Grated Carrot and Coconut Salad

Grated Carrot and Coconut Salad

Carrot is rich in beta-carotene which is an antioxidant that gives it a bright orange colour.  Beta carotene is digested in the intestines where it is converted into Vitamin A. It is also rich in phytonutrient called polyacetylenes . Carrot reduces the risk of cancer and cardio-vascular diseases. It is good for the skin and it gives a glowing complexion to the skin. It is also good for the gums and teeth. Tradition has it that carrot is good for eye sight.

Excess Vitamin A is stored in the body for future use; whereas excess vitamin B and C are disposed through urine.

Carrot has a sweet flavour and therefore is suitable for making juice, cakes and muffins.  Carrot is also used in soups, dips and coleslaw. Baby carrots make an excellent snack. Eating carrot raw or steamed gives the best result.

Carrots are stored in the refrigerator in sealed plastic bags. If the carrots come with green tops, it is better to remove them before storing as otherwise they will continue to draw out nutrients and moisture from the roots.

                                       Recipe summary
                                                 For
                           Grated Carrot and Coconut Salad

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooing time :0

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.

1 grated  carrot, 1 red Capsicum, chopped fine,
1 onion, chopped fine, 1 green chilli seeded and chopped fine, ¼ cup grated coconut,½ teaspoon salt,1 pinch black pepper and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Adjust seasoning.

Grated Carrot and Coconut Salad

 Grated Carrot and Coconut Salad is ready.

                                                                                  

Recipe follows in detail with pictures.

                     

                                     

          

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooing time :0
Serves: 4

Ingredients for Grated Carrot and Coconut Salad

grated Ingredients

Ingredients

Main

1 carrot    100 grams, washed peeled and grated
Others

1 red Capsicum, chopped fine.

1 onion, chopped fine

1 green chilli seeded and chopped fine.

¼ cup grated coconut

½ teaspoon salt

1 pinch black pepper

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

 

Method:

1.       Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Add salt and lime juice to your taste.

2.       Serve with rice.

Moringa pod curry, rice, curried egg and grated coconut and carrot salad

Nutrition data for this recipe
Nutrition content is computed by adding nutrition values of individual ingredients according to the USDA nutrition database. Water shown here is what is found in the ingredients and not the water added while cooking. This is only an approximation. For further information please read my post “Nutrition information for my recipes.”
 Click the button below to view the nutrition data. Click again to close it.

Nutrient	Value	Unit
Water	398.7	g
Energy	290.2	kcal
Protein	5.6	g
Total lipid (fat)	14.4	g
Carbohydrate, by difference	38.7	g
Fiber, total dietary	12.4	g
Sugars, total	20.6	g
Calcium, Ca	77.9	mg
Iron, Fe	2.5	mg
Magnesium, Mg	62.6	mg
Phosphorus, P	166.6	mg
Potassium, K	1,083.8	mg
Sodium, Na	1,058.8	mg
Zinc, Zn	1.4	mg
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid	311.5	mg
Thiamin	0.3	mg
Riboflavin	0.3	mg
Niacin	3.4	mg
Vitamin B-6	0.9	mg
Folate, DFE	145.0	µg
Vitamin B-12	0.0	µg
Vitamin A, RAE	1,157.9	µg
Vitamin A, IU	23,148.1	IU
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)	4.1	mg
Vitamin D (D2 + D3)	0.0	µg
Vitamin D	0.0	IU
Vitamin K (phylloquinone)	25.7	µg
Fatty acids, total saturated	12.0	g
Fatty acids, total monounsaturated	0.6	g
Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated	0.4	g
Cholesterol	0.0	mg
Caffeine	0.0	mg
Fatty acids, total trans	0.0	g
Ash	5.2	g
Copper, Cu	0.3	mg
Manganese, Mn	1.1	mg
Selenium, Se	4.9	µg
Folate, total	145.0	µg
Folic acid	0.0	µg
Folate, food	145.0	µg
Retinol	0.0	µg

Rainbow Bean Sprouts Stir-fry and Soy bean stir fry

Beans sprouts do not have any strong flavour and therefore can easily adopt to the other ingredients they are cooked with. The difficulty is that they are very tender vegetable and cannot stand up to much cooking. You can cook them only for a short while say 4 to 5 minutes. If overcooked they will become wilted and mushy.

Bean sprouts

Here I have attempted to use different coloured vegetable to give the dish an attractive look. These dark coloured vegetables are a storehouse of several phytonutrients.

