Healthy & Delicious Recipes: Flavorful Meals for a Balanced Life

“Every time you use the word ‘healthy,’ you lose. The key is to make yummy, delicious food that happens to be healthy.”Marcus Samuelsson

The highly celebrated, world class chef got it right. Today food has become the expression of life. We have tasting menus and molecular food presentations. We also indulge in junk food due to stressful conditions of life and paucity of time. These days the emphasis is given to the taste at the expense of wholesome ingredients. Oil, cream and butter make the food more palatable and delicious.

Top 10 Healthy and Delicious Food Recipes:

We need to seek a middle path between healthy and taste. Many Indian food items contain high amounts of fat and calories but they also have high nutritional value. We have chosen some Indian food items that are healthy though high in calorific value. They should be consumed under moderation. Go through the following recipes and include them in your daily diet. Don’t forget that moderation is the key to good health.

1. Sarson Ka Saag:

Mustard greens help flush out the toxins from the body as they contain vitamin C, E and beta-carotene. These control the cholesterol level and promote heart health. Greens are good for your eyes as they are a rich source of iron.

Method:

• Heat some oil in a pan.
• Add ginger, garlic and onion.
• Saute for 3-4 minutes.
• Add the boiled and coarsely pureed mustard leaves.
• Add to the pan and stir well.
• Now, chop the spinach and bathua roughly.
• Add this to the pan and stir well.
• Mix in some slitted green chillies and salt.
• Cook well till it’s soft and you are ready with the Saag.
• For the Roti, make dough with cornmeal and water .Make it into a stiff dough.
• You can also add some grated radish to the dough for extra taste and nutrition.
• Make a roti by patting the dough with your hands.
• Cook on both the sides till brown spots appear.

Sarson ka saag is ready. Serve this hot with makki ki roti. This is one of the most loved dishes among the healthy Indian food recipes!

2. Sambar Dal: 

Sambar dal is a traditional South Indian dish that has aromatic flavors. This contains very little oil and many nutritive vegetables. This is served hot with idlis or steamed rice.

Method:

• Wash the tur dal.
• Cook the dal in pressure cooker with onion, brinjal, pumpkin, drumstick, potato and water.
• Add tamarind pulp, sambhar masala paste, tomato and salt to the cooked dal. Allow it to boil.
• Temper the dal with oil with mustard seeds, curry leaves, hing and asafoetida.
• Add this to the sambhar and simmer for 15 minutes.

Sizzling sambar is ready to serve.

3. Idli: 

This is the healthiest food item from South India. This is prepared from fermented rice and black gram (urad dal). It is a rich source of carbohydrates, proteins and amino acids and is easily digestible.

Method:

• Wash the rice and urad dal and soak overnight separately. Soak in a 1 dal to 4 rice ratio.
• Grind them into a smooth paste in the morning.
• Cover and keep this aside for overnight.
• Add some salt.
• Grease idli moulds and add spoonfuls of the batter to steam for 12 minutes.

Yummy, hot idlis are ready.

[Read:Tips To Keep Your Food Healthy]

4. Poha:

This is a traditional Indian breakfast that is prepared in a short span of time. It is commonly prepared in states of Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Method:

• Wash the poha well and rinse.
• Drain the water and keep aside for 10 minutes.
• Heat some oil, add mustard seeds, curry leaves, peanuts and green chillies.
• Add onions and fry to add tomato.
• Add the poha and mix well.
• Add the turmeric powder and salt.
• Mix well with some lemon juice.
• Don’t overcook.
• Garnish it with some coriander leaves.

Serve it hot.

5. Sukto:

This is Bengali vegetarian dish that is served with the main meal. This contains loads of vegetables and has a bitter taste. This is a rich source of vitamins and minerals that can also treat diabetes.

Method:

• Soak some mustard seed and poppy seed in water for 20 minutes.
• Grind it to make a fine paste.
• Cut all the vegetables and add in a pan.
• Add 3 tablespoon ghee in a pan.
• Add fenugreek seed, jeera, bay leaves and asafoetida powder.
• Add all chopped vegetables, ginger paste and mustard- poppy seed paste.
• Cook for 5 minutes.
• Add some milk and cook till the vegetables are cooked.

