Sana Bazi

A traditional Bengali Ramadan dish - family Ifthar meals (when breaking our fast) wouldn't be the same without this! It's usually cooked with cubes of boiled potato but I was gunning for a low carb version.

If you have a tin of chick peas knocking around in the cupboard, why not try this?

Sunny Quinoa & Avocado Salad

As I’ve already raved about quinoa in the ‘quinoa’ post/recipe, I’ll refrain from repeating myself! This is a quick salad I made one sunny afternoon.  Feel free to experiment with different veg, herbs and dressing, but this particular recipe was oh so yummy and oh so healthy!

Chana Chaat (Spicy Chick Pea Salad)

A quick and simple yet delicious dish traditionally eaten during Ramadan or Eid.  In parts of Pakistan, it’s also a dish offered to guests all year round - accompanied by Dahi Barey (dumpling & yoghurt dish), finger foods such as Samosas and a sweet dish to finish. 

What’s also great about this dish is that it’s low in carbs which is often difficult to find in traditional south asian dishes.  So load up your plates and enjoy!

Fish baked in Banana Leaf (with warm spinach, red pepper & onion salad)

The husband and I were watching an episode of MasterChef India on Youtube one evening when he turned to me and said, ‘you’ve never cooked with banana leaves’.  Imagine my surprise and delight when I came across a bundle of banana leaves in the supermarket a few days later.  When he arrived at the dining table that evening he was blown away – but not as much as me! I used the internet to research the bit about soaking the leaves in boiling water and the rest of this recipe was all down to being guided by my gut (as usual)!!

We wiped our leaves clean and there was a bonus - no washing up!

Chicken Tenga

Sylheti cooking doesn’t require tomatoes - gravy is wholly made up of onions.  However, there is a fish dish (Tematoo Tenga) that we cook using tomatoes – this is my own twist to the recipe using chicken drumsticks and leaving out the onions and spices.  I ended up with tender chicken in a tangy sweet and spicy sauce – delicious!

Roasted Leg of Goat

I like my meat well done – so well done that’s stripping off the bone even before I’ve approached it! If you don’t like your meat as tender as this, use the marinade and adjust the cooking times accordingly.

Quinoa

I've struggled all my life to lose weight or to maintain a healthy weight.  It doesn't help that I'm Bangladeshi - our staple diet consists of rice & curry twice a day! I used to manage about a week without rice & curry followed by a 'crash-and-burn' few days of eating plate upon plate of mum's cooking!

But that was all before quinoa came into my life! Since then, I've substituted rice with a plate of quinoa, which means that I don't feel left out during those important family get-togethers. And very few 'crash-and-burn' episodes! I've managed to keep my weight fairly stable for almost four years and have to say - quinoa and exercise have played a major part in that success.

There's plenty of information out there about quinoa, as well as delicious recipes for you to try.  For now, here are the basics on how to cook plain quinoa.

Mushroom Omelette

I eat a lot of low carb food and exercise at least three times a week to maintain a healthy weight for my short stature – it’s a lifestyle not a diet!  Most mornings I eat an omelette which can sound boring but not one omelette is the same as the previous one – there are so many things you can throw in to make it interesting, tasty and filling. 

If you’re worried about consuming 2 eggs, just add the white of the 2^nd egg to the mixture or reduce the other ingredients if you decide to use 1 egg.