Pages

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Snazzing up the General Motors diet


Much awaited meal!
For a long time (about 10 years) the General Motors Diet has been my go to diet when I want to feel motivated about healthy eating. It is simple, and only seven days in duration, so seems doable. What's more, I enjoy all the foods it prescribes, especially vegetables. The first day is the most difficult for me, it's not that I do not like fruit, but I cannot (and on other days, will not) eat large quantities of sweet fruit at meal times. I just cannot eat that much sweet food. I didn't eat much on the first day, really looking forward to my vegetables day. That night I salivated in my dreams thinking of grilled vegetables and salads.
Mid-morning snack - sauteed mushrooms
with tomato and basil
I started day two as it prescribes - with a baked potato, but I topped it with coriander leaves and seasoning. Since I was super hungry (hadn't eaten much the previous day), I sauteed some mushrooms and tomatoes with salt, pepper and oregano with a touch of fresh basil for a mid-morning snack. I washed it down with a refreshing glass of lime water (no sugar). Lunch was a colourful affair with a huge salad consisting of all the vegetables I could find and love in a basil vinaigrette. I obviously ODed on the basil, I had to finish the packet I bought :D. I do not mind at all, since the flavour is absolutely gorgeous.
Finally, that brought me to the most looked forward meal - dinner! That's because my mind had been obsessing all day about some form of a vegetarian schnitzel after Chef Gary Mehigan cooked his version of a chicken schnitzel on MasterChef Australia. I just wanted to use all those herbs, no matter that I was vegetarian. I figure I could have made it with a tofu and mushroom mixture or even with paneer (cottage cheese) on another day, but today I had to use only vegetables. I settled on a large eggplant (brinjal). I still had a problem. I could not use bread crumbs to coat my schnitzel. I thought of semolina, but then settled on chickpea flour. That was the only part where I cheated on the diet - one tablespoon of chickpea flour, but I think the result was pretty good. 
Well, I still look forward to making something more close to Gary's schnitzel with lovely breadcrumbs and some butter, but here's the diet version!

Eggplant schnitzel version for the GM diet

Ingredients
For the eggplant
Eggplant - 1 large to make large slices
Chickpea flour - 1 to 2 tablespoons
Fresh coriander, chopped - 2 tablespoons
Fresh parsley, chopped - 1 tablespoons
Rosemary (dry, from bottle) - 1 teaspoon
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon for mixture and a small pinch over the eggplants
Pepper - 1/4 teaspoon
Pam spray for the pan (optional)

For the salad
Onion, chopped fine - 1, medium
Tomato, chopped fine - 1, medium
Yellow bell pepper, chopped fine - 2 tablespoons (I used it only for the colour)
Fresh coriander, chopped fine - 2 tablespoons
Cumin powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Rock salt (kala namak) - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt - 1/4 teaspoon
Lemon juice - 1 teaspoon

Method
1. Cut the eggplant lengthwise into half and get three slices about 5 mm thick from the centre portion, to get the largest slices possible.
2. I wasn't sure whether the pan roasting would be enough for cooking the eggplant through, so I sprinkled a  little salt on the slices and cooked them in the microwave for a minute. 
3. Mix the herbs (coriander, parsley, rosemary) and salt and pepper with the dry chickpea four and then add a little water, spoon by spoon, to get a consistency that you can paste on the eggplant. Two or three spoons should do it. Mix it well, and you will need to use your hands!
Still to be cooked on this side
4. Start heating your pan on medium heat, Teflon coated nonstick would be preferable. You can use Pam spray, or a teaspoon of oil, or just a dash of water.
4. Paste the mixture evenly on the one side eggplant slices and lay that side on the hot pan. Paste the remaining mixture on the uncoated side while it is on the pan. When you are pasting the slices on the pan, reduce the heat to minimum, and then restore it to medium again.
5. Allow the slices to cook through on one side (about 3 minutes), and turn it over on the other side. Again, you can choose a dash of Pam, oil or water. Turn off the heat when the second side is cooked.
6. Mix all the ingredients of the salad and plate up if you want, or just dig in. I served it with green coriander chutney on the side. Trust me, after all the anticipation I went through for this dish, I wanted to eat it off the pan!
7. I used a glass of kokum sharbat drink because the sweet and sour taste goes very well with the meal!
All with veggies :)

No comments:

Post a Comment