Apple
Delicious and crunchy, apple is one of the most popular and favourite fruits among people who believe in the concept “health is wealth”.
This wonderful fruit is one of my personal favourite and is rich in nutrients that are indispensable for optimal wellbeing of the human body. The antioxidants in apple have several health benefits — they help with disease prevention and thereby truly justify the age old saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”.
Apples are low in calories; 100gm of fruit provides only 50 calories. They contain no saturated fats or cholesterol, which are harmful for the body. Also the fruit is rich in dietary fibre which helps prevent absorption of bad cholesterol in the body. Apple is a rich source of vitamin C, a natural antioxidant.
Sliced apples turn brown on exposure to air due to conversion oxidation of iron in apple with the oxygen in air. To prevent this, rinse slices in water added with few drops of fresh lemon.
Fresh apples are readily available in the stores all around the season. Choose fresh, bright, firm textured apples with rich flavour — avoid the ones with pressure marks on their surface as they indicate underlying mottled pulp. Fresh apples can be kept at room temperature for few days and stored inside the refrigerator for 2 to 3 weeks. Wash them in clean running water before use as they are usually coated with thin layer of wax as a preservative to increase their shelf life.
Apple and pomegranate salad
Ingredients
Red apple 1 no
Green apple 1 no
Pomegranate ½ no
Romaine lettuce 3-4 leaves
Dressing
Lemon juice 1 tbsp
Apple juice 1 tbsp
Sea salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
Sumac ½ tsp
Sugar 1 tsp
Mint leaves few leaves
Method
Wash and cut the apples in small dices.
Keep them dipped in water bowl with few lemon juice drops to prevent discolouration.
Deseed the pomegranate and keep the seeds aside.
In a separate bowl combine all the ingredients for the dressing and whisk to make a dressing.
Drain the apples and combine with pomegranate seeds.
Pour the dressing and toss to mix the dressing into the salad.
Place the romaine lettuce leaf in a salad bowl and place the prepared salad on top.
Pour the remaining dressing on top.
Serve cold, garnished with lemon slice and chopped mint leaves.
Cottage cheese
Cottage cheese is a mild-tasting, high-protein milk product. The basic method of making cottage cheese is to cuddle the milk and drain the whey and press the remains to get cottage cheese.
The cottage cheese has a sweet flavour and is not aged or matured like many other cheeses. Different varieties of milk in different fat proportions make different variants of cottage cheese.
The history of cottage cheese dates back to ancient Greeks and Egyptians and it derives its name from the American settlers as they used to make this cheese on their portable stove tops, the word cottage refers to the small dwellings of the settlers where they used to make this.
Cottage cheese is particularly popular in the Indian subcontinent where a vast no of the population is vegetarian and thus cottage cheese is one of the main sources of proteins for them. Cottage cheese is one of the healthier cheeses — a 100gm serving contains 98 calories; it is also popular among body builders and athletes for its protein content of 11gm per 100gm serving.
Grilled cottage cheese cakes
Ingredients
Cottage cheese 400gm
Olive oil 2 tbsp
Garlic cloves 3-4 no
Dijon mustard 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
Parsley leaves chopped 2 tbsp
Lemon juice 1 tbsp
Worcestershire sauce 1 tbsp
Tomato 2 no
Bell pepper 1 no
Onion 1 no
Green chilli (long) 1 no
Method
Cut the cottage cheese into 1cm thick slices and keep aside.
Wash and cut the bell pepper, onion, tomato into matching size slices.
Prepare a marinade by combining chopped garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt, black pepper in a bowl and mix well.
Marinate the cottage cheese and vegetables in the prepared marinade and keep refrigerated for 30 minutes.
Heat a grill and grease with oil and place the marinated vegetables and cottage cheese on it.
Turn to grill from the other side as well.
Remove from the grill once you get nice brown grill marks.
Serve hot sprinkled with chopped parsley leaves.