Microwave Pasta in 5 mins

Calories: 165

(this recipe will serve two people)

• take 1 cup per serve pasta shells put them into a microwaveable container,
• add a crushed clove of garlic,
• a tin of chopped tomatoes,
• a teaspoon of olive oil and
• a sprinkle of basil
• cover this with a microwave safe plastic and microwave on full power for three minutes.
• remove from your microwave and stir, if you think it may need some more liquid add two tablespoons of water, return to the microwave for three more minutes and cook on full power.
• remove the microwave and stir. Leave this to stand for two minutes and serve.

This is great recipe for vegetarians and has amazing flavours which everybody will enjoy.

Healthier Options: Use wheat base pasta. calories 135

Keep in mind: All of these recipes are based on you using an 8000 watt microwave oven. You will have to adjust your cooking times according to your microwaves wattage. Remember when you cover food always use microwave safe wrap and that steam will build up and when you take the microwave wrap off this can scold, so be very careful.

'Saltz' a summery restaurant in Delhi

This is a recent setup in Delhi which offers 20 oil free dishes on its menu. Most of the items are under the sandwich category, which makes it obviously no oil and easy. Though, I heard that its 2 months oil-free festival was a huge hit.

The cost for two would come to around 1000 bucks for the food which is just 'ok'. The menu is influenced by the South-East Asian region. Service is slow, so if you are headed for a quick lunch then this is not a place to opt for. Ambience was excellent! The place is done up in blue, light silver and white. A perfect summery joint!

So...go for it if you just want to chill and relax!
Address: M 69, First Floor, M Block, Greater Kailash 1, New Delhi
Contact: 011-46536233/81

Microwaveable Cake in 2.5 mins

What do you need?

• 4 Tablespoons cake flour
• 4 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 Tablespoons cocoa
• 1 Egg
• 2-3 Tablespoons milk
• 3 Tablespoons oil
• pinch of baking powder
• 1 Microwaveable mug

Mix flour, baking powder and cocoa in a bowl really well and keep aside. Whisk oil and sugar till it becomes a liquid paste (use an electric mixer).

Add 1 egg to it and mix for atleast 5 mins till the froth forms and the mixture doubles in size. Now, add half flour mix and make it into a paste (should take 10-15 seconds). Now, add the rest of the flour mix and beat to make a liquid paste. Add 2 tbsp of milk to get this batter consistency.

DONT beat long as that will make the cake hard. Transfer to a lightly oiled mug and microwave for 2.5 mins (2 mins 30 sec). The cake rise much above the mug and then fall back. Ideally stop when cake stops rising. Use a knife to dive into the cake and see if it comes out clean. Pour into a plate and serve.

Healthier option: Replace cake flour with soya flour and milk with non-fat milk or soy milk. Substitute sugar with sugar free or honey (150ml-175ml of honey is as sweet as 200g of sugar)

"Sushiya" a Sushi joint in Delhi

Its a new concept in India and not widely accepted too. May be this is why the founder started with a home delivery model and then went on to open an outlet in South Delhi.

Sushiya was launched in May 2007 as an introductory enterprise to revolutionize sushi here in New Delhi. Followed by preliminary stage, in which they only delivered sushi to a select number of customers from a niche customer list, Sushiya is now officially open and ready for Delhi!

You get a box of salmon sushi rolls (2+2+4+2 rolls) of 4 different kinds and it costs around 230 bucks. It now has more than just Sushi, a range of appetizers including yakitori to meals such as chicken teriyaki with rice or noodles. You can also get some variety of vegetarian sushi with green asparagus, creamy avocado and shredded cucumber for 250 bucks.

Generally, you get 5-6 sushis in a plate and I saw my colleagues in the NY surviving on them for lunch. It is filling and also very healthy. Try it out!

Address: Neb Sarai, Saket, Delhi
Phone: 9312444086

Salad Series-1

Green Pitta Salad

What do I need to do? (serves 4-5)

• spring onion stem cut in circles
• green leaves (lettuce or anything else available)
• green chilli remove seeds
• corinader handful cut randomly
• hanful mint cut randomly
• avocado 3-4 scoops
• super toasted pita bread (5 mins at 220c)
• dressing: lime skin grated, lime juice 1 big, salt 1tsp, green olive oil 3 tbsp
• mix all the ingredients in a bowl and pour dressing and toss

Fruits and Milk Porridge recipe

Calories: 125

This is a very healthy and really quick breakfast. Not only does this recipe have no oil but it also increases your metabolism rate. This make your burn calories faster.
Mix it with any fruit you wish. I personally like pomegranate, banana, mangoes and grapes in it. A meal with fibre makes you full much faster than other products.

