Yummy Late Night Snacks

These days I hardly meet any youngster who sleeps on time! Some of them are up all night, some working, some just like that! I am one of them, needless to say, and I often have hunger pangs at late night and finding something interesting to eat becomes a problem. I have come up with a few late night snacks which are tasty and don’t take a toll on your health as well. Although there are options of late night food service in India, but the most of the times it is not a meal that I want to eat but something light. Also, it is not possible to spend so much every alternate days, so here are some easy to find, quick, yummy and healthy smacks for you to keep you up all night!

Lemonade/Orangeade cubes

 
Get a jar of lemonade made in the evening and put in the freezer in the ice tray. You are all set for night by when they will all freeze and give you a mind blowing feeling during a long tiring night! For someone who has a cold, I would suggest not to go for it, as your condition might worsen with so much of ice intake!

Fancy salad

 
Chop down a few of your favorite vegies and keep them in the freezer, take them out and mix pizza pasta sauce, oregano, little bit of mayo sauce, and any other spice you are fond of. You are good to go for a night. So let the midnight oil burn!

Popcorn

We all love it! These days we get packaged and flavored ones. All you need to is make them. My personal favorites are the masala flavored ones, and the aroma gives me another reason to have popcorn at night! Just make sure you don’t have too much as that might cause acidity and try not to eat it empty stomach.

Glimpses of Childhood

It is probably the most ironical thing about growing up; you want to be a child again, trace back time to the time when life was life! There were so many things we did and got away with! It is dreary to be a grown up and deal with everything you do, face the consequences and fight them. Simplicity was at its best during those days, and I am sure everyone would agree to the following list of thing we all miss from our childhood:

Summer vacations

Oh those days! The euphoric feeling of a month long off! Seems like a dream to most of us now- (try taking a month’s off from your office!)The freshly peeled mangoes and trips to our relative’s house were almost like a routine- sheer bliss! The re-union with cousins, and those incessant sessions of games with them was like the best feeling ever.

Home-made potato chips

Rarely does anyone have the time to make those crunchy potato chips at home. The packaged ones filled with nothing, tempt the kids of today. Little do they know the heavenly taste and the smell of those freshly bakes chips. I still vividly remember the sight of my mother putting out the slices to dry in the sun and me eagerly waiting for them to be edible!

Santa Clause

I had a heart break when I came to know Santa Claus is fictional. I would do anything it takes to get that thrill back to check the gifts in the stocking that Santa has left for me the first thing in the Christmas morning. It seemed like a miracle when Santa granted our wish by gifting us exactly what we wanted. Life is dull without such innocent surprises.

Crying

Yes! This is the saddest part. I miss crying like a child. Crying was like an instant solution to any distress back then, and you always had some two to three people attending you, to make you stop. Gone are those days when used to howl out the reason of my distress and be done with it. Who said growing up was easy?

Birthdays- Then and Now!

It was not long ago when the thought of our birthday approaching gave us goose bumps. A few of our happiest memories from childhood are of our birthday parties! The word ‘party’ used to be much under rated back then. Recently I was invited to one of my nephew’s birthday who had just turned six. It was a party in real sense and he was spotted serving crispy potato chips to ‘his guests’; another cacophonic bunch of six year olds.

While talking to his mother I learnt that it was the kid himself who wanted to celebrate his birthday this way! He had invited almost half of his class friends; made sure he got a fancy cake with his favorite super hero on it, and wore the outfit he saw in a showroom! Most kids I see this day are actually thriving on the things they see on television and would do anything to make it happen in real life.

Life used to be so simple when we were this age, and birthday ‘party’ was a gathering with a few friends and family a cake, lots of candles, and kettle chips. India has seen a marked change in the outlook with the advent of globalization. Exposure to television and internet has made the kids of these days more demanding in several cases. Parents too, have become indulgent and a birthday party has to be ‘party’ in all aspects even if they have to go out of their way to make their child happy.

Making your child happy is probably the sweetest thing for a parent. But think for a while, aren’t we making our children more materialistic? Aren’t they deriving pleasure out of the most futile things? Where are the days gone when simple things used to make us happy? I think parents should maintain a fine balance between being indulgent and wise when it comes to the upbringing of their children.

Healthy Foods to Combat Depression

When you are out of sorts, or you are feeling low and depressed, one of the easiest ways to feel instantly better is to eat! But what we commonly end up doing is, buying some good amount of junk and indulge in it to lift our spirits up. Certainly, an easy thing to do, but we force ourselves not to think about the side effects we are building up within ourselves with all the junks piling in.

Experts say, there are healthier options to satiate your depressed hunger pangs! Take a look, as I list down a few of them.

Go nuts!

Nuts are rich in magnesium and they are known to speed up the production of serotonin a chemical which gives our brain the ‘happy’ feeling! For all those health conscious people who are bummed for some reason, here is the best way to neutralize it! Get a handful of nuts and raisins, and munch it away to happiness!

Omlette an egg!

Does that sound weird to you? Well, yes, omlettes do life your mood up! The best part is it is healthy! The presence of Vitamin B in and the protein works on your nerves and they make you feel better within a few moments of consuming it! So the next time your boss pulls you up for some reason, do not buy an extra chocolate fudge, go home, crack an egg and make yourself the yummiest omlette! You can add a bit of butter or mayonnaise sauce to go with it! It will keep you full for quite some too, cutting down your craving for any more junk!

