Eggs the Nutritional Powerhouse

Poached eggs on sauted kale with roasted garlic seasoned with basil and chopped scallions

70 Calories in one egg  and packed with all 9 amino acids makes egg among the few complete protein foods

Getting more then 6 gm of protein containing all 9 essential amino acids and only 70 Calories from one poached eggs makes it an excellent complete protein food . Traditionally eggs have been notorious as high cholesterol food, causing blocked arteries. Most people prefer only consuming egg whites for protein as a step to healthy eating and ignoring all the goodness of its sunny yolk. 

Poached eggs on a multigrain wholewheat toast

The latest researches have completely debunked these ideas presenting whole eggs as power house for building and repairing every part of the human body. Besides protein one egg contains 4.7 grams of mostly unsaturated fat and significant amounts of vitamin D, antioxidant compounds and choline, a nutrient essential to healthy brain function. Amino Acids from proteins are what we need to make good muscles and fighting disease. Amino Acids provides all the nourishment that our tissues, cells, enzymes and brain requires. An egg a day is a very safe consumption and provide a good portion of the nutrients.

During my classes at the Natural Gourmet Institute of Health and Culinary Arts, I got to learn a lot of nutritional facts as well as serving eggs in the most healthiest way maximizing its benefits.

 Poached eggs served creatively as a breakfast or light meal option are great choice as against their counterparts; scrambled, butter fried, or omelete filled with cheese. 

How to Poach a Perfect Egg:

-fill a medium sized pan with water, pinch of salt, add a teaspoon of cider or red cooking vinegar and bring it to boil.

-break the egg in a small bowl

- lower the flame of the stove so the water is in a simmering state and still this water to make a swirl

- carefully and light slide the egg right in the middle of this swirl

- the water’s current will help the whites of the egg wrap around the yolks and the cooked egg will take the shape of an egg that is oval

-leave it to cook for 2-3 minutes and then using a slotted spoon take it out of the water and turn over on your toast, or vegetable.

Poached eggs served on a bed of fresh crunchy salad greens dressed with Mint and Pistachio Pesto

  Serving ideas:

Green and Sunny: Poached eggs over a bed of greens. Eating a good serving of garden fresh greens provides the boost of nutrients as disease fighting phytochemicals besides giving that feeling of satiety. 

The following are two of my all time favourite breakfast choices;

-Wash and dry or run through a salad spinner one cup tightly packed mixed greens it can be a mix of arugula, baby spinach, ice berg and lettuce or any one or two of these in-short whatever green and leafy vegetable you like and is available.

-       use the dressing of your choice, my favourite is homemade pesto, or an olive oil meso dressing,  or any commercially prepared low calorie dressing.

-       Turn the poached egg on this bed of seasoned salad and top with some freshly chopped herb like basil, scallions or coriander and freshly ground black peppers

2- Garlic Sauted Spinach/Kale

-       Sauté a small onion and 2 cloves garlic in olive oil

-       Add 2 cups of spinach or kale cover the pan and cooled until wilted , avoid over cooking

-       Add a pinch of salt

-       Take out in a plate before poaching eggs.

-       Directly put two poached eggs on top of a bed of sauted greens, and sprinkle freshly ground black pepper or cyenne pepper and serve.

 

Adding roasted tomatoes to your fresh greens and eggs adds that taste and variety

Spinach and Cottage Cheese Omelette;

 Spinach and cottage cheese filled omelette makes a great Sunday brunch.
 

Add salt and chillies while whipping the eggs. The rest of the vegetable Spinach+green onions add on top of the egg batter in the pan, the cheese chunks will go the last

 

Break 3-4 eggs, using only 1 yolk, and add salt and minced fresh red chillies and beat it. 

-Separately chop green onions, fresh oregano, and spinach and a few 1" chunks of homemade cottage cheese. 

Pour the egg mixture in a pan with just 1 tsp of butter/Olive oil to greese the pan

- Now sprinkle the greens and let it cook slowly, when it is set, turn it in a half moon. Let cook for another 1-2 minute and slide slowly on the plate. Serve with toasted wholewheat toasts.

Chicken Liver Pâté: Dip it, spread it – just enjoy it!

As published in Express Tribune August 2nd 2013
Chicken Liver Pâté: Dip it, spread it – just enjoy it!

The Hunk of a Meat Called Rib-Eye Steaks

My hunter and BBQ expert brother, finally agreed to share his secret of that perfect BBQ Rib Eye steak and teach me how to cook it. 

