Recipe: Mushroom Spinach & Chickpea Curry - 210 calories per portion

I love curries. They're always thought of as being quite calorific - and to be fair, my favourite kinds are usually full of butter, cream, coconut milk or almonds - but this doesn't have to be the case. So I thought I'd try and make a curry for under 250 cals and this is what I came up with.....

Mushroom, Spinach & Chickpea Curry (makes three big portions)

Ingredients:

10 sprays One-Cal olive oil

1 large onion

2 tsps frozen chopped garlic

2 tsps frozen chopped ginger

2 tbsp curry powder (I used Morrisons balti curry powder)

0.5 tsp crushed dried chilli

400g tin chickpeas in water (drained)

300g frozen spinach

1 tin chopped tomatoes

250g mushrooms (wiped and quartered)

100g leaf spinach

Bunch fresh coriander

Method:

Spray oil into a big saucepan and add the onions, chopped up into a mix of fine dice and decent sized chunks, gently fry off until translucent, but not coloured.

Next add in the curry powder and chilli and fry off slightly. Stir in the tinned tomatoes, then once it's simmering, add in the frozen spinach

Once the spinach has all defrosted through and is mixed through into the sauce, add in the chickpeas and mushrooms and bring back to the boil, and let it simmer for 5-10 mins. You may want to add some more water to the pan at this stage depending on how saucy you like your curries, also maybe a squidge of tomato paste. Taste, and season accordingly, you might want to add a bit more curry powder or chilli at this point, depending on your taste.

Just before serving, throw in your fresh spinach and most of your coriander (save a bit for garnishing) and stir it until the spinach is just wilting.

Slap it all in a massive bowl and garnish with coriander, grab a spoon and dig in!

This recipe is for three large portions if you eat it on its own, but if you serve it with some rice, naan, chapati or roti (probably on a non-fast day) then it should comfortably serve at least 5.

Nutritional Info per serving:

Calories: 210
Fat: 5g
Carbs: 26g
Protein: 14g
Sugar: 7g

Recipe: Quorn 'n' Corn Chilli - 179 calories per portion

Another fast day comes around and, in spite of the sunshine today, I still fancied something hot and spicy for my tea. It's OH's grocery shopping day tomorrow so not a lot fresh in, other than some slightly sorry looking mushrooms in the fridge. I went on a bit of a freezer raid, and found Quorn mince and a big bag of sweetcorn, so decided to make a chilli.

I served my chilli on top of roasted red pepper halves and, as it's so low calorie, I could even afford some grated cheese on the top, and it was still only 265 calories for the whole plateful.

Quorn 'n' Corn Chilli (makes three generous portions)

Ingredients:

Few sprays One-Cal olive oil

100g frozen diced onion

150g frozen Quorn mince

150g frozen sweetcorn

1 tin chopped tomatoes

40g tomato purée

130g closed cup mushrooms, diced

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

1 dash Tabasco sauce

Method:

Spray a few sprays of oil into a large saucepan then add the onion and fry off.

Add the mince and sweetcorn and continue to fry off for a few minutes

Add in the tin of chopped tomatoes, mushrooms and tomato purée and stir through, add a bit of water from the kettle if it's too dry and you'd like it a bit saucier. Next, stir in the paprika, chilli flakes and Tabasco sauce.

Simmer for about 10 minutes then taste to assess seasoning - add more paprika, chilli, Tabasco, salt or pepper to taste, then simmer gently for about another 5 mins.

Nutritional Info per serving:

Calories: 179
Fat: 3g
Carbs: 26g
Protein: 12g
Sugar: 14g

Variations:

This would be lovely on a non-fasting day on tortilla chips with nice big dollops of sour cream and guacamole. Guess what I'm having for tea tomorrow then!!

Recipe: Thai Green Veg Curry - 237 calories per portion

Even though yesterday wasn't a fast day, I'd kind of pigged out on the amazing Raspberry Mojito cake that my pal Ally made and bought into work, so I thought I'd try and make something under 250 cals for my tea, then I could have the leftovers today, which actually *is* my fast day!

I was in the mood for something a bit spicy and fragrant last night, and as my lovely OH had done the grocery shopping on Tuesday, we had some yummy veg to use, so I decided to cook up a big pan of Thai green curry.

I've made Thai green curries before and they're so easy peasy. I bought a fairly big pot of green curry paste a while ago from the ace Hang Sing Hong oriental supermarket in Leeds city centre, and we still had some left in the fridge. I couldn't actually remember how much to use so plumped for 100g, turns out that was probably a bit much as crikey it was HOT! Might drop it to 75g next time!

Also, I discovered when logging the recipe in MyFitnessPal that there is such a think as LIGHT coconut milk, so will endeavour to find this lower-cal lower-fat alternative when I next go shopping to replace the can I used last night!

Thai Green Veg Curry (makes five portions)

Ingredients:

100g Green Curry Paste (from oriental supermarket - I used Mae Ploy)
400ml tin Coconut Milk

1 red onion, chunkily diced
350g courgette, sliced
350g sweet potato, diced into bite sized chunks
100g frozen edamame beans

Method:

Warm a large saucepan and add the curry paste. Next, add in all the veg except the edamame beans, and stir through to coat them and start to fry off in the paste.

Tip in the tin of coconut milk and stir through. Then use a bit of boiling water to swill out the can (about half a tin) and add in to thin it down a touch. Let it simmer for about 15 mins or until the sweet potato is just cooked through.

Add in the edamame beans and simmer for another 5 minutes or so until they are cooked, and then serve in a nice big bowl.

Nutritional Info per serving:

Calories: 237
Fat: 13g
Carbs: 25g
Protein: 5g
Sugar: 8g

Variations:

For a meaty dish, you could add in some chunks of fresh chicken breast just before you add the coconut milk, obviously this will up the calories a bit, but if you use light coconut milk (and maybe a bit less curry paste!) and reduce the amount of sweet potato a bit then you'd still have a filling meal for under 300 calories. YUMMY!