                                       Recipe summary
                                                For 
                            Rainbow Bean Sprouts Stir-fry

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking  Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4

1.Wash and clean the bean 500 grams sprouts but do not remove the roots because lot of nutrition is there. 

Ingredients

2. Heat the wok and when ready add 2 tsp sesame oil and then 1 onion chopped, 2 tsp minced garlic, diced and 1 tsp minced ginger, diced and fry for 10 minutes or till the onion is well cooked.

3. Add all the other colourful ingredients: 50 grams each of green, orange, red, and yellow capsicum, julienned, 50 grams carrot julienne and cook for a minute in slow fire.

Rainbow Bean Sprouts Stir-fry

4. Add bean sprouts, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp soy sauce and fry for about 2 minutes.
Serve hot with rice.

The rainbow bean sprout stir-fry can be consumed on its own as a snack or as a side dish for any meat preparations. It can also be served with rice


Rainbow Bean Sprouts Stir-fry is ready.

                                                                                  

Recipe follows in detail with pictures.

                     

                                     
Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking  Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Main

500 grams bean sprouts, rinsed
Others
1 onion chopped

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp minced garlic, diced

1 tsp minced ginger, diced
50 grams each of green, orange, red, and yellow capsicum, jullioned
50 grams carrot julienne

2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp soy sauce

Ingredients for Rainbow Bean Sprouts Stir-fry 

Preparation

Wash and clean the bean sprouts but do not remove the roots because lot of nutrition is there. Discard the rotten and wilted sprouts.

Method:
Heat the wok and when ready add the oil and then onion, garlic and ginger and fry for 10 minutes or till the onion is well cooked.

Add all the other colourful ingredients and cook for a minute in 
slow fire.


              Bean sprout is being cooked in a wok

Add bean sprouts, salt and soy sauce and fry for about 2 minutes.
Serve hot with rice.

Bean sprouts spoil quickly.  They do not refrigerate well. If you refrigerate, do not leave it for longer than a day. If blanched or lightly boiled it could be left in the fridge overnight and then used in the salad in the same way as the fresh sprouts.

The rainbow bean sprout stir-fry can be consumed on its own as a snack or as a side dish for any meat preparations. It can also be served with rice.

Rainbow Bean Sprout Stir-fry mixed with rice

This is about 4 servings of one cup each.

                               Soy Bean Sprouts Stir-fry

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking times:10 minutes
Serves:4

Soy Bean Sprouts Stir-fry

Soy Bean Sprouts

Soy bean sprout is very similar to green bean (mung) sprout but it has a stronger taste than the latter. Here is a very simple recipe for soy bean sprout sir-fry.

Onion, leeks and garlic

Ingredients

Preparation

In most restaurants they will remove the head and root of the sprouts.This is because the sprout stems will look like noodles when stir-fried and therefore will blend well with noodle recipes. The head, the seed part, has a strong taste and the root is slightly hard.If you buy tender sprouts the roots will not be hard. But in the super-market shelf or in your refrigerator the sprouts will continue to grow and the roots may become harder.

If you like you can remove the head and the roots. I have not removed them because they are very nutritious. You can use the head and the root when making juice.

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan or a wok and add onions and fry in low heat for 5 minutes.
2. Add sliced garlic cloves and leeks and continue to fry for another 5 minutes.
3. Add the sprouts, fish sauce and the stock and cook covered for 10 minutes or until the stock evaporates.By this time the sprouts will be well cooked.
4. Turn off the heat and dish out the stir-fry.
5. Serve as a side dish  or with rice.
.

Onion ans leeks are being sauteed in a wok.

Soy sprouts added to the wok

Serves :4

Nutrition data for this recipe
Nutrition content is computed by adding nutrition values of individual ingredients according to the USDA nutrition database. Water shown here is what is found in the ingredients and not the water added while cooking. This is only an approximation. For further information please read my post “Nutrition information for my recipes.”
 Click the button below to view the nutrition data. Click again to close it.