Instead of: A bowl of any flakes (corn, chocolate, almond, raisin etc.) with milk for breakfast ranges between 200-300 calories.

How to make it?

• take 30gm porridge and dry roast it with a few drops of oil (optional)
• heat a pressure cooker and add little water and porridge in it
• pour the slightly liquid porridge in a bowl
• add warm milk
• add fruits of your taste

Alterations: Make this with oats. These are all highly fibrous and healthy breakfasts.

Must haves: Diabetic patients and digestive problems

Lost oodles of weight: need diet plan to maintain it

Its tough to lose weight and even tougher to remain so. Get a workable and affordable diet plan to keep you stay as you are. Mail me at contactus@sacheez.com

Have your marriage coming up? Get in shape

Need to shred some extra kilos and get in shape. Write a mail at contactus@sacheez.com to get a workable plan at tempting rates.

Have a function to attend? Lose 5kgs in a month

A friend of mine had to attend his best friend's wedding. He had to quickly get rid of his paunch in just less than a month. Since he isnt a huge believer in exercise and fitness, I had to make sure that the plan I design for him is doable and exciting. It shouldnt make him lose his heart and get bored. As he has a job a 10-12 hours job, the food had to be easy for him to cook or arrange for.

Finally, with diligent effort of sticking to the plan, he successfuly lost 5 kgs and looked dashing.

Contact me at contactus@sacheez.com if you are interested in losing those extra kilos too fast. Get a workable plan at tempting rates.

How to make Brown Bread?

most healthy and nutritious bread

This is the most basic and commonly used bread in every household. This is a lot like the basic milk bread but a much more healthier version. Once you mater the basics, you can play with different version of bread with much ease and confidence and try some exotic breads.

Ingredients: 500 gm wheat flour, 2 tsp dry yeast, 1.5 tsp salt, 175ml milk, 175ml water, loads of love and patience
Glaze: Milk

Time taken: 10 mins to make the dough
Rising: 1.5 hrs
Proving: 1 hr
Baking: 35-40 mins at 220c preheated oven
Mix yeast in 100ml tepid milk and water mixture for 5 mins. Add 1/2 of remaining milk mixture too and mix. Mix flour and salt and make a well and add milk yeast mixture. Slowly keep adding the remaining milk mixture to make a sticky dough and move to the slightly floured surface. (for pics see basic milk bread)

Knead for 10 mins and make into a ball and put in a greased glass bowl for 45 mins to rise. Knock back the dough and keep it for rising again for 45 mins till it doubles in size. (for pics see basic milk bread)

Remove the ball from the bowl and move to a lightly floured surface and roll length wise. Tuck the ends and place the dough in a greased tin for 1 hr with ends downward. Cover with tea towel. Let the dough rise 1 inch above the top of tin. (for pics see basic milk bread)

Brush the top of the loaf with milk glaze and add sesame seeds if desired and place in the preheated oven for 35-40 mins until the top is golden brown and hollow sounding when tappen at the bottom. Place at 220c for 15-20 mins and then reduce the temp to 200c for the remaining time. Switch off the top rod after 20 mins else the top of the bread will become very hard.
Once done, keep the bread on a wire rack. Cut the slices when its completely cool.

Important tips: Never refrigerate freshly baked bread as it dehydrated the bread and makes it hard. Always keep in a bread cloth or tea towel and it will remain fresh for 3-4 days. I did this mistake the first time I baked bread and it made my bread stale too quickly. Also avoid microvawing as this also evaporates the moisture from the bread.

Must have for: Diabetic patients and digestion problems.

(CLT) Chicken Lettuce Tomato Sandwich

CLT

(Chicken Lettuce Tomato)

Calories: 180

What do I need?

• 2 slices of sandwich bread (toasted or normal)
• 1 slice salami
• 1/2 tomato slices
• lettuce leaf
• salt/pepper to taste

Personal Choice:

• low fat Mayonnaise (addl. calories)
• 1 cheese slice (addl. calories)
• spicy mustard sauce

Bread choice:

• pitta bread
• wholewheat bread
• wrap

Tip: To abstain the bread from geting soggy, avoid adding the salt if you are storing the sandwich. Remove tomato seeds as they add water to the mixture. Use dense bread as it stays firm and doesnt get soggy. Defrost the salami so that it releases all the ice water.

Forest Cottage Sandwich

Forest Cottage

Calories: 110

What do I need?

