3 healthy recipes even hopeless chefs can make in 5 steps
From a cookbook written by a millennial, for millennials, recipes you can whip up in under 5 steps
The other night I ate a pomegranate for dinner. My dessert? A cup of lukewarm milk with the layer of malai becoming my inadvertent topping. My mother was out of town and the food she had Tupperware-d had run out. It’s times like these that I appreciate living with my parents — you get readymade meals crafted using healthy recipes and the only thing that’s expected of you is to eat without grumbling about it.
It’s not that I’m (just) lazy — there’s an inner Nigella lingering somewhere underneath the many layers of a ‘permanently exhausted pigeon’, but after a long day at work, the thought of assembling ingredients, cutting and chopping, boiling and frying is next to impossible. The only bheja fry I’m capable of producing is the one that’s brewing inside my head.
Seventeen-year-old-year-old school girl Mira Shah could give most 30 year olds a masterclass. The starry-eyed teenager has authored and self-published a cookbook in collaboration with her mother Tanvi Shah. The Millennial Kitchen is composed of 45 easy recipes for multitasking millennials and their mums.
From Party Starters and Cool Platters, to Meals for One and Two and more– you’ll find quick fixes for unannounced guests who only BYOB (and not BYOS – snax), along with recipes for when you’re eating alone or trying to woo a lover through his/her/ their stomach. For mums who are fed up of cooking up concoctions to appease their fussy eater, we have you covered. Offering gluten-free and Jain variants, the book also encourages you to mix pre-made ingredients with fresh produce without feeling guilty about breaking the chef’s code.
The Shahs dig into their book to share three healthy recipes — promising us that even cooks who forget to add water to their boiling rice will find these hard to mess up.
PUMPKIN HUMMUS
Ingredients
• 100g red pumpkin
• 200g hummus
• 20ml olive oil
Directions
Cube and parboil the pumpkin. When done, cool and lightly fry in hot olive oil for 6-8 minutes. Add the pumpkin and hummus to a food processor and blend until smooth. Garnish with olive oil and cooked whole chickpeas.
MEDITERRANEAN ROLL
Ingredients
• 4 medium-sized tortillas
(approximately 8.5″ diameter)
• 25ml olive oil
• 50g zucchini, cut lengthwise
• 50g red cabbage, cut
lengthwise
• 50g onion, sliced lengthwise
• 150g mixed coloured capsicum,
cut lengthwise
• 200g hummus
• Sriracha or hot sauce of your choice (optional)
• Salt to taste
Directions
- Roast the tortillas for 1-2 minutes on each side on a flat plan on
medium heat. Set aside and keep warm - Add olive oil to a non-stick wok and add all the veggies except the
capsicum. Sauté for 3-4 minutes on medium heat and then add the
peppers. Sauté for a further 3-4 minutes and set aside. - Spread 50g hummus on one side of each cooked tortilla. Splash with
the hot sauce and divide the veggies equally between the four tortillas.
Roll and serve cold. If you prefer them hot, then brush the outside of
the rolls with olive and heat through on a frying pan for 2-3 minutes
on each side.
Tip
Sautéed onions with spinach and parmesan also make a great filler for this roll
CREAM-FREE CREAMY PASTA
Ingredients
• 150g green or red pesto
• 200ml milk
• 15ml olive oil
• 5g coarsely grated fresh garlic (optional)
• 250g cooked pasta
• A pinch of coarsely ground black pepper
• A pinch of oregano
• A pinch of chilli flakes (optional)
• Truffle oil (optional)
• 20g shredded Parmesan, Pecorino or Grana Padano cheese
• Salt to taste
Directions
1. Whisk pesto in the milk and set aside.
2. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick saucepan and sauté the garlic (if using) for 2 minutes on medium heat. Add the cooked pasta and stir so the oil coats the pasta. Now add the pesto milk, stirring continuously. The nuts and cheese in the pesto will transform the pasta into a creamy delight.
3. Add black pepper, oregano, chilli flakes and check for salt. Loosen with a splash of milk if required.
4. Drizzle the pasta with truffle oil (or your favourite oil) and top with grated cheese and chopped parsley. Serve hot.
100 per cent of the profits gained from the book will go to the Akshaya Patra foundation.
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