I have never tasted anything like this anywhere around the world but in his subarban Longisland home in NY.  Besides his love and affection the steaks from his grill carries his culinary expertise and a command over the art of meat grilling. Learning to cook that magnificent rib-eye steak with him was a totally epicurean experience.

The Rib-Eye is cut from the top of the rib primal of a cow, precisely from rib 6 through 12. It is the Prime Rib, meaning from prime grade beef with which we were playing at this cooking adventour. 

  

 

Cut into exactly 1 and 1/2  inch thickness, the excellent marbling of fat brought the signature flavour and juicy taste of the Prime Rib-Eye and remained tender all through cooking.  No need to spoil it with spices but freshly grounded sea salt and black pepper is all that is needed to bring out the flavours. Yes seriously this was all that we rubbed on before tossing it in the griller beginning at 550F going all the way to 700F for 20 minutes that is it.

Half way turn it and basted with good quality butter,  bro said that ribeye steak is best grilled up to medium , and never beyond medium well.

 Trust me the final product 20 minutes later on plate literally melted at every bite in my mouth,  can be carved with even blunt most steak knives,  all crusty, buttery from outside and succulent, juicy inside.

Soybeans-Meat from the Fields

Spicy Soybean Bun Kebab/Burger

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 During the course of studies; Health Nutrition and Lifestyle , one of the components focused on plant based food. It required us to create recipes and that can replace meat from a meal. Given the relatively high protein content of Soybeans and the research on these as one of the important non meat protein they are historically called "meat of the field" or "meat without bones”.

 

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Soybeans are officially recognized for cholesterol-lowering effects and  a health claim stating that 25 grams of soy protein per day may reduce the risk of heart disease. 1 cup 180 gms of cooked boiled soya beans have 10.5gms of fibre, 300Cal, and 28.6gms of protein. Besides they are great source of Vitamin C, Thiamin, Folate, Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Manganese.

 

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American Heart Association has recognized soy foods' role in an overall heart-healthy diet. Recent research suggests that  soy foods lower the risk of certain cancers including prostate cancer, colon and breast cancers as well as osteoporosis and other bone health problems.

For Rs.80/= per KG, soybeans are cheaper as compared to many regularly used lentils and legumes. I have created and cooked several dishes that are soybeans based.

 Here  goes two of delicious and healthy recipes of soy based food:

 

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1-Green and Lean Soybeans and Spinach

2- Soy burger/bun kebab

Sauted Soybeans and Spinach

1-Green and Lean Soybeans and Spinach

Ingredients: 

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-       1Kg Spinach

-       1 cup soybeans

-       1 tbsp olive oil

-       1 big onion chopped

-       2 tsp garlic paste

-       1 tsp lemon pepper/fresh lemon juice

-       1 tsp red chilli flakes

-       1 tsp green chillies

-       1 tsp cumin power

-       1 tsp coarsly ground mustard seeds

-       5-6 chopped green chillies

Garnish (optional)

-       1 full garlic pod chopped and toasted in over or golden fried

-       4-5 whole red chillies (talhar mirch) fried

Instructions:

-       soak the soybeans overnight and then pressure cook with a bit of salt until tender but holds its shape (al dante). Just out enough water to pressure so you don’t need to strain it.

-       In a sauting pan sauté the onions and minced garlic in olive oil until onions are transparent then add ground mustard

-       Put in all the spinach mix it with the onions and  cover the pan let it cook in its own steam or until soft.

-       Add spices now chillie flakes, green chillies, lemon pepper, cumin and the soybeans

-       Stir for 2-3 minutes and let it cook on medium heat or until the dish smells of cooked spinach. Avoid cooking spinach for long, it will loose all its nutrition 

-   Serve garnished with chillies and garlic

 

 

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Soybeans Bun Kebabs:

Ingredients:

-1 cup soybeans

-1 cup chopped spring onions

-1/4 cup chopped green coriander

-5-6 chopped green chillies 

-coarsely chopped garli

-1 tsp red chillie flakes

-2 tsp anar dana (dried pomegranate seeds

-1 tsp cumin powder

- 2 tbsp olive oil

- a binding agent baison/ 1 egg

-1/2 cup bread crumbs

For the Bun Kebabs:

- Whole wheat /regular buns

-Chillie garlic sauce/home made tomato sauce

-Green chutney

- Sliced Onion

- sliced cucumber

 

Cooking Instructions:

-       soak the soybeans overnight and then pressure cook with a bit of salt until very soft and tender almost mushy

-       Mash or run it through food processor, keep it a bit coarse,

-       Add rest of the ingredients excluding the oil and bread crumbs

-       mix it well with hands and make shape into medium sized patty’

-       Coat with bread crumbs

-       On a flat skillet using the oil or any oil spray pan sear the patties on both sides until brown

-       On the same pan toast the split buns add a bit more oil if required

-       Put sauce on the buns, the patty and then garish with sliced onions and cucumber.