• 2 slices of sandwich bread (toasted or normal)
• 1 cheese slice
• 1/2 tomato slices
• lettuce leaf
• salt/pepper to taste

Personal Choice:

• low fat Mayonnaise (10 additional calories)
• mustard sauce

Bread choice:

• pitta bread
• wholewheat bread
• wrap

Tip: To abstain the bread from geting soggy, avoid adding the salt if you are storing the sandwich. Remove tomato seeds as they add water to the mixture. Use dense bread as it stays firm and doesnt get soggy.

Veg. Porridge Recipe

Calories:170

This is a very healthy and really quick recipe. Not only does this recipe have no oil but it also increases your metabolism rate. This make your burn calories faster.

Mix it with any veg. you wish. I personally like peas and onion in it with some hint of lemon juice. A meal with fibre makes you full much faster than other products.

How to make it?

• take 40gm porridge and dry roast it.
• heat a wok and add 1tsp oil in it.
• add green chillies and onion and saute them.
• add porridge, water(twice that of porridge) and salt (it shud be dry and not watery)
• add boiled peas once porridge is cooked
• turn off the heat and add a few drops of lemon juice

Interesting Tip: Whenever you boil any veg, like peas, carrot add a pinch of salt to it. This helps retain the color and makes the veg. look bright and green.

Alterations: Make this with semolina, fusilli, oats. These are all highly fibrous and healthy breakfasts.

How to make Milk Bread?

Something we toast every morning...

This is the most basic and commonly used bread in every household. Once you master this, you can play with different version of bread with much ease and confidence and try some exotic breads.

Ingredients: 500 gm flour, 2 tsp dry yeast, 1.5 tsp salt, 1 tsp granulated sugar, 350ml milk, loads of love and patience

Glaze: Milk
Time taken: 10 mins to make the dough

Rising: 1.5 hrs

Proving: 1 hr

Baking: 40-45 mins at 200c preheated oven

Mix yeast and sugar in 100ml tepid milk for 5 mins. Add 1/2 of remaining milk too and mix. Mix flour and salt and make a well and add milk yeast mixture. Slowly keep adding the remaining milk to make a sticky dough and move to the slightly floured surface.

Knead for 10 mins and make into a ball and put in a glass bowl for 45 mins to rise.


Knock back the dough and keep it for rising again for 45 mins till it doubles in size.

Remove the ball from the bowl and move to a lightly floured surface and roll length wise. Tuck the ends and place the dough in a greased tin for 1 hr with ends downward. Cover with tea towel. Let the dough rise 1 inch above the top of tin.

a

a

Proved

a

Brush the top of the loaf with milk glaze and place in the preheated oven for 35-40 mins until the top is golden brown and hollow sounding when tappen at the bottom.

Once done, keep the bread on a wire rack. Cut the slices when its completely cool.

a

aaaaa

Important tips: Never refrigerate freshly baked bread as it dehydrated the bread and makes it hard. Always keep in a bread cloth or tea towel and it will remain fresh for 3-4 days. I did this mistake the first time I baked bread and it made my bread stale too quickly. Also avoid microvawing as this also evaporates the moisture from the bread.

Suggested Reading: Bread by Eric Treuille & Ursula Ferrigno

shaded pics are from this book

Marinating Sauces

Just brush these sauces on the product and refrigerate for at least an hour or so. More the better. Then put them in the oven to grill or bake. Voila!! you have an ultimate tasty dish ready. Don't count calories...hog on!

Low calorie snack

Less Than 100 Calorie Snack

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I always wonder what to eat which will make to consume less of those calories but will also be tasty and stomach filling. You should not be left starving or craving for something. The product should be tasty, appealing and affordable. In Sacheez we innovate sandwiches and snacks which are exactly along these lines.

My Favorites:

I personally opt for products that are tasty and have a high nutritional value. Empty calories are something I avoid completely and instead pick items high in fibre, vitamins and above all Taste :) I don't have much of a sweet tooth except for muffins and brownies.

Keep in mind: Green tea has antioxidants to prevent aging and increases your metabolism which make you burn your calories faster. Nuts are high in protien, minerals and antioxidants and also adds fibre.

