Makeover: Duck Breasts in Balinese Spices...

Pull out the spices! This recipe makeover uses the inspiration of a Bali dish, to make a healthier, vegan-ier option with tofu or seitan, kale, and green beans.

What is so fun about this project for me, is that it really shows how just by changing a couple ingredients and adding veggies, you can turn around just about any recipe to reduce the calories, increase the vitamins, minerals, and decrease the fat. AND it's still delicious. Not only that, but I think these vegan/vegetarian dishes are easier to make too... they take much less time and are likely less expensive. Does anyone know how much duck breasts with the skin cost?

Ok, so here's what you get and what you lose in this week's Vegan "Curry" in Balinese Spices...

• 142 calories per serving... Not 404
• 9 g fat per serving (4 g saturated fat)... Not 27 (16 g saturated)
• No cholesterol... you get 120.5 mg with the duck version
• 49 mg sodium... Not 516 mg (I cut out 1 teaspoon of salt)
• 413% of your daily amount of vitamin A (Go Kale!)
• 115% of your daily amount of vitamin C
• 45% of your daily amount of calcium!!! (Go Kale!)... This is important, because people tend to believe that dairy is your only good source of calcium.
• 22% of your daily amount of iron
• 76% of your daily amount of manganese

Enjoy!
Vegan "Curry" in Balinese Spices



Ingredients:

1. 1 tbsp coriander seeds
2. 1 tsp cumin seeds
3. 1 tsp ground turmeric
4. 3 tbsp lime juice
5. 3 cloves
6. 2 green cardamoms
7. 1 tsp cinnamon
8. 1/4 tsp nutmeg
9. 1/4 tsp black pepper
10. 1 tsp chili powder
11. 1" slice of ginger, minced
12. 1 can LIGHT coconut milk
13. 1 container of firm tofu or seitan
14. ~4 cups string beans, cut in half with the ends taken off (~3 cups after cut)
15. 1 large bunch of kale (mine probably made about 7 cups chopped, it was huge)
16. 1 medium tomato, diced
17. 3 tbsp sunflower seeds

Directions

1. In a food processor or blender, blend chili powder and ingredients # 1 - 10 with 1/4 cup water.
2. Add to a sauce pan, and add 1/4 c coconut milk.
3. Cook for a couple minutes on medium heat, stirring to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom or burns.
4. Add the tofu or seitan and remove from the heat.
5. Let it sit there, while you tear the kale into chunks (size isn't important) and discard the stems. Also, cut the green beans now if you haven't already.
   
6. Add the green beans and the rest of the coconut milk to the saucepan. Put it on medium heat and cover. Stir occasionally so it doesn't stick to the bottom. Cook for 5 minutes.
   
7. When the green beans are almost done, add the kale, tomato, and sunflower seeds. Cook for 5 more minutes.
8. Serve with brown rice and enjoy!

Makeover: Pakistani Ground Lamb and Kidney Curry...

...becomes Brussels Sprouts and Potato Curry!

Let me just say that this recipe is delicious, absolutely the best one so far!

The original recipe (hailing from Pakistan) was seeping with calories (561 per serving!), fat (43.6 per serving!), saturated fat (14.6 g per serving!), cholesterol (219 mg per serving!), and sodium (670 mg per serving!)... yes, I know that's a lot of exclamation points. But seriously, this thing is a heart attack waiting to happen.

Why? Well, the original recipe has 6 lamb's kidneys, 1/4 c sunflower oil, and 1.25 lb ground lamb. BUT... the new recipe has no meat, 1 tablespoon canola/sunflower oil, tofu or seitan, and carrots, petite Brussels sprouts, peas, and a sweet potato. Since you're bulking up the recipes with all these vegetables you end up making more too, so that also helps lower the calories.

What are the changes?

• 140 calories per serving not 561
• 6.4 g of fat not 43.6 (and this is using the firm tofu, which is higher in fat than the softer varieties)
• .8 g of saturated fat not 14.6 (saturated fat is high in animal-based foods, including whole fat dairy and butter)
• 0 cholesterol (exclusively found in animal-based foods)
• 84 mg of sodium not 670
  

Of course, because you're adding all those veggies, you're also getting more vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and antioxidants... all the stuff that helps keep us healthy for a longer period of time. For example, you get your entire day's need of vitamin A (high in sweet potato and carrots), and 75% of your vitamin C (high in Brussels sprouts).

