“In two decades I’ve lost a total of 789 pounds. I should be hanging from a charm bracelet.”
Erma Bombeck
I made this 2 days ago after the dieting diva was pestering me for dessert, with a condition that it must be healthy and low fat… and delicious of course. She has a penchant for strawberries, yet as I lazily dithered she loudly wished there was a diet food delivery service! I didn’t tell her that like pizzas, diet food here too is also just a phone call away. My belief often … what you don’t know, can’t hurt you!
As I learnt fairly recently, the concept of gourmet diet food delivery is catching on in India now as well. It’s a novel concept for folks on the go and customises a diet for individual requirements with consultation with nutritionist, keeping in mind individual dietary requirements, heart rates, lipid profiles and what not! It’s a concept that seems to work well here too as it breaks certain trends like fat and sugar laden meals which are traditionally prepared in Indian households where deep fried food and the lavish use of clarified butter is much the norm. What you get is a nutritionally balanced meal from each of the five food groups etc with a mix of complex carbohydrates, vegetables, lean protein {vegetarian or non vegetarian}, using a heart friendly oil like olive oil … with the promise to deliver delicious meals!
Making diet food is much my voluntary vocation at home these days, with the dieting teen refusing to eat otherwise. I dived into the fridge to put together a ‘healthy dessert’. Apples stared back at me and a box of strawberries. I knew just the thing I’d make… a fruit crumble. I find crisps and crumbles one of the easiest desserts to bake. They are therapeutic, satisfying and look pretty with fruit juices oozing out invitingly. For this recipe, use firm tart apples for this as they pair tantalizingly with sweet strawberries … We’ve bid a hasty adieu to winter and with it pears, apples. Even more hastily, we’ve welcomed summer. Spring was sweet and short , marked in India by the festival of colour, Holi, which as you can see above the kids enjoyed to the last drop of colour! Need I say more? {Just for the record, they are back to looking normal again!}. With Spring came strawberries that flooded the market for a bit.
Think summer in India and think Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid day sun … lyrics from a song I heard when I was a kid. It’s from the musical revue “The Third Little Show” (1924), Noel Coward and is about all I recall from the song. It paints a graphic picture of the blistering heat that beats down during the Indian summer, with Englishmen wearing sola topees {pith helmets often worn by the British in the tropics} walking about at noon! The song is amusing to say the least. Here are a few lines from the song …
Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun
The Japanese don’t care to, the Chinese wouldn’t dare to
Hindus and Argentines sleep firmly from twelve till one
But Englishmen detest-a siesta …
And as you hum the song, here’s a recipe for a heart friendly dessert with complex carbs, delicious fruit and low calories. Use fruit of the season, stone and pip fruit work great here, throw in a handful of chopped dry fruit, almonds, pistachios, walnuts etc, then throw in some tart cherries, craisins, raisins if you like, add some fresh herbs like thyme for a nice Spring feel … and bake until the juices begin to enticingly ooze out. ENJOY!!
Strawberry Apple Crumble
Ingredients
- 6 firm apples diced {tart,crisp ones}
- 150 gm strawberries chopped {fresh or frozen}
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/2 cup walnuts chopped
- 1/2 cup raisins
- Fresh thyme
Topping
- 2 heaped tbsp plain flour
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/4 cup butter; chilled
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
Instructions
- Toss the diced apples with the lime juice as soon as you chop them.
- Mix in the strawberries, sugar, raisins and walnuts.
- Put into 6-8 individual ramekins or a shallow pie dish (9” or 23cm or 1L), and press lightly into place.
To prepare crumble topping:
- Mix plain flour and sugar with a spoon in a dry bowl.
- Put in cold butter cut into pieces and work with finger tips to make a breadcrumbs like texture. Now toss in the oats lightly with a spoon.
Assemble:
- Preheat the oven to 180C for 10 minutes. {You can do this just as you begin chopping the fruit}.
- Put this crumble over the fruit mixture, pressing down gently to cover the top & seal the fruit in.
- Bake till top light brown and stewed fruit juice begins to appear on edges {about 30 minutes
Notes
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