Mixed Greens with Indian Style Green Chutney

For the month of May I have decided to try something a little different.  Following the idea behind the book/blog/movie Julie and Julia, I will be blogging about the recipes I try from this month’s delicious magazine.

Every year as part of my birthday present, my husband gives me a subscription to delicious magazine.  Every month I eagerly await its arrival to see what new and interesting recipes and ideas it includes.  I usually bookmark the recipes I would like to try, but rarely ever get around to actually making them.

The May edition was particularly good with more than 40 enticing recipes. I decided that in order to force myself to cook from the magazine like I should, I would incorporate the recipes as part of my blog.

So I start today, the 1^st of May with my first choice which is what I made this week for Meat Free Monday (MFM).  Jill Dupleix is a favourite food writer and cook that I really admire and own several of her cookbooks.  Several years ago she helped her husband lose more than 30kg and her recipes since have had a healthier focus.  In the May edition of delicious she includes 4 healthy MFM ideas which all sound good, but I could only choose one, so here is my version of her Mixed Greens with Indian Style Green Chutney…

This was a quick and easy dish to prepare.  I started by chopping up all of the vegetables, which only took about 5 minutes.  I then set about making the ‘chutney’.  That was just as easy as I just threw all of the ingredients in my thermomix and in only a few seconds it had turned into a paste.  While the vegetables were cooking I toasted the cashews in a separate frypan.

I added tofu to the ‘Mixed Greens’ to increase the protein content and served it on quinoa, sprinkled with toasted cashews.   It was delicious.

Mixed Greens with Indian Style Green Chutney

Serves 4

Indian style green chutney:

• 1 red onion, roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon finely grated ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 long green chilli, deseeded and chopped
• 2 cups coriander leaves
• 1 cup mint leaves
• 1 tablespoon desiccated coconut
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon lime juice

Directions:

Whizz all the ingredients along with 1/3 cup (80ml) cold water in a food processor until it forms a thick paste.

Mixed Greens:

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 250g (approx. 3-4 cups) broccoli, cut into flowerets (recipe actually called for 300g)
• 150g eggplant, diced (the recipe asked for Brussels sprouts but they weren’t available so I substituted with eggplant which I had and needed using up!)
• 2 zucchinis (200g), chopped
• 100g (approx. 20) green beans, halved
• 300ml vegetable stock
• 100g (approx. 3 cups) baby spinach leaves or chopped spinach
• 100ml light coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons salt reduced soy sauce (my addition)
• 300g medium-firm tofu, cut into cubes (my addition)
• 2 tablespoons toasted cashews, roughly chopped
• Lime wedges, to serve
• Quinoa, cooked, to serve (perfect accompaniment)

Directions:

1. Heat frying pan over medium-high heat.
2. When hot add oil, broccoli, sprouts (or eggplant) and zucchini and cook for 3-4 minutes.
3. Add beans and stock, reduce heat to medium and cook for 6-8 minutes until liquid is slightly reduced and vegetables are tender.
4. Add spinach, coconut milk, soy sauce and chutney, then cook, tossing for 2 minutes or until the spinach has wilted.
5. Just before serving, add the tofu.  Stir through gently and allow a few minutes for the tofu to heat through and absorb some of the juices.
6. Serve with cashews and lime wedges.

Per Serve: (without quinoa, with tofu) 842kJ or 200 calories  P 12g Fat 10.5g SFat 3.5g CHO 9g Fibre 10g

Note:  fat content will vary greatly due to the type of coconut milk you use.  I use spiral foods reduced fat coconut milk as it is lower in total and saturated fat than many others I have looked at – and it’s organic!