Are you trying to count calories? Finding that gluten free, dairy free processed products are full of fillers like maize, starches and the like?
I know I’ve found this a lot. That’s why I try and make everything from scratch, unless I’m being indulgent… or lazy. Something interesting I found was those little packages of spice/herb blends that claim to help us create a delicious meal just by adding onion, water etc. (e.g. chow mein spice blend, butter chicken, curried sausages) aren’t just spice blends. There are an OK minority, but most have ingredients that are dairy powders such as whey, milk products and wheat. They say in bold, they contain or may contain gluten and dairy… What’s more is, it’s actually cheaper to make your own even if you’re not gluten or dairy intolerant!!!! So say you buy jars of herbs and spices, varying at $1-3 each, having a healthy spice rack is cheaper than buying little packages of pre-blended spices because you can make all kinds of blends by utilising google and your spice rack at home!
So rant over – in a nutshell, my point is it’s better for us to use whole spices and herbs than packets.
My only downfall is garam masala – a jarred spice blend that you can buy under G in the spice rack. I am a sucker for cumin oriented spices.
Moving on, this delicious recipe serves 6 – however, if you’re hungry and there’s only 4 to feed then go for it. I’ve done the math, at 4 serves it’s about 250 calories per serve and that was being over-accommodating with the ingredients! (I used foodstandards.gov.au)
If you can’t find masala chai (because I am lucky enough to have a beautiful spice shop where I live), omit it. There’s enough spice to not worry, just use the water.
5 c pumpkin, peeled and diced roughly (1-2cm pieces) |
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil |
150g tin chickpeas, drained |
1 cm. ginger, grated |
1 brown onion |
400g tin diced tomatoes |
1 bunch coriander |
1 c. packed spinach |
1 c. boiling water |
2 cloves garlic, minced |
spice blend: |
1 tbsp. ground cumin |
1 tsp. chilli flakes |
1 1/2 tsp. sweet paprika |
2 tsp. garam masala |
10g masala chai tea blend |
pinch salt and pepper |
pinch white pepper |
2 tsp. crushed coriander seed |
1 tsp. nutmeg |
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