• Half a toasted whole-wheat English muffin with one teaspoon reduced-fat chunky peanut butter. 85 cal.
• 1/4-cup omelet, filled with 1 tablespoon reduced-fat cheese and 1/4 cup diced tomatoes. 88 cal.
• Three toasted 1/4-in.-thick slices Italian bread, topped with 3 tablespoons chopped tomatoes, 1/2 teaspoon olive oil, minced garlic and fresh basil. 79 cal.
• 1 cup serving canned condensed tomato soup, prepared with water. 85 cal.
• Half a baked flour tortilla with 1 oz avocado and 1 tablespoon salsa. 88 cal.
• 1 cup green tea with 2 teaspoon sugar. 30 cal.
• Two low fat chocolate chip cookies . 90 cal.
• 1 hard-boiled egg with 1 slice Melba toast
• Twenty-Five pistachio nuts. 85 cal.
• 1 cup mango chunks

Some more:

• 3/4-oz serving baked potato chips (7 -12 chips) with 2 tablespoons no fat onion dip. 85 cal.
• Half a baked potato, with 1 tablespoon each reduced-fat sour cream and salsa. 98 cal.
• Half a baked sweet potato mashed with 1 teaspoon each honey and diet margarine. 96 cal.
• One baked hash-brown potato patty, with 1 tablespoon ketchup. 79 cal.
• 6 cups light microwaveable popcorn. Season to taste. 93 cal.
• 1/2 cup Cocoa Puffs cereal with 1/4-cup skim milk. 81 cal.
• 2 tablespoons humus on a quarter toasted pita. 93 cal.
• Half a medium onion bagel. 97 cal.

Sugary Heart Stealers:

• Half a banana, with 1 tablespoon each chocolate syrup and thawed, frozen light whipped topping. 99 cal.
• Half a slice of angel food cake with 1 tablespoon thawed, frozen light whipped topping and one cherry. 94 cal.
• Half a medium grapefruit with 1 teaspoon sugar. 38 cal.
• 1 Deep Chocolate Vita muffin
• 1 Mango Cream Bar

Courtesy: http://messageboards.ivillage.com

Calorie Table

Highly Informative and Super Shocking

We mostly believe that veg. can never be high in calorie and we can easily munch on them as much as we want. They are a source a fibre and roughage and are healthy for our body. You are right! They are good for health. Though if you can, then do opt for the healthier and fibrous forms of these vegetables.

• Always bake a potato and avoid deep frying them. They have the tendency to absorb a lot of oil and also retain their starch. During baking the starch portion evaporates and you are left left with a healthier potato.
• We all love boiled corn. Even though they have a lot of fibre, never did we know that they also carry so many calories. Imagine having a cup of corn at a stall and adding a cube of butter in it. You are welcoming a good 200 calorie snack in your body.

Amazing Tip: Broccoli makes your body burn more energy in digesting it than your gain in consuming it. It is called a negative calorie food. Some others are carrot, cucumber, beet, cauliflower, cabbage, celery, zucchini, garlic. For those who love these, hog on!!

When it comes to fruits, I am crazy for mangoes. Can easily have 2-3 in a day. You cant completely stop having your favorite fruit but you can quickly redesign your intake during the rest of the day.

Amazing tip: Apple is low in calorie but your body burns more energy in digesting it. Some more such fruits are: orange, strawberry, papaya, grape fruits, cranberries. If you love these, you rock!

Sweets!!! who doesnt love them...Though you are blessed if you dont have a sweet tooth. Even a single piece of anything finishes 1/3 rd of your calorie intake for the day.

• Honey has a higher sweetening power than sugar. This means you can use less honey than sugar to achieve the desired sweetness. Hence indirectly it has lesser calories, healthful antioxidants and pre-biotic properties which scientists say may be better than table sugar for people who want to lose weight. In a series of experiments involving healthy subjects and those with either high cholesterol or type 2 diabetes, honey has proved itself the healthiest sweetener.

Tip: Try to use sugar free if you have major sugar cravings. Though when you need to chose between anything fried or sweet, go for fried. Mostly fried will have lesser calories than sweets.

Life Savers - Less than 100 calorie desserts:

• Try 1/2 cup light vanilla ice cream with 2 tablespoons frozen raspberries. 100 cal
• Half a slice of angel food cake with 1 tablespoon thawed, frozen light whipped topping and one maraschino cherry. 94 cal

Snacks are the most common pass time of the day. They are super tasty and damn addictive. At any point of time they takeaway at least 200 calories from your daily requirement. Can you imagine a single pakora has 200 calories!! How many did you have last time...6 or 7 :)

SaCheez specialises in the area of tasty healthy low calorie snacks. It offers over 50 varieties of sandwiches and snacks which are mouth watering and will also keep your health under control.

