Signature by Sanjeev Kapoor’s Healthy Iftar Recipes

  • Category: Food
  • June 8, 2017

Chef Aatir Dhadalla at Signature by Sanjeev Kapoor highlights some healthy, yet delicious Iftar recipes.

Baked Amritsari fish

Ingredients

  • 200 gram flour
  • 1 tablespoon garlic paste
  • 1 tablespoon ginger paste
  • 1 teaspoon caraway (ajwain)
  • 1 tablespoon chilli powder (deggi mirch) powder
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon cumin powder
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon corn flour
  • 110 gram yogurt (whole milk)
  • 1 teaspoon chaat masala powder
  • Bread Crumbs – 200 gms
  • Oil for frying
  • Salt

BAKED-AMRITSARI-FISH

Procedure
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Rinse the fish and pat dry. Apply 1 teaspoon red chili powder, lime juice, ginger garlic paste and marinate for 30 mins.
Cut fish into medium size fillets suitable for a starter portion.
Marinate the fish with lemon juice, ginger, half of the chili powder, garlic and salt leave in the refrigerator for one hour.
Make a thick batter with gram flour, corn flour, cumin powder, yogurt, the remaining chilli powder and Ajwain. Season with salt.
Grease a baking paper. Dip fish fillets in the batter and then into crumbs. Make sure it’s coated.
Keep the fish on a baking sheet and spray with oil. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
Remove and serve with mint chutney.

Tips
Even baking requires even size, so cutting the fish fillets in even sizes will give you a perfect outcome.
Adding corn flour makes your batter crispy. You can add corn flour to any batter as it changes the texture and not the taste.

Revitalizing Citrus salad with figs and cheese.

Ramadan is the time when you really need all the nutrients, especially vitamins and minerals in a quick boost. Here’s a power food salad which will contribute to the fullest in your meal.

It has vitamin C from oranges – the best antioxidant, energizer, and helps to re-hydrate the muscles, and removes the lethargy after Iftar caused by lack of energy.

Figs – High in minerals like potassium, magnesium, manganese, and copper; these help in maintaining blood pressure. It’s also fibrous.

Manchago cheese –One of the cheeses which is rich in protein and calcium.

Salad leaves – This adds fiber which is often not present in a day of fasting.

Ingredients

  • Figs- 2 small size
  • Lolo – rosso leaves- 200 gms
  • Manchago Cheese- 20 gms
  • Orange -1 medium
  • Black Olives whole- 7
  • Cherry tomato- 2 quartered

Dressing

  • Lemon Juice- 1 table spoon
  • Olive oil- 2 Tablespoons
  • Black forest Honey- 1 teaspoon
  • Pepper- 1 teaspoon
  • Salt – To Taste.

CITRUS-SALAD-WITH-FIGS-AND-CHEESE

Procedure

Dressing
Mix the lemon juice, honey and olive oil using a whisk till it blends and is smooth.  Season with salt and pepper. Keep in refrigerator.

Salad
Separate the salad leaves from the steam and root. Tear them in even sizes and wash in a colander under running water. Pat Dry and keep in refrigerator.

Dice the manchego cheese, quarter the figs and cherry tomatoes.

Remove orange segments gently so that you don’t squeeze it and waste the juice.

Assemble
Put the salad leaves in the plate and distribute the cheese, tomato, figs and the orange evenly.

Drizzle the dressing on the leaves.

Tips

  • Never use a knife to cut the salad leaves it makes them loose the natural crisp and oxidize quickly.
  • Use a sharp knife to remove any citrus fruit segments as blunt knives press more than they cut which results in wastage of the fruit juice.
  • Eat the salad as soon as you can after mixing the dressing or it will loose the freshness with time.
  • Pat dry salad leaves, cover with damp cloth and store in refrigerator they stay longer.

Roast Chicken

3584411521-(1)A balanced diet during Iftar is must after a full day of starvation. This means Iftar should contain both sources of carbohydrates such as rice, potatoes and couscous which are absorbed slowly in your body, ensuring you have a stable level of glucose in your blood stream for few hours and protein for your body cells. Here’s a roast which you can enjoy with the family without any unhealthy food regrets.

Roast

  • 600 to 800g chicken, cleaned and pat dried
  • 1 piece lemon, for stuffing

Marinade 

  • 50g plain yogurt
  • 2 tablespoon pineapple puree
  • 2 tablespoon degi mirch
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala powder
  • 1 teaspoon cumin powder
  • 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
  • 1 tablespoon coriander, chopped
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 3 tablespoon corn oil
  • 1 teaspoon corn flour
  • 1 teaspoon pepper corn, crushed
  • salt, to taste

Baked potatoes 

  • 10 to 12 pieces baby potatoes
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • salt, to taste

Pepper sauce 

  • 100g piquillos peppers
  • 1 tablespoon cooking cream
  • half a teaspoon garlic
  • salt, to taste

Yogurt mint sauce

  • 4 tablespoon fresh mint
  • 50g yogurt
  • half a teaspoon roasted cumin powder
  • half a teaspoon chaat masala
  • salt, to taste
  • 1 tablespoon water

Procedure 

Take a fresh pineapple and puree it using a blender. Measure how much you want and save rest of it for future use.

In a pan heat oil. When the pan starts to smoke, remove the pan off the heat and add the pineapple puree stirring quickly so that it does not stick to the pan. After few seconds add all the remaining ingredients for the marinade and stir to get a smooth, paste-like consistency.

Take your chicken and massage it with the marinade in a way that its covered completely with the marinade. Cut the lemon in to half and stuff the lemon in the chicken’s cavity. Leave the chicken to marinate for one hour in the refrigerator.

Then, reheat the oven at 200°C.

Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and cook it at  200°C  for 15 minutes and then turn down the heat  to 180°C and continue cooking for 20 to 25 minutes until the chicken has crisp skin.

Cooking the potatoes
Spread the potatoes on a baking tray and bake in a preheated oven of 180°C until a fork slides through the middle of the potato easily. That’s when they are done.

Preparing the pepper sauce
Blend all ingredients together in a blender. Remove and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes until the sauce becomes slightly thick.

Preparing the yogurt mint sauce
Blend all the ingredients in the blender until they become smooth.

Tips to roasting the chicken
Chicken meat becomes dry very easily so always baste your meat. Basting is a cooking technique for keeping meats and poultry moist while being cooked with the juices left in the tray after baking or cooking or using fat mostly butter. At the end of cooking or baking, pour the juice left on your baking tray on the chicken evenly to keep the meat moist. You can also do this when you are halfway through the baking process.

Starting off with high temperature keeps all the juices inside and protects the meat from drying out. Later reducing the temperature gives you a brown and crisp crust on your roast.