Judith Wills
Am I the only one? I found 'the lad's' recent TV series on low-calorie recipes with man appeal quite compelling (apart from their hair which I really don't like all that much - I keep worrying about food hygiene. But I guess if they shaved it off they'd have to rename themselves. The bald bikers, anyone?)
The series was somehow really old-fashioned, with the emphasis on controlling calories rather than any particular type of nutrient – and I mean old-fashioned in a good way. Now the book of the series is high up in the charts, Dave and Si are proving to be 'on trend' as my fashion journalist friend would say. For there seems to be a return to some common sense about dieting, of late, with new reports concurring that it really is calories that count when it comes to weight loss.
The bikers each lost about three stones (much quicker than I lost my 22lbs, I have to admit) and the people they helped along the way with their recipes and tips also all lost weight.
Now I know I'm not a bloke, but that doesn't matter – if someone can show me a low-calorie meat pie or a gorgeous non-fattening jalfrezi curry, then I'm happy.
Isn't that what most of us want – decent tasty unpretentious food that won't make us pile on the pounds, and may even help us lose some.
It's more or less what I've always tried to do when I've written cookbooks or devised diets for myself and others. The best way to lose weight and stay happy and healthy is to focus on all the lovely things you CAN eat, which, thank goodness, is 'quite a lot'.
We ate these crabcakes the other night, and very good they were too. Anything with chilli in it seems to satisfy hunger better than bland foods.
Chilli crabcakes
Serves: 2
Approx 250 calories a portion
- 250g fresh, frozen or canned crabmeat (if using canned, John West is really good)
- 3 spring onions, finely chopped
- 1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped
- 40g ready grilled red peppers from jar, drained and chopped
- 40g white breadcrumbs
- 2 tbsp light mayonnaise
- Dash chilli sauce
- 1 tsp each lazy ginger and garlic
- Juice of a lime
- Fresh coriander leaves
- Salt, black pepper
- 1½ tbsp groundnut oil
1. Defrost or drain the crab if necessary and put in mixing bowl with the onions, chilli, peppers and three-quarters of the crumbs.
2. Now stir in everything else except the oil and mix well. Form into 8 small patties.
3. Spread the remaining crumbs onto a large plate and coat each patty in them. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan and fry the patties over medium high heat for 3 minutes until golden, then add remaining oil, turn over and fry a further 2-3 minutes. Drain on kitchen paper and serve.
I serve this with plenty of salad greens and a little sweet chilli dipping sauce.
Read Judith's Diet Challenge blog entries.
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