• You cant always choose your food based on calories. They are other things like fibre and nutritional contents that also matter. Though in case of snacks, most of them can be categorized as unhealthy or empty calories.
• Low calorie snack doesn't intend non-tasty snack.

Tip: If given a chance, go for tasty roasted snacks or even a cup of boiled corns without butter.

Life Savers - Less than 100 calorie snacks:

• 1 boiled egg, half sliced tomato with 1 teaspoon yellow mustard and one leaf lettuce on one slice toasted light whole-wheat bread. 90 cal.
• Three toasted 1/4-in.-thick slices Italian bread, topped with 3 tablespoons chopped tomatoes, 1/2 teaspoon olive oil, minced garlic and fresh basil. 79 cal.
• Suji Idli (2 pieces) have only 16 calories whereas rice idlis have 130 calories :)

Most of us cant do without a chicken a day. Since it makes for a whole meal when taken with rice or bread, its acceptable to consume 300-400 calories.

Tip: Grill, roast or bake a dish after marinating it in curd or lemon or mustard. This will ask for less or practically no oil and will also enhance the taste when cooked slowly. You will be able to forgo 50% calories through this. Since meat is mostly fat it is preferred to avoid frying it in more fat (oil). Also, the skin of any meat is where most fat is stored. If possible, remove the skin. About two thirds of the fat in chicken is in the skin.

Life Savers - Less than 100 calorie meat:

• 1-oz light roasted turkey breast, with 1 teaspoon yellow mustard and one leaf romaine lettuce on one slice toasted light whole-wheat bread. 94 cal.
• Seven medium shrimp with lemon to taste. 70 cal.

Enjoy your meal!

Pasta in 1tsp OIL

Penne in Tomato Sauce with Cheese

Penne is served best with tomato sauce or white sauce. It should be avoided in other dry forms of pastas as the empty hole of penne results in lack of taste when made dry.

There must be many many ways in which a pasta can be made but all will require a decent serving of olive oil and cheese. Even though olive oil is good for heath, it should be consumed in minimal quantity if possible. 1tsp oil has 40 calories. Cheese on the other hand is an irreplaceable ingredient especially for pastas. You can add half a cup of shredded cheese which will have 160 calories. This will give a lot of flavour to your pasta and will also bind the penne together. 100gm whole wheat Penne (for two) will have 130 calories. So the total calorie content of your food (per person) will come to less than 200 calories as opposed to 350 calories in usual pasta. This level of intake is not bad when you still have 1300 or more calories left to consume over the next few meals (I am assuming that you have a full 8 hr sitting job where you don't require more than 1500 calories)

Recipe (for two):

• take 6-7 red tomatoes and take off their skin. Cut then into small pieces. Put them in a non stick and let them roast without any oil for 10 mins. Add 1/2 cup water.
• Add oregano powder and salt (remember boiled penne also has salt) to tomato paste
• take 10-12 garlic cloves and cut them small
• take 2 medium sized onions and cut them small
• Pour 1tsp oil in a non stick pan and add 4-5 red dry chillies
• add garlic and onions to the pan and let the onion turn light pink
• add tomato paste to it and let it roast for 3-4 mins
• add handful of fresh coriander and parsley along with 6-7 leaves of basil
• add penne to the paste and toss well (look at my previous recipe for boiling pasta )
• sprinkle half cup shredded cheese to the mixture and garnish with olive and cheese .
• SERVE HOT with wine

Interesting Fact: With less than 200 calories in this meal, you can have 5 such meals in a day and still be under control. The story doesn't end here. A wholewheat pasta also brings roughage to your body and helps in controlling the sugar levels and improves digestion.

Authentic Chinese Noodles in 1tsp OIL

My most favorite dinner is a plate full of really HOT Chinese noodles. I just love the taste of sauteed ginger. Never imagined that it could change the taste of your meal so drastically.

Although you cant afford to have noodles everyday. ..or may be you can :) I found a way out of these white flour based noodles and replaced them with semolina or wheat based noodles. This makes the calorie content of food come down by half. They become more affordable now.

• Take the veg. you desire to add in this. I personally love capsicum, carrot and mushroom. Cut them in big (1 inch broad) yet thin slices (see pic).
  
• Take a non-stick pan and heat 1 tsp oil in it and add red dry full chillies, 4 garlic cloves cut into really small pieces and thinly sliced ginger (1 inch broad) and saute them.You may also add the veg. directly to this and saute. Add capsicum at the end and start with more less tender veggies.
  
• Add french onion cut into two pieces and thinly slice the stem and add to the mixture.
• Shower handful of fresh coriander, parlsey and salad leave, if you have.
  