Another benefit of cooking vegetarian / vegan (this recipe is vegan) is that it takes a lot less time to cook! The original recipe takes about 50 minutes to prepare, while my version takes about 25.


Brussels Sprouts and Potato Curry

Ingredients:
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 T sunflower or canola oil
1 block firm tofu or seitan, cubed
1" ginger, diced as finely as possible
2 medium tomatoes, cut into 1" pieces
2 carrots, cut into 1/4" pieces (peel can be on or off)
1 bag frozen petite Brussels sprouts (or 1 lb fresh)
3/4 c peas
1 c water
1 sweet potato, cubed into 1" pieces
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
2 T chopped cilantro, raw

Instructions:
1. Heat the oil in a medium-large sauce pan.
2. Add the ginger and turmeric. Heat for 30 seconds.
3. Add the tofu or seitan. Stir for 1 minute.
4. Add everything except the raw cilantro and peas.
5. Cook for 10 minutes, covered. Stir occasionally to make sure it does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
6. Add peas and cook for 5 more minutes.
7. Taste the carrots and sweet potatoes to see that they are soft enough. Cook longer if needed.
8. Stir in the cilantro at the very end and enjoy! If you don't like cilantro, you can leave this ingredient out; it's delicious before adding it too.

Enjoy! You can eat this dish as is without any rice or bread. If you need the calories, go ahead and serve it with some basmati rice, or 100% whole grain bread.

Recipe Makeover: Sri Lankan Chicken Curry

...becomes Tofu Asparagus Curry!

The original Chicken Curry recipe hails from Sri Lanka, an island off the south-east coast of India. It was actually not too unhealthy, but I made some changes to make it healthier - less calories, less saturated fat, less sodium, and more vitamins and minerals. To do that I replaced chicken breast with firm tofu, cut the salt, and changed the regular coconut milk (which is so high in saturated fat!) to light coconut milk. And, of course, I piled on the veggies... added a bunch of asparagus and chopped kale. And this dish is vegan, so some chicken out there will love you for cooking this one instead of their version.

Just an FYI - even though I was able to cut out 210 calories and 7 grams of fat, this dish is still high in fat, so just be aware of that when thinking of how it fits into your day's diet. And keep that in mind the next time you order a dish with coconut milk at a restaurant... they are definitely not using the light version!

I'm curious to hear what you think about this recipe, so comment to let me know! Personally, I prefer the Seitan, Broccoli, Sweet Corn Curry from last week, but my boyfriend prefers this one. Check out how much healthier the Tofu Asparagus version is compared to the Chicken Curry!
Per serving, you cut out...

• 210 calories
• 7 grams of fat (5 of which are saturated fat)
• 57.5 mg of cholesterol
• 626 mg of sodium (yeah, you read that right!)

And you add on some more healthy stuff (percentages are % of how much you should get per day)...

• ~130 mg more potassium
• Vitamin A: 228% (yeah kale!)
• Vitamin C: 77.6% (instead of 14.5%)
• Calcium: 52% (instead of ~3.5%)
• Copper: 27% (instead of 9%)
  
• Folate: 37% (instead of 6.3%)
• Iron: 19.7% (instead of 13.4%)
• Manganese: 67.7% (instead of 24%)
  

I know you're just dying for the recipe now, right? So, without further ado...

Sri Lankan-inspired Tofu Asparagus Curry

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp canola oil (or sunflower oil)
1-in piece of ginger, finely diced
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
1 tsp chili powder
2 tsp ground garam masala
1 block firm tofu
1 lb asparagus, woody ends discarded, cut into 2" pieces
3 c kale, chopped
3/4 light coconut milk
2 tomatoes, chopped

1. Heat oil in a saucepan.
2. Add ginger and spices.
3. Stir for about 1 minute. (If the spices start to burn add a little water - this happened to me.)
4. Add tofu, asparagus, and kale and cook for 2 minutes. Stir as needed.
5. Add in 1.25 cups of water.
6. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover. Cook for 5 minutes.
7. Reduce heat to low and add in coconut milk & tomatoes.
8. Cook for 5 - 10 minutes.
9. Serve with brown rice. Enjoy!

Makes 5 1-cup servings.
197.9 calories, 16.7 g fat, 3.6 g saturated fat, 31.1 mg sodium, 13.1 g carbohydrate, 14 g protein

Questions about the recipe, ingredients, or nutrition in general? Feel free to ask via a comment!