Nutrient	Value	Unit
Water	647.4	g
Energy	306.4	kcal
Protein	18.2	g
Total lipid (fat)	10.4	g
Carbohydrate, by difference	46.4	g
Fiber, total dietary	13.0	g
Sugars, total	26.6	g
Calcium, Ca	109.1	mg
Iron, Fe	5.6	mg
Magnesium, Mg	134.5	mg
Phosphorus, P	341.5	mg
Potassium, K	1,265.9	mg
Sodium, Na	1,374.9	mg
Zinc, Zn	2.6	mg
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid	266.9	mg
Thiamin	0.5	mg
Riboflavin	0.7	mg
Niacin	5.7	mg
Vitamin B-6	0.9	mg
Folate, DFE	357.4	µg
Vitamin B-12	0.0	µg
Vitamin A, RAE	515.0	µg
Vitamin A, IU	10,309.0	IU
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)	2.0	mg
Vitamin D (D2 + D3)	0.0	µg
Vitamin D	0.0	IU
Vitamin K (phylloquinone)	179.1	µg
Fatty acids, total saturated	1.6	g
Fatty acids, total monounsaturated	3.7	g
Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated	4.2	g
Cholesterol	0.0	mg
Caffeine	0.0	mg
Fatty acids, total trans	0.0	g
Ash	7.1	g
Copper, Cu	1.0	mg
Manganese, Mn	1.3	mg
Selenium, Se	4.2	µg
Folate, total	357.4	µg
Folic acid	0.0	µg
Folate, food	357.4	µg
Retinol	0.0	µg

Bitter melon Curry - Balsam pear

Bitter melon Curry - Balsam pear

Surprisingly you can make delicious curry out of this bitter tasting and ugly looking bitter melon or balsam pear.It is very simple and easy to prepare.I mixed longer variety and shorter variety of bitter melon in equal proportions deliberately to prove my point that you can make a delicious dish regardless of the variety of bitter melon. Shorter variety is more bitter than the long variety.

                                      Recipe summary
                                               For
                          Bitter melon Curry - Balsam pear
Preparation time : 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
serves: 4

Bitter melon

1. In a small bowl add 200 grams bitter melon cut into ¼ inch  slices and sprinkle 1 tea spoon of salt and leave it for about an hour. After one hour, squeeze out the water from the bitter melon and rinse off the excess salt. Squeeze out the excess water and dry the pieces in a kitchen towel or paper towel. This process will 

reduce the bitterness greatly.Some soak in coconut water (not the milk but the sap within the kernel. I prefer to use salt because it draws out the water from the vegetable resulting in shorter frying time.

Ingredients

2. Heat 1 cup vegetable oil to fry in a wok or frying pan. When the oil is hot add the bitter melon pieces and fry. In a couple of seconds lower the heat and fry for about 17 minutes until the pieces become slightly brown. It need not be crispy as in the case of fried biter melon salad.

3. After the deep frying, drain out the oil and leave the bitter melon pieces in a paper towel to remove excess fat.

Bitter melon Curry

3. In a saucepan or wok heat a tablespoon of oil and add 2 dried chillies and fry for 2 or 3 seconds. 
4.Then add 3 cloves garlic sliced, 1 onion chopped finely, 1 green chilly seeded and chopped finely and continue frying in low heat for 10 minutes or until the onions become translucent.

5. Add 2 cups water, fried bitter melon pieces, 30 grams tamarind juice and 1 ½ teaspoon curry powder, ½ tea spoon of salt, ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder and boil covered for 10 minutes.

5. Add 3 table spoon coconut milk and switch off the heat.

Bitter melon Curry - Balsam pear is ready.  

                                                                                  

Recipe follows in detail with pictures.

                     

                                    
Preparation time : 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
serves: 4

Ingredients:
Main

200 grams bitter melon sliced horizontally into ¼ thick pieces

Longer variety Bitter melon sliced

lll

Short variety bitter melon

ll

Longer variety bitter melon fried

Sorter variety bitter melon fried

Others
1 cup vegetable oil to fry
1 onion chopped finely
3 cloves garlic sliced
2 dried chilli
1 green chilly seeded and chopped finely.
3 tablespoon of coconut milk
1½ tea spoon of salt
30 grams tamarind - juice extracted
2 cups water
Spices
1 ½ teaspoon curry powder
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

Ingredients for Bitter melon Curry - Balsam pear 

Method
1. In a small bowl add the bitter melon slices and sprinkle 1 tea spoon of salt and leave it for about an hour. After one hour, squeeze out the water from the bitter melon and rinse off the excess salt. Squeeze out the excess water and dry the pieces in a kitchen towel or paper towel. This process will reduce the bitterness greatly.Some soak in coconut water (not the milk but the sap within the kernel. I prefer to use salt because it draws out the water from the vegetable resulting in shorter frying time.