• Now is the time to add sauces. Get hold of vinegar (2 tbsp), Chinese cooking wine or normal wine (3tbsp if you wish), soy sauce light(2 tbsp), red chili paste (1 tbsp if you wish) and oyster sauce (2tbsp). Add black pepper and salt to taste (remember the noodles already have salt)

These sauces along with ginger create magic. They taste just like authentic Chinese food and you would love to have them again and again. Modify the quantity of veg. to wish to add to noodles. The above quantity is for two people. You can play with the taste you like the most by reducing/increasing the sauces.

• You are free to add the noodles (100 gm for two people). There is a trick in boiling the noodles too. Let the water boil. Add salt and a few drops of oil to it so that the noodles dont stick together. Once the water is boiling, add noodles and drain them once they are cooked. Noodles should not be over boiled as they stick together and become clumsy. They should be well done and taken off the heat once they are able to break without much effort by your fingers. You wont find any white element inside the noodle if you break it now. Drain the hot water and put these noodles under cold water and wash. Put aside in a drainer for 10 mins.
• Take any wooden spoon and add noodles to the mixture and spin. The mixture has many sauces which wont let the noodles stick to the pan. Mix for a few mins and serve HOT.

Now, if you have kids you can reduce the chilli and veg. and add what they prefer more. But if you are cautious of your intake and wish to balance it well then keep more of veg. than noodles.

Best part: It has only 1 tsp oil and the calories of the noodles have also reduced by half. Veg. let you complete the daily requirement of the body and also replaces the carbohydrates you would have consumed through noodles.

Egg Salsa: 'NO Oil' Easy-to-make Egg Dishes

'No Oil' Easy to make dish
Calories: 160

Are you also one of those who can have egg in just any form...well you have come to the right place to check out some of the very easy and OIL LESS recipes. Egg yolk is already high in cholesterol and hence avoiding oil in the recipe is a blessing for your health.

Requirement: Microwave and Oven

Take 2 eggs (or more if wish) and directly break them in a baking dish. Now sprinkle some salt on it. Also add some mushrooms, onion, capsicum and sausages or pepperoni if you wish. now add some salsa sauce here and there (can replace with tomatoes). Lastly, add some cheese (if desired) and sprinkle with parsley and black pepper. Avoid adding the solid ingredients on the egg yolk..let it shine yellow. Now put it in the oven to bake for 5-7 min at 200c till the egg liquid is all gone from the dish and has solidified. You can check this by using a knife and digging in the dish. This will cut like a cake and is great when served hot with Italian bread or even a toast.

Viola!!! Its done :)

Best part: No Oil, Super Healthy and Low in Cholesterol

BEST Food Shows on TV

Its no more like the earlier cookery shows on air. Now, it all about making it quick and making it easy. They have helped hell lot in making me more innovative and allowing me to test and try as much of the craziest things as I want. You start believing that there is no one recipe to anything...just do it as you want it. Slowly you start knowing the value of each and every ingredient and hence you know how much to add to match your taste. This is risky in case of bread baking, but trust me, the results are as rewarding.

I am a HUGE admirer of Food shows that come on Travel & Living:

1. Kylie Kwong: Heart and Soul
This lady knows chinese food in and out. She can make you cook it just as well as she does it. Its damn simple and really super quick. I have never ever in my life cooked such amazing authentic chinese noodles. I loved it!! Best compliment: from where did you order it?

2. Nigella Feasts
A super charming and highly elegant lady, who makes you fall in love with rich creamy fatty food and presents it with such ease and taste. She comes forth with quick dishes than can be prepared when the guests have reached your place. Her presentation and casualness can remind you of your mom in the kitchen.

The best part about the above shows: They dont restrict you to specific ingredient quantities that you need to write down and rather use more generalised terms like handful, as per taste and also let you calm down if you dont find any ingredient.

3. Anthony Bourdain- No reservations
This 50 year old handsome guy roams the whole of world, eating eating and eating. He surely introduces you to almost every cuisine, both served on the street and as well as in a five star. You learn so much about authentic cuisines all around the world. This broadens up your perspective.

4. Planet Food- Mexico
Tyler travels the whole of Mexico to bring across the authentic heart and soul of mexican food apart from what is presented in the Americanized version.

5. Floyd's India

Floyd travels around India and bring to you the diversity in taste and food. This surely reduces your apprehensions regarding what is to cooked in which manner. It allows you to keep trying different versions to come up with your won best. he even cooks for you as makes it look so easy.

