The Hairy Dieters: How to Love Food and Lose Weight (16 page)

Try our very own ‘fakeaways’ instead and you could save money and calories. We’ve reduced the fat but included plenty of spice and flavour so they taste like the food from your local restaurant but with fewer calories.

Cook your fakeaways with as little fat as possible and trim any fat off the meat. Thicken the sauce with cornflour to give that rich texture.

If you do want to order in, choose tandoori or other grilled dishes as they will be less fattening. Ask the restaurant not to dress the tandoori with ghee, though. Looks nice but adds loads of calories.

Don’t overdo the rice. A serving of about 50g (uncooked) per person is plenty when you’re watching the calories.

SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN

This is exactly like your favourite sweet and sour from the local down the road, but with fewer calories. Proves that a diet doesn’t have to be all about denial.

SERVES 4

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1 medium onion, cut into 12 wedges

2 peppers, red, green, orange or yellow, deseeded and cut into chunks of about 3cm

225g can of water chestnuts

2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

25g chunk of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely grated

freshly ground black pepper

Sauce

425g can of pineapple chunks in natural juice

2 tbsp cornflour

150ml water

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 tbsp soft light brown sugar

2 tbsp tomato ketchup

½ tsp dried chilli flakes

288 calories per portion (without rice)

To make the sauce, drain the pineapple in a sieve over a bowl and keep all the juice – you should have about 150ml. Put the cornflour in a large bowl and stir in 3 tablespoons of the pineapple juice to make a smooth paste. Add the remaining juice and the water, then stir in the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, ketchup and chilli flakes until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

Cut each chicken breast into 8 or 9 even pieces. Heat a tablespoon of the oil in a large non-stick frying pan or wok and stir-fry the onion and peppers for 2 minutes over a high heat. Drain the water chestnuts and cut them in half horizontally.

Add the remaining oil and the chicken to the pan and stir-fry for 2 minutes until coloured on all sides. Add the garlic, ginger, pineapple chunks and water chestnuts and stir-fry for 30–60 seconds.

Give the cornflour and pineapple mixture a good stir and add it to the pan with the chicken and vegetables. Stir well, season with some ground black pepper and bring to a simmer. Cook for 4–6 minutes until the sauce is thickened and glossy and the chicken is tender and cooked throughout, turning the chicken and vegetables a few times. Serve with a small portion of rice.

CHICKEN KORMA

Rich, creamy chicken korma is usually forbidden territory if you’re watching your weight, but we’d hate you to miss out so we’ve come up with our korma-lite. A good all-round curry recipe, this is much lower in fat than the usual restaurant version but still fab to eat. Add extra chilli if you like.

SERVES 4

4 fairly small boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 600g)

25g low-fat natural yoghurt

1 tbsp sunflower oil

2 large onions, chopped (400g prepared weight)

4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

20g chunk of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely grated

12 cardamom pods, seeds crushed

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp ground coriander

½ heaped tsp ground turmeric

¼ tsp hot chilli powder

1 bay leaf

4 whole cloves

1 tbsp plain flour

small pinch of saffron

2 tsp caster sugar

½ tsp fine sea salt, plus extra to season

300ml cold water

3 tbsp double cream

freshly ground black pepper

fresh coriander, roughly torn, to garnish (optional)

294 calories per portion (without rice)

Cut each chicken breast into 8 or 9 bite-sized pieces, season with black pepper and put them in a non-metallic bowl. Stir in the yoghurt, cover with cling film and chill for a minimum of 30 minutes but ideally 2–6 hours.

Heat the oil in a large, non-stick saucepan and add the onions, garlic and ginger. Cover and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes until very soft and lightly coloured. Stir the onions occasionally so they don’t start to stick.

Once the onions are softened, stir in the crushed cardamom seeds, cumin, coriander, turmeric, chilli powder and bay leaf. Pinch off the ends of the cloves into the pan and throw away the stalks. Cook the spices with the onions for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Stir in the flour, saffron, sugar and ½ a teaspoon of salt, then slowly pour the water into the pan, stirring constantly. Bring to a gentle simmer, then cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat, take out the bay leaf and blitz the onion mixture with a stick blender until it is as smooth as possible. You can do this in a food processor if you prefer, but let the mixture cool slightly first. The sauce can now be used right away or cooled, covered and chilled until 10 minutes before serving.

Drain the chicken in a colander over the sink, shaking it a few times – you want the meat to have just a light coating of yoghurt. Place a non-stick frying pan on the heat, add the sauce and bring it to a simmer. Add the chicken pieces and cream and cook for about 10 minutes or until the chicken is tender and cooked through, stirring regularly. Exactly how long the chicken takes will depend on the size of your pieces, so check a piece after 8 minutes – there should be no pink remaining.

Adjust the seasoning to taste, spoon into a warmed serving dish and serve garnished with fresh coriander if you like.

FRAGRANT PORK AND PRAWN NOODLE BROTH

Hot and spicy, this delicious broth contains lots of vegetables as well as pork and prawn meatballs and is light but filling. Follow the recipe to the letter and you’ll find it works brilliantly. We know there’s a long list of ingredients, but you should be able to find them all in your local supermarket. Cut down on chilli if you like a more delicate flavour.

SERVES 4

2 litres cold water

1 chicken stock cube

2 lemongrass stalks

4 red bird’s eye chillies

6 kaffir lime leaves, dried or fresh

2 long shallots, thinly sliced

50g fresh root ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, peeled and halved lengthways

4 tbsp fresh lime juice (1½ limes)

3 tbsp nam pla (Thai fish sauce)

2 medium carrots, peeled

1 small red pepper

1 small yellow pepper

150g chestnut mushrooms

150g mangetout

50g fine vermicelli rice noodles

large handful of fresh coriander, roughly torn, to garnish

Pork and prawn balls

250g lean minced pork

100g cooked peeled prawns, thawed if frozen

½ long shallot (about 25g), peeled and finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 bird’s eye chilli, finely chopped

1 tbsp cornflour

¼ tsp fine sea salt

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander leaves

freshly ground black pepper

270 calories per portion

To make the broth base, pour the water into a large saucepan and add the stock cube. Bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the cube. Roughly chop the lemongrass stalks and add them to the pan. Split 2 of the chillies lengthways almost all the way through and pop them in the pan too.

Add the lime leaves, half the sliced shallots and all the ginger and garlic. Bring the broth to a low simmer and cook gently for 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to stand for about 30 minutes while you make the pork and prawn balls.

Put the pork mince, prawns, chopped shallot, garlic, chilli (deseed it first if you like), cornflour, salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper in a food processor and blend to make a thick, slightly textured purée. Add the coriander leaves and give it another quick blitz until just combined. Take out the processor blade, then roll the pork and prawn mixture into 20 small balls and put them on a large dinner plate.

Strain the infused stock through a sieve into a clean pan. Stir in the remaining sliced shallot, lime juice and nam pla. Slice the remaining 2 bird’s eye chillies very finely and add them to the pan. Bring to a gentle simmer and add the pork balls.

Return to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes, allowing the liquid to bubble gently. While the pork balls are simmering, cut the carrots into long ribbons using a vegetable peeler. Deseed the peppers and slice them thinly, and wipe and slice the mushrooms. Trim the mangetout and cut them in half diagonally. Stir the carrot strips, mushrooms, mangetout, peppers and noodles into the broth and simmer for 3–4 minutes or until the pork balls are cooked through and the vegetables and noodles are just tender, stirring occasionally.

Ladle the broth into deep bowls, making sure everyone has their fair share of pork and prawn balls. Scatter the coriander on top and serve.