I am going to share some Low Carb Recipes. I was supposed to do Festival Dishes, however something came up and I couldn't do them. Not that my Low Carb Diet Dishes were done, I still went ahead and swapped myself.
Diet and I don't really do together. The only time I was on a diet was some couple of years back, when I went on a real hard diet and was so strict with myself that between some 4 months and 18 months I had lost nearly 17 kilos and then over the next many years, gained it back.
Even though I have always been 'healthy', I have never been this healthy! So during that period I had to force myself to do it. You could see the results and my experience that happened in the posts I shared. Infact it was very good, only I was feeling so down because I couldn't blog much and didn't have time for anything else.
That was mostly because I had to cook specially for myself, apart from regular cooking. Being a vegetarian is hard enough in a non vegetarian family. Having to cook even more specially, makes it so impossible.
On a regular basis, my food intake is bare minimum. However do you know the statement that one can actually gain weight by simply taking in oxygen? well come home I will show you.
Jokes apart, ever since I was on the diet, I have helped many friends with my diet plan. Even sort of got it into my lifestyle. However I haven't been able to keep at it with consistency.
I don't believe in dieting oneself to death. I believe in moderation in everything. I mostly don't like sweets, hardly ever eat ice creams and stopped chocolates long back. The only cause fo the weight gain has been lack of exercise. I have started that and hope to achieve something positive soon.
All said, this is a lifestyle change and nothing works on clicking a button!
So when I was requested to include No Carb Diet, I didn't actually look into it. I simply added it without reading about it. I later accepted that I was ignorant on it and on further discussion with my BM buddies, we decided having a No Carb Diet based on Indian Vegetarian Diet is next to impossible.
We decided to make it Low Carb Diet. Trust be, even that is so hard. I have been going crazy the last couple of days, trying out so many ideas and simply being pre occupied with this theme.
I am quite well versed with Diabetic Diet as I was researching for diabetic recipes for Daddy and I also have him to guide me when I have some doubts. However certain ingredients that are good for Diabetes are not suggested for Low Carb Diet.
For example, Chickpea is the most suggested ingredient for Diabetic, as it has low Glycemic Index. However the total Carb of Chickpea is high. In the same note, Mung bean or Moong dal is suggested for both the diets, though the Total carb is still high. I will have to cross check with my dietician. Though from what I know, she was suggesting exclusion of all grains from the diet for loosing weight. Chickpea and Mung Bean as good Carbs, that are helpful for weight reduction.
I also wanted to make sure I personally have only this for my dinner and check if I was feeling hungry or not. I have completed two dishes and successfully don't feel hungry and since it has interesting ingredients, it was fun creating these.
I know I can talk a mile, never realized I actually did that! Anyway I don't want to repeat myself on what a Low Carb Diet is. The diet specifies that we should not include any crab in our diet. You can say you are doing a low carb diet if your total carbohydrate intake for the day doesn't exceed 130 grams. Checking this is extremely tough and frustrating.
For the day one, I made a Vegetable Medley. I simply checked on the individual carb count and made sure it was within the limits.
In low carb diet, one can take butter, which is funny. Here I was trying to shed some weight and I am told I can consume butter. So though I am allowed, I made sure I was not creating more trouble for myself, by adding only a tsp of butter for this dish. The spices and the cooking method made sure the dish was tasty!
Check out the Diabetic Diet Menu if you are interested to see how the diet is created. My Diet Plan that I followed was also tracked for a while.
Steamed, Sauteed Vegetable Medley with Roasted Paneer
How to prepare the Vegetable Medley
Finely chop the beans, carrots. Microwave for 5 mins along with fresh peas.
Cube the paneer and in a non stick pan heat the butter and toss the paneer, sprinkle the salt, red chili powder. Once it gets roasted well, remove.
In the same pan, quickly toss boiled sweet corn, saute for couple of minutes, remove.
Then, add boiled chickpea, sprinkle salt and red chili flakes, toss around and remove.
Now in the same pan, add all the individually cooked vegetables and paneer, sprinkle pepper and do a quick toss.
Serve right away.
You can pair it with spiced buttermilk for more complete meal.
Notes
Since I used a non stick pan, the same tsp of butter was used for the entire dish. Adjust the spice and salt once you mix everything together.
Though sweet corn and chickpea is not recommended for Low Carb Diet, the amount I added to the whole was not much.