One program which teaches you more than just recipe, baking, chopping, etc. is Hell's Kitchen. It will make you come face to face with operations, time management, team work, working under constant pressure and above all, the presentation of food. It goes into so much detail that for people like me who run or aspire to run their restaurant, will surely benefit.

All this has finally helped me in my sandwich preparation. It allows me to test and try with various different fillings and breads. Keep your eyes and taste buds on, you can learn so much.

Why to bake bread at home?

Most of us belong to the school of thought of trying to cut down on every possible effort we put in in managing our daily household chores. It can be something as regular as boiling milk to replacing meals with healthy bread.

Though when you have a sandwich business, you will want to bake bread on your own instead of buying it ...especially when you come to know that you pay 4-5 times more per sandwich bread if you buy it from outside.

Also, since most of us today are health conscious and watch our weight, we can prepare bran bread, whole wheat bread, semolina bread or a mixture of few. A wholewheat bread is much healthier and has 60 calories per slice. Did you know that there is 100% calorie difference between the bread made of flour and bread made of wheat. Not only this, wheat bread has more roughage and hence accelerates your metabolism rate along with keeping your sugar levels low. It is important for us, the ready-to-eat generation, to make our food calorie balanced. We cannot afford to consume empty calories like maggi and cookies. They not only add nothing to the nutritional content, but also make us gain weight by consuming sheer carbohydrates. Doing a 10 hour job sitting at just one place, this is the worst possible diet.

This is how I motivated myself to start baking my kind of bread at home. Now I feel that its so easy...a matter of just 10 mins preparation time. You can play so much with the dough you prepare. You can fill it with cheese and basil or garlic and cheese or nuts and raisins and much much more. You can also replace fatty stuff like oil with curd. It gives the same result but is far less lower in calories and cholesterol. When you see just the correct texture of the bread, it surely give you a high! Its purely magical :)

Innovation: Did you know that you can also prepare pumpkin bread, carrot bread or even banana bread :) Think about anything you like and you can mix it in your dough. keep experimenting.

Stromboli Bread: The Art of Exotic Bread Making

another member of Focaccia family

Italian Bread

This is an exotic Italian bread. Once you have tried making the basic milk bread, you should surely lay your hand on this. Its a must have when you have guests over and is surely an impression maker. I somehow find this bread easier than the basic bread...may be thats what you call- taking basics for granted:)

Ingredients: 500 gm flour, 2 tsp dry yeast, 1.5 tsp salt, 3 tbsp olive oil, 350ml water, 1/2 onion sliced, 1 garlic clove cut small, handful basil leaves, loads of love and patience

Time taken: 10 mins to make the dough

Rising Time: 1.5-2 hrs

Proving Time: 30 mins

Baking Time: 30-40 mins

Mix yeast in 250ml water for 5 mins. Mix flour and salt and make a well and add yeast mixture. Now make into a sticky dough and move to the slightly floured surface. Keep adding remaining water to make a soft dough.

Leave to rise for 1.5-2 hours. Chafe the dough for 5 mins and roll into a 14inch shape (as above). Leave to rest for 10 mins. Decorate with garlic, cheese, basil leaves, salt and pepper. Now, roll the dough, pressing lightly, and make into an S shape (as below).
Brush on top with milk and garnish with onion rings, sesame seeds and rosemary stem. Make holes using a fork at a few places and see the cheese spurting out :)

Put this into 200C preheated oven for 40 mins till it turns golden brown.

Voila!! its done. Cut and serve warm with wine or drinks. Wrap in a clean cloth and keep if left. You can oven for 2-3 mins before serving. Spray water at the bottom of the bread and then heat. This will help retain moisture. Avoid microwave if possible. The cheese melts and it tastes yummy.

Important Tip: ALWAYS use a weighing scale and measuring spoons while making bread. Dont be disheartened if it doesnt come out as you wanted...it has to come eventually with this recipe. Try one more time and let me know if you still cant make it right. Also read my post basic milk bread a better understanding of different steps of bread making.

Why and What all went wrong

Why it went wrong at the first place:

1. I ate ate and ate...

1.1 Ate all the wrong things
casually went on eating cookies, not less than 6 or 7 at a time without knowing that each cookie has atleast 60 calories (pick any tasty ones)

1.2 Ate the wrong quantity
would compete with my elder brother in the quantity he consumed and would easily be at par with him, ignoring that every buttered chapati I consume has 100 calories.