Sukto is complete. Serve with rice.

6. Methi Thepla:

This contains fenugreek leaves, wheat flour and besan that is very healthy and tastes delicious. This is a common snack in Gujarat that is filled packed with nutritive value.

Method:

• Wash and clean the methi leaves. After washing, chop them finely.
• Add this to the wheat flour. Also add ginger, salt, garlic, ajwain, sesame seeds, dried mango powder, green chillies, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and yogurt with some oil.
• Mix well and make dough by adding water.
• Keep this aside for a few minutes.
• Roast them on the tawa using little oil. The trick is to roll them very thin

Your delicious thepla is ready. Serve them hot with yogurt, chunda, pickle or chutney.

[Read:Low Calorie Breakfast Options]

7. Chicken Biryani:

This is a rice dish with chicken. It is flavoured with saffron and turmeric that contain calories, fat, and carbohydrates. This is delicious in moderation so keep in mind the portions. Not an everyday dish but can be indulged in sometimes

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan. Add sliced onions and cook till they become brown and caramelised. Alternatively roast thinly sliced onions in an OTG till they become caramelised.
• Add the chicken and cook for 10 minutes
• Add ginger, garlic, cloves, cinnamon stick, chilli, cardamom, cumin, coriander, bay leaves and peppercorns.
• Cook and add tomatoes, stock and salt.
• In the other pan, add the rice with 600 ml of water and turmeric.
• Boil this and cover for 7 minutes to cook rice.
• Drain the excess water.
• Layer the chicken and rice in a large pan.
• Cover and cook this for 30 minutes. Opt for 10 minutes on high, 10 minutes on medium flame and 10 minutes on slow flame.

Your lip-smacking chicken biryani is ready. Serve it hot with raita. This pakki biryani is better as all the starch is drained out of the rice. Opt for low glycemic rice like Saffola and Revital as they are lower in carbs

8. Malpua:

This is a pancake that is very rich and soft. This is a recipe of Udaipur and Pushkar that is made from wheat flour during festivals.

Method:

• Mix wheat flour and sugar proportionately in a large bowl.
• Add some warm water and make a batter.
• Keep it aside for 40 minutes.
• Heat ghee in a pan.
• Pour a spoon of batter in the hot ghee.
• Deep fry this on medium flame.
• Cook well till golden brown.

You can opt to cook this in a non stick pan to reduce the consumption of ghee. Make a low cal instant rabri with low cal milk and corn flour to top this malpua. Alternatively make a malpua with cream of wheat (sooji), water and fennel seeds. It is lighter. Mouth watering malpuas are ready. Serve hot.

9. Chole:

Chole is a Punjabi dish that is lower in calories and tastes delicious. This dish is rich in protein, calcium and vitamin C.

Method:

• Cook kabuli chana in pressure cooker till they are soft.
• Drain them and keep it aside.
• Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds, onion, ginger and garlic.
• Sauté till its golden brown.
• Add amchur, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin, tomatoes, chole masala, chilli powder, seed powder and salt.
• Saute for 2 minutes.
• Add kabuli chana, water and mix them well.
• Simmer for 15 minutes.

Your favorite chhole is ready. Serve hot with rotis to nix the calories

10. Phirni:

Phirni is a creamy dessert that is prepared from ground rice, milk, cream and sugar. This Punjabi dish is served in earthenware bowls.

Method:

• Roast the saffron strands for 10 seconds.
• Add 2 tablespoon of milk and keep it aside.
• Soak rice in water for 45 minutes.
• Drain, wash and pat dry to blend this in a mixer into a coarse powder.
• Add cold milk to make a paste.
• Boil milk and add rice paste gently.
• Cook for 20 minutes on a low flame.
• Keep stirring continuously.
• Add sugar and saffron.
• Pour this in the earthenware pots.
• Let it cool.
• Refrigerate for 45 minutes.

Your delicious phirni is ready. Serve chilled.

Try these delectable recipes at home and savor the desi flavors from different states of India. Do leave us your valuable comments below and let us know your recipes of healthy food!

Always remember that moderation and portion are the keys to good health. To cut down on sweets you can opt for lesser sugar dessert recipes or even try some safe sugar alternatives. Enjoy your meals and good health with these simple and amazing recipes.