- Mix well
- Garnish the halwa with fried Cashewnuts and Raisins and serve warm.
Bhutte ka Kees
| Ingredients | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Medium sized corns | 4 |
| Ginger | 2-3 (1/2 inch) |
| Turmeric | 1 tsp. |
| Chilli powder | 1-2 tsp. |
| Mustard seeds | 1 tsp. |
| Oil | 2 tsp. |
| Milk | 1/2 cup |
| Water | 1/2 cup |
| Lemon juice | 2 tsp. |
| Sugar | 1/2 tsp. |
| Salt to taste |
A pinch of Asafoetida (Heeng)
Chopped coriander and grated coconut for garnishing
Method
- Grate the corn with a hand grater to make a coarse paste. (You can also use a food processor or mixer grinder but it will affect the taste. It tastes better if you use the hand grater)
- Chop the ginger and green chilli finely.
- Add oil in a pan. Add asafetida (heeng) and mustard seeds till it splutter.
- Add green chillies and chopped ginger.
- Add corn paste, turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Stir it occasionally to make sure that no lumps are formed.
- Cook it for approx.10-15 mins until the liquid in the corn paste gets dried off and the colour of the mixture changes to golden yellow.
- Add milk and water. Continue stirring till its consistency becomes like halwa or upma.
- Add sugar and lemon juice.
- Garnish it with chopped coriander, grated coconut and serve hot.
The above recipes have been shared by Executive Chef Anil Dahiya, The Bristol Hotel, Gurugram.