Ingredients added to be cooked

2. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan. When the oil is hot add the bitter melon pieces and fry. In a couple of seconds lower the heat and fry for about 17 minutes until the pieces become slightly brown. It need not be crispy as in the case of fried biter melon salad

Curry is getting ready

Tip. When you put the vegetables in very hot oil, it seals the pores on the surface of the vegetable.  After this initial searing, the vegetable will absorb less oil during the frying process.
There is a risk of oil splattering and therefore you must always use a splatter guard / cover.
Immediately after this initial searing you must reduce the heat quickly, otherwise the outside of the vegetable will be overcooked and the inside will be under cooked. If you want something to be evenly fried you should do it in low heat.If you want crusty on the outside and juicy on the inside you may use medium heat.
3. After the deep frying, drain out the oil and leave the bitter melon pieces in a paper towel to remove excess fat.

Curry being cooked

3. In a saucepan or wok heat a tablespoon of oil and add the dry chilies and fry for 2 or 3 second. Then add the garlic pieces, onion, chopped green chilli and continue frying in low heat for 10 minutes or until the onions become translucent.
4. Add water, fired bitter melon pieces, tamarind juice and curry powder, salt and boil covered for 10 minutes.
5. Add coconut milk and switch off the heat.

Bitter melon curry is ready.
It can be served with rice or bread. It will be surprisingly pleasant.

Fried bitter melon salad - Balsam-pear

Fried bitter melon salad - Balsam-pear

Bitter melon is also known as balsam-pear and bitter-gourd. This vegetable is found in all parts of the world.

Bitter melon - long variety

Bitter melon - short variety

There are many varieties of bitter melon available in the market. But two are most common. One grows up to 20 cm long and is heavier and light green in colour. The other variety is smaller that grows up to 10 cm long and is dark green in colour. Both have irregular bumps on the surface. The bumps in the smaller variety give a hairy look.
Different types of bitter melons will have different level of bitterness. The greener the melon it will be bitter. So go for the lightest green available. Very light green melons with reddish seeds will impart less bitterness. Very bitter melons will have white seeds.

Bitter melon - short variety

Nutritional benefits of bitter melon are
1. low in calories
2. source of vitamins B1, B2 and B3, C, magnesium, folate, zinc, phosphorus, and manganese.
3. high dietary fiber
4. rich in iron, beta-carotene, calcium and potassium.
5. an unique phyto-constituent that has hypoglycaemic effect.
6. an insulin-like compound which can be used as insulin replacement in some diabetic patients (polypeptide P) .
7. improves stamina and energy level.
8. detoxifies the blood
9. relieves psoriasis condition and controls fungal infection
10. claimed to prevent cancer cells from multiplying - not scientifically tested.
11. Kills worms in the intestines particularly among children. It is anti-bacterial and anti-fungal.

The most widespread use of bitter melon is in treating diabetes. Drugs.com website suggests 50 to 100 ml. of bitter melon juice taken daily or 900 mg of fruits consumed 3 times a day. Bitter melon can be purchased from stores in the form of tea pouches, powder and capsules for the diabetics.

Fried Bitter Melon Salad.

As the name implies these fruits are bitter and are also ugly. If anyone consumes it, it is because of acquired taste. You will have to try a few times before you begin to appreciate the taste of this fruit. Once you acquire the taste for it, you will enjoy a world of goodness from this vegetable.

Bitter melon sliced

                                       Recipe summary
                                                 For
                    Fried bitter melon salad - Balsam-pear

  

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 5

Bitter melon

1. In a small bowl add 200 grams bitter melon slices sliced horizontally into ¼ thick pieces and sprinkle 1 tea spoon of salt and leave it for about one hour. After one hour squeeze out the water from the bitter melon and rinse off the excess salt. Squeeze out the excess water and dry the pieces in a kitchen towel or paper towel. This process of salting will reduce the bitterness greatly. 

Ingredients

Mouth watering  Fried bitter melon salad

2. Heat the 1 cup vegetable oil to fry  in a wok or a frying pan and add bitter melon slices and fry in low heat for about 20 minutes or until the bitter melon pieces become crispy and crumble under pressure from your fingers. Switch off the heat and drain the bitter melon pieces and discard any remaining oil. Bitter melon pieces will look dark brown or near black. If you are concerned about this loss of nutrition you can stop frying when the bitter melon slices turn brown. 

Fried bitter melon salad - Balsam-pear

3. In a bowl mix the fried bitter melon pieces, 150 grams tomato cut into quarter and then sliced thinly chopped, ½ green chilly seeded and chopped finely  and ½ tea spoon  salt and mix well.

4. Squeeze out 1 tea spoon of lemon juice which will counter any bitterness in the melon.
You can serve this at room temperature or chilled. You can serve it with rice as a side dish or serve as a starter salad. Yo u can even add yogurt.