1.3 Ate at the wrong time
would be awake late in the night chatting on the messenger with friends and munching on my fav. snack (usually anything fried) which has no less than 300 calories.

2. Not much of physical exercise
apart from cycling with friends, which eventually led to munching chips and having a cold drink, I ended up adding more calories than I was burning.

3. completely lacking of calorie understanding

4. comfortably believing that this is all baby fat :) or

5. blaming hormones and considering myself helpless or

6. having a huge feel good factor after working out and hog on

What all went wrong afterwards:

1. Sudden loss on 12 kgs made my blood pressure fall
I had severely low BP at such a tender age.

2. Body accepted and got used to 600 calories
my rate of weight loss came down as the body eventually got used to this supply of calories instead of 1500.

3. Metabolism rate fell tremendously
the rate at which i was burning my calories by exercising fell too. The body started behaving like a camel and storing food to save up for future use. Losing more weight became impossible.

4. Body remained weak and had low temp for almost a year
The haemoglobin rate fell much below normal and I was asked to consume normally.

5. Body began to gain wait once on normal diet
since my body got accustomed to taking only 600 calories, any further addition made the weight increase.

6. Regained 10 kgs in a span of a quarter
after having lost 20 kgs, I gained half of it back in span of just 3 months. My body was so deprived of food that now anything extra was stored as fat for future, considering there was a famine.

Word of advice: Dont do crash diets under no supervision. They do work but only if your calorie intake is kept under control so that you dont gain back double in half the time. What you eat is what you become. Eating right is the key to weight loss even if you cant exercise.

Coming up next...Metabolism is the key to weight loss

from 85 to 58!

It wasnt a linear equation for sure. The closer I was to the target, the harder it got. Last time I saw my weight, it was 85. Didnt bother to see it ever again till I lost it. I am assuming that this was my maxima, could have been more too.
This is how conveniently I began losing my precious asset:
1) 85 to 77 in 10 days
Survived only on bottle gourd (lauki) day n night along with 2 chapatis. No spices and very little salt...ofcourse no oil. :)

2) Kept following the same routine of bottle gourd throughout the next month...with no pain and only gain (loss)

3) After a month and a half I came down to 72

4) People literally started staring, for entirely different reasons now. I kept following the same routine even more strictly and followed it up with some ab crunches for 20 mins a day. My day started with water, passed with water and ended with water. What else can be more filling and calorie less than water (pardon my understanding at 16).

5) In between snacks were a BIG NO. Sugar was not even near me. Tea was black and milk...what is milk!

6) At the end of entire 3 months or less, I was down to somewhere in 60s...67 or so.
Had lost almost 20 kgs and was feeling sky high. Was surely the talk of the town (community) and was even being approached for ways to do it.
All such conversations led me to lose even more and much faster. Though it wasnt happening anymore. My rate of weight loss was coming down as my food intake was coming down. This became too frustrating and confusing for me. Instead of taking 1800 calories in a day I was surviving on less than 600.

Read more to find out why and what ALL went wrong and how I finally managed to reach 58.

Finally...Aug 2nd 2008

It was way back in 2006 that I was introduced to blog writing, had no clue what it was. I mean why shud I write something on the web...rather WHAT shud I write on the web. Got a reply "anything you want". Well what is the idea behind it..."share something interesting with people". Aha!! So thats it, you need to have something INTERESTING to share. Now, from where do I get THAT!!

A few years later, I do feel more confident writing something on web. Have a lot of things to share about diet, health, fitness, calories, weight loss, low cal food and wht not. I can surely drive you nuts with my calorie equations. But then it is worth it if you end up losing 5 kgs in less than a month.

I am often approached by friends, colleagues, unknowns and even parlour ladies to help them lose weight. This happens once they come to know that I lost 28 kgs on my own. Trust me!! the word spreads like crazy...atleast at the work place. Parlour ladies are smart to figure out on their own that I have lost a lot of weight...may be the stretch marks left behind support their hypothesis.

But I am super happy with the result, even though I dont fully support the steps I took back then to desperately lose weight. Although, any teenager will do anything if he/she weighs more than their father (85kgs) at the age of just 16. Isnt that the age to wear the most amazing clothes...but just FYI..weight was never the barrier for me :) Even though the only critic, my brother, could not open his eyes and look at me. He called me a walking talking "crowd" coz of my area...hahahahaha

I have worked on several health aspects over the years and have come out to be more learned about food intake, calories, low cal recipes, daily regime etc. Now, I feel there is a lot to share with you guys out there who believe in losing all that extra by not doing anything extra.

Welcome to the gang!