I have always been a huge proponent of protein diet. While attempting to lose weight (which is…well always) I tend to veer towards proteins and vegetables and try and stay as far from carbs and sugar as possible. Carbs don’t really make much different because I’m hardly a rice/roti person. I do love breads though, but I’ve somewhat learned to live without them. What I cannot compromise on, however, are chocolates and desserts. I NEED to have a couple of pieces of chocolate everyday and a dessert, say, at least twice a week doesn’t hurt either. (I just made a chocolate hazelnut mug cake minutes before starting to write this blog post, of which, let me be very honest, I did not eat more than 3 tbsp). These greed pangs apart, I mostly adhere to a fish and lean meat diet the whole day.
What creates a major problem though is the sudden discovery at odd hours (yes, I DO cook at odd hours) that your refrigerator is devoid of fish, chicken or eggs. I’m not much of a fan of vegetarian proteins, but dire needs call for dire measures. One such day when I was greeted by a squeaky clean fridge, instead of grumbling I decided to make use of the next best option I had. Thankfully I spotted some soya chunks in the kitchen and that led to this. I can’t have bland food. I’d kill myself before I take a plunge into that misery. So when the source of protein was bland, I obviously had to spice it up with extra zest. I always find pickles handy for cooking meat, but this was the first time I applied it to veggies, and I kid you not, the result made me make peace with the fact that there was no meat in the fridge that day.
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
Soya bean nuggets: 1.5 cup
Onion, chopped finely: 1.5
Tomato, chopped roughly: 1
Garlic paste: 1 tsp
Ginger paste: 1 tsp
Mixed pickle (or your favourite pickle): 3 tbsp
Oil: 1 tsp (I used olive oil)
Salt, to taste
Sugar: 1 tsp
Method:
1. Boil the soya bean nuggets with a little salt in water till they fluff up. Drain into a colander and immediately wash with cold water. Squeeze the water out of the nuggets and set aside.
2. In a non-stick pan, heat oil and add onions with sugar. Fry on medium high heat till they become translucent. Add the ginger and garlic and fry for another minute or so.
3. Now add the tomatoes and keep stirring till tomatoes become pulpy. Add the pickle and a little bit of water if you want. Stir the gravy for 2 minutes.
4. Add the soya bean nuggets and mix well so that they are coated with the pickly mixture. Adjust salt and cook on medium heat for another 3-4 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat and serve hot with rotis.
