I feel like a preschooler these days. I pack so many meals in different boxes every day. All in an attempt to eat healthy. While growing up, I went from lunch at 12.30 to dinner at 8, with just a glass of milk after school, at about 3.30. I was never hungry. I wasn't interested in food. College was a slightly different story. Our "lunch break" was from 10.30 to 11 and I'd go from 10.30 to 8 with just a glass of milk. I even went to work after college, and somehow never got hungry in between. These days, my story is very different. I am perennially hungry. And it doesn't help much that my colleagues seem to have food packets open all day long.
So, to help myself from indulging, I pack my breakfast and take it to work. That means that I have a fruit milk shake and coffee before I leave. I pack the "solid" part of my breakfast and eat it at work. That way I can say no to the chips or the cookies or the namkeen that are offered to me.
Regardless of what I eat for lunch, or how much I eat, I seem to be very hungry again by 5 in the evening. And again, it doesn't help much that my colleagues order Aloo Tikki or pav bhaji or papdi chaat from a famous chaat chain nearby. So, while we've switched to soup for dinner, I try and pack a "snack" for the 5 p.m. pangs.
This salad is one of those snacks. I'd been to a friend's place for dinner when S was traveling. I insisted that I'd have only soup and she made some chickpea tagine and this salad. She had already cut the cucumber, cabbage and apple. The dressing is really what made this salad divine. And what I loved about it was that we made it up as we went. As soon as S was back, I made this. I chopped the vegetables differently and so this doesn't look as pretty as the one my friend made, but the taste was identical.
1/2 cup Cabbage, shredded
1/2 cup Cucumber, diced
1/2 cup Apple, diced
For the Dressing:
1 tbsp Honey
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 tsp Lime Juice
1 tsp Chilli Flakes
Salt to taste
Place the cabbage, apple and cucumber in a bowl. Mix all the ingredients for the dressing together. Pour over the vegetables.
Voila! The salad is ready. I know that I will make this very often. It is simple to make and the flavours, sweet, spicy and sour, come together very well. And it is the perfect excuse to say no to that bag of chips.
8 comments:
Perfect salad for that 'in between' hunger pang..am gonna try this for sure!!
Sounds awesome! Will definitely try. Am in dire need of some healthy but tasty snacks and meals. Thanks.
Perfect ssalad for 5 pm pangs.If you like nuts,add 4-5 walnuts to this.They are very filling and healthy
Arundhati, I have joined a very very state of the art gy, and am taking lessons from the nurtitionist that're pretty customized. SOme general principles that've worked very well for Mohan and I, are:
-Eat every 3 hours. NEVER go hungry.
-I took a test to figure my Resting MEtabolic Rate - that says how amny calories I need if inactive even. So then I know how much to eat daily : that plus some more so I can exercise vigorously.
-I eat a 250 cal breakfast, a 500 cal lunch and 500 cal dinner, and 3 snacks about 200 cal each. I feel very full all day long, there's absolutely nod eprivation. I find I am eating MORE protein according to this plan. Veggies, she allows unlimited amounts. This's PLENTY more calories than I was getting before. I also exercise : I burn about 700 cals a day exercising, and I measure it accurately using a heart rate monitor ALso, the idea is to put on muscle, to raise my metabolism even further.
Just wanted to share what I elarnt. If you haven't, I STRONGLY urge you to hire a nutritionist (a good one). Makes a ton of difference - increases productivity in getting to goals, and decreases the pain involved in all this. Once I reach my goals, I'll tone this all down. I'll email you my detailed eating plan if you'd like, assuming your goals will benefit from my plan. Just quickly typed up fairly disorganized thoughts there...
Deepa
p.s: I was asking for eggless 1-dish casseroles!! Arnav made your pesto.
@Divya: Tell me if you make this :-)
@HK: Thanks for visiting. Let me know if you like it.
@Curry Leaf: I will try that as a variation. Would add the extra crunch!
@Deepa: I've been on 6 meals a day for about 7 years now. I used to pack a fruit box instead of a snack. Since we're including fruits in other meals, I'm packing a snack these days. :-)
Now this is a salad I am definitely going to try.
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