These makes great office or school lunches, it stays in stomach for long, very healthy and nutrient dense. 

Parfait- A Perfect Breakfast

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Mango Parafait

Parfait- A perfect healthy and balanced breakfast option every morning

People on the go, and busy in the mornings always tend to compromise on their breakfast and skip it. Some think missing the breakfast aids in weight loss, these are completely fad and bad health habits. In order to get our metabolism going, we must eat something within half-hour of waking up. It is the healthiest of practice to eat a full balanced and healthy breakfast every morning before kicking off your workday. 

Now the questions is what makes a breakfast; A breakfast that contains a good and healthy selection of complex carbohydrate, protein and some fruit or vegetable is all we need to make it nutritious and balanced.

Strawberry Parfait

When I am selecting food for breakfast every morning, the complex carbohydrate have to be something high fibre, one portion of good low fat or fat free protein, and some fresh fruits/vegetable packed with minerals, vitamins specifically phytochemicals and antioxidents. 

Of course being a working women, my mornings are busy checking all the emails compiled during the night from all over the world, organizing the meetings and the days schedule. Racing the clock to reach office by 9:15, yet ensuring everyone leave home with stomach full of balanced and healthy breakfast for the day. 

Fruit and yogurt parfait is an answer.
It is quick and easy, 

 nutritious, and  all in one bowl meal and keeps all of us going until lunch time without need for a snack or thinking about food. It has become  an all time favourite at my home, their presentation attracts the most picky eaters specially children and adolescent and people in hurry to be out the doors, they can grab and go a cup/bowl of freshly prepared parfait.

Parfait is a French word meaning “Perfect”, and traditionally used by most part of the world for a frozen desert made with cream, icecream, preserved fruits. I have eaten many variations of Parfait around the world, and my favourite are the United States and Canada, parfait that are made with yogurt layered with nuts or fresh fruits and when served at breakfast also includes some wholesome cereal.

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Pakistan is blessed with the bounty of nature in the form of a wide variety of colourful, sweet, juicy fruits. There are a good selection of mostly organically produced fruits available year round, and they dont event travel overly long distances to reach you. Including seasonal produce is an important  aspect of eating healthy. So, ideally choose fruits that are in season in your region, are fresh and ripe and not processed, frozen, preserved or imported.  

Peach Parafait

These breakfast parfait can be simply made with any most seasonal fruits zero/low fat yogurt, whole wheat cereal and some added fibre if you want

-       Fresh Seasonal Fruits: ½ Cup Season Fresh Fruits like strawberries or blue berry, rashberry, mulberry, banana, mangoes, peaches. I personally prefer using the fruits in season. However, I don’t use melons, or any citrus fruits the texture and taste wont compliment yougurt, beside citrus makes the parafait watery and very tangy.

-       Yogurt; use low or zero fat yogurt, I use locally available Adams or Nestle Acti Plus which works very well providing the protein and the very much required Probiotics. Avoid fruit flavoured yogut or the ones with jams or preserves in it, they only add that unwanted sugar in your meals and the empty calories. 

-       Complex Carbohydrate; you can select a couple of table-spoons of any whole grain cereal e.g museli, granola, wholewheat flakes, wheabix, cooked and cooled oats (I use steel cut oats), bulgar wheat (dalia).

-         Fibre:  add a teaspoon of any fibre that can be flax seed meal (I use that), physilum husk- Isphagol, or Wheat Bran. 

-       Nuts: I often toss a few slivers of almonds, or dried rasins, blue berries, raisins, cranberries as well.
 

Cherry Parfait

Layer these in a wide glass or bowl with the top layer always fruits. Children generally like the colorful fresh presentation, appreciate easy one bowl meal to eat before they climb the school buses and you run out of doors for office.  

Lychee Parfait topped with dried cranberries and blueberries