Also as per my dietician, I was advised to eat all lentils for snack time. So I feel chickpea is good still, considering it is a good carb.
The paneer added lot of flavour to the entire dish. And eating that bowl you see on the table, makes you real full and happy! Infact I gave this for everybody at home. Amma loved it and Konda wanted more, saying Paneer was less for her.
So this was really a hit and something I could make again!
Recipe
Steamed, Sauteed Vegetable Medley with Roasted Paneer ~ Low Carb Indian Vegetarian Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups Beans, Carrot, Peas
- 1 cup Paneer cubed
- 2 tsp Sweet Corn
- 2 tsp Chickpea Boiled
- 1 tsp Butter
- Salt to taste
- Red Chilli Powder as per taste
- Pepper Powder as per taste
- Red Chilli Flakes (for the chickpea)
Instructions
How to prepare the Vegetable Medley
- Finely chop the beans and carrots. Microwave for 5 mins along with fresh peas.
- Cube the paneer and in a non stick pan heat the butter and toss the paneer, sprinkle salt and red chili powder. Once it gets roasted well, remove.
- In the same pan, quickly toss boiled sweet corn, saute for couple of minutes, remove.
- Then, add boiled chickpea, sprinkle salt and red chili flakes, toss around and remove.
- Now, in the same pan, add all the individually cooked vegetables and paneer, sprinkle pepper and do a quick toss.
- Serve right away.
- You can pair it with spiced buttermilk for more complete meal.
Notes
- Since I used a non stick pan, the same tsp of butter was used for the entire dish. Adjust the spice and salt once you mix everything together.
- Though sweet corn and chickpea is not recommended for Low Carb Diet, the amount I added to the whole was not much.
- Also, as per my dietician, I was advised to eat all lentils for snack time. So, I feel chickpea is good still, considering it is a good carb. The paneer added lot of flavour to the entire dish and eating that bowl you see on the table, makes you real full and happy!
Tried this recipe?Mention @spicingyourlife_ or tag #spicingyourlife_!
Usha says
Going in diet just doesn't help. It has to be moderation of diet and exercise. Usually cutting back on rice helps a lot and I have noticed the difference whenever reduce my rice intake. Paneer vegetable looks delicious
Sarita says
Ohh what a simple yummy recipe!
Manjula Bharath says
sauteed vegetable looks super yummy valli 🙂 perfect healthy recipe 🙂
Rani Vijoo says
Wonderful paneer preparation.. Looks delicious!
Pallavi Purani says
I am following low carbing too.
Introduced a lot of fibers like brans, oats and no chapati for dinner. I also go for yoga for one hour 5 days a week.
Loved to see the diet plan.
Good Luck Valli 🙂
Leena Chandrashekar says
Perfect healthly recipe..
Varadas Kitchen says
That is a nice colorful platter of steamed veggies. I am sure the paneer added a lot of flavor.
Suma Gandlur says
I think most of us who grew up thin start to gain weight once we attain motherhood. The flip side of a wonderful phase in our lives, I guess. 🙂
It is practically impossible to do carb-free meals following veg diet as we discussed in our chats but you have come up with good dishes.
Priya Suresh says
Lovely medley of steamed veggies, i dont bother to start my diet if you serve me that whole plate rite now,beautiful low carb dish.
vaishali sabnani says
Well if eating low carbs the basic aim is to shed..so I would make the dish with olive oil. The mix veggies taste great with paneer..but we guys are so used to some cereal that the meals appear incomplete. .it' takes a while to get used to eating just veggies. .but personally I love these dishes..so a fantastic platter:)
Harini-Jaya R says
Lovely platter. Going low carb is good. As Usha said Rice is a major culprit!
I would say a low protein diet on one day and high protein on the next will work too
Pavani N says
What an amazing dish -- so colorful, nutritious and delicious.
Life says
I had done low carbing for an year and it was wonderful. My health was at it's best. Then I had to move someplace where I couldn't cook and the low carbing had to stop. I want to go back but the low side being I have given up meat now. Being a vegan/vegetarian and on a low-carb seems so difficult. Thanks for the wonderful recipe.
Padmajha PJ says
Cooking a seperate meal for ourselves and then another for the family really takes a lot of time and effots and that is one of the reason I cannot follow this diet or any diet for that matter!
Anyways, this dish sounds and looks so delicious. I will try to include this as a part of the meal for the family 🙂