         Fried bitter melon salad - Balsam-pear is ready.  

                                                                                  

   Recipe follows in detail with pictures.

                     

                                                     
  

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 5

Bitter melon slices fried

Ingredients

Main

200 grams bitter melon sliced horizontally into ¼ thick pieces

Others

150 grams tomato cut into quarter and then sliced thinly

1 cup vegetable oil to fry

1 tea spoon of lemon juice

½ onion chopped finely

½ green chilly seeded and chopped finely.

1 ½ tea spoon of salt

Ingredients for Fried bitter melon salad - Balsam-pear

Onion rings, chopped tomato,  chopped green chilli and lime

Method
1. In a small bowl add the bitter melon slices and sprinkle 1 tea spoon of salt and leave it for about one hour. After one hour squeeze out the water from the bitter melon and rinse off the excess salt. Squeeze out the excess water and dry the pieces in a kitchen towel or paper towel. This process of salting will reduce the bitterness greatly. 

Mouth watering  Fried bitter melon salad

2. Heat the oil in a wok or a frying pan and add bitter melon slices and fry in low heat for about 20 minutes or until the bitter melon pieces become crispy and crumble under pressure from your fingers. Switch off the heat and drain the bitter melon pieces and discard any remaining oil. Bitter melon pieces will look dark brown or near black. At this level of frying the bitterness of the melon will be at its lowest and will taste delicious. This may be a little over-frying and may result in some loss of nutrients. If you are concerned about this loss of nutrition you can stop frying when the bitter melon slices turn brown. That will also be good enough. We are not introducing yogurt in this recipe in order to preserve the crispiness of the bitter melon slices. But you can add some yogurt to enhance the flavour, if you like the taste of yogurt.

3. In a bowl mix the fried bitter melon pieces, chopped tomatoes, chopped green chili and salt and mix well. Squeeze out 1 tea spoon of lemon juice which will counter any bitterness in the melon.
You can serve this at room temperature or chilled. You can serve it with rice as a side dish or serve as a starter salad. 

Note: There is also the question whether to remove the core and seeds from the melon before frying. The simple answer is that you can fry the rings with and without the core and seeds. During the frying process most of the seeds will fall apart and you can discard them. You can munch and eat the seeds that come up in the salad. If you dislike the taste of the seeds in future preparation you can remove the core before frying. I always remove the core and the seeds in all my recipes.
To core the melon cut it into 3 pieces horizontally and use a butter knife to go round the sides to scoop out the core and the seeds.

Nutrition data for this recipe
Nutrition content is computed by adding nutrition values of individual ingredients according to the USDA nutrition database. Water shown here is what is found in the ingredients and not the water added while cooking. This is only an approximation. For further information please read my post “Nutrition information for my recipes.” 
 
Click the button below to view the nutrition data. Click again to close it.

Fried bitter melon salad
Nutrient	Value	Unit
Water	379.0	g
Energy	2,009.2	kcal
Protein	3.9	g
Total lipid (fat)	218.7	g
Carbohydrate, by difference	18.3	g
Fiber, total dietary	8.3	g
Sugars, total	6.2	g
Calcium, Ca	66.4	mg
Iron, Fe	1.4	mg
Magnesium, Mg	56.6	mg
Phosphorus, P	113.7	mg
Potassium, K	1,035.9	mg
Sodium, Na	2,926.5	mg
Zinc, Zn	2.0	mg
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid	205.9	mg
Thiamin	0.2	mg
Riboflavin	0.1	mg
Niacin	1.8	mg
Vitamin B-6	0.3	mg
Folate, DFE	177.2	µg
Vitamin B-12	0.0	µg
Vitamin A, RAE	113.9	µg
Vitamin A, IU	2,251.7	IU
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)	90.4	mg
Vitamin D (D2 + D3)	0.0	µg
Vitamin D	0.0	IU
Vitamin K (phylloquinone)	24.5	µg
Fatty acids, total saturated	22.5	g
Fatty acids, total monounsaturated	42.6	g
Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated	143.4	g
Cholesterol	0.0	mg
Caffeine	0.0	mg
Fatty acids, total trans	0.0	g
Ash	10.6	g
Copper, Cu	0.2	mg
Manganese, Mn	0.4	mg
Selenium, Se	0.7	µg
Folate, total	177.2	µg
Folic acid	0.0	µg
Folate, food	177.2	µg
Retinol	0.0	µg