Do something fishy!

Order a fish preparation if you are eating out, or you can make one yourself, and a good fish meal will put you out of your misery. Fish is known to have Omega-3 fatty acid which stimulates certain hormones in our body which makes us feel better.

These are the top three foods which you can completely trust more than any food service in India when you are in a foul mood. Eat good, feel good!

Are Baked Potato Chips Healthy?

Potato chips are probably one of the most popular inventions of the time especially with the younger crowd. They love to gorge themselves on these scrumptious items and the fact that it’s made from potato and with other flavours to it has only heightened its popularity. But it’s not only the younger crowd that love them, even office working people, parents and relatives all love them and they are the first thing to be brought out when serving guests or friends over.

But in the recent few years with the rise of obesity and heart problems many health experts have concluded that junk food like the fried potato chips and especially their unhealthy consumption has led to all these health problems being faced. A lot of health experts have condemned the consumption of junk food altogether.

But since most of the population has not given them up, many companies have come up with alternatives to the regular version while introducing variations like the baked potato chips, or the no salt and low cholesterol chips. These alternatives supposedly have the same taste as to regular chips but area little healthier since there is no use of oil to fry them and the salt and cholesterol content is low too.

The question that comes up is that are these baked potato chips, really that healthy or are they are the same as the fried versions with just a fancy name stuck on them. It has been proved that these alternatives are a little bit healthier, but not so much that one can rely completely on them and should not make it a regular consumption.

And even the major population leans towards the fried ones still and because of that even companies have to produce both the version. Still it is advised that one should consume the baked ones instead of the fried potato chips since even if marginally they are still a healthier option to the other.

At the same time such junk foods should never become a part of a person’s regular diet and should be consumed only sometimes and not always.

Making Mayo at Home

More often than not whenever I raid the refrigerator and open up a bottle of mayonnaise, it’s empty –and I have a lingering suspicion that I’m not the only one faced with this dreadful mayo situation! Tired of eating sandwiches and what not with just a tiny drop of mayo, I decided it was high time I started making my own mayo so I can enjoy a generous helping whenever I please.

So, given below is a recipe for some lip-smacking mayonnaise sauce. Try it out and I guarantee it’ll taste just as great as the store-bought variety, if not better!

•    Into a large bowl and crack an egg yolk.
•    Add ½ tsp. salt, about 1 tsp. sugar and about ½ tsp. dry mustard to the bowl, and whisk together well.
•    In a different bowl, mix 2 tsp. lemon juice and 1 tbsp. white wine vinegar, and transfer about half of it to the bowl with the egg yolk, and whisk well.
•    Now, in the bowl with the egg yolk, begin adding a cup of corn oil, slowly, while whisking.
•    When about half the oil has been combined, add the remaining portion of the lemon juice mix.
•    Continue to whisk until the mixture lightens and thickens.
•    Let the prepared mayonnaise sauce mixture remain at room temperature for a couple of hours, then refrigerate.

There you have  it –easy as can be, mayo made at home!

But, we don’t always need plain old mayo, do we? Sometimes we like to mix it up! So here are a few variations of mayo that you could use for salad dressing India or what have you:

•    Herb Mayonnaise
Add about 1/2 cup mayo, 1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (basil, thyme, rosemary or anything), and a pinch of pepper.

•    Chipotle Mayonnaise
Into 1/2 cup mayo, combine a chopped chipotle chili, along with a teaspoon of adobo sauce, and a pinch of cumin.

•    Pesto Mayonnaise
Again, add 1/2 cup mayo to about 1 tablespoon pesto, and there you have it!

Innocent Junks

I am a person who swears by junk food and all the stuff which are not considered to be high on nutrient value. Recently a friend pointed out that I love all the things which are classified as junks but are not as harmful to health as perceived to be. Overwhelmed, I ran a quick check and it turned out to be true! If you too share the same passion for these, then you can sit back and relax, and go have some more!

To start with, I am dimsum addict which are commonly known as ‘momo’ in India. I would just go crazy over those steamed pieces of chicken filled balls served with a spicy sauce. Yes, to be honest, probably too many of them consumed at one go is harmful given the refined flour content and the sauce is not also very healthy. But once in a while it is an amazing way to treat your taste buds, without thinking much about your health!

Another thing I am crazily addicted to is tomato ketchup! I know I might sound really weird for saying this, but I just can’t help tasting and licking the entire tomato sauce off the plate when it is served. My friends joke that I am probably the sole patron of all the ketchup suppliers in India!

I especially like the Indian version of the sauce as Indian tomato sauce has a tangy flavour which is barely present in any of the other tomato sauces. And yes, it is not harmful unless you consume a bottle in a day!

Finally, I will chocolate to add to this list which my ultimate favorite and I cannot do without it. Although not on a daily basis, keep eating dark chocolates and unlike the popular view it doesn’t lead to weight gain. It at times effectively helps me get rid of my headache! So no, it is not to be considered harmful as well!

5 Easy Dips with Chips

While we’d all surely agree that potato chips are wholesome and delicious by themselves, there comes a time when we need to whip up a few dips to go with the chips. Whether it’s a party, a small dinner get-together or what have you –chips with dips are a sure-shot success! Read on for some amazing dip recipes that go perfectly with any kind of potato chips.

1.    Caramelised Onion Dip
 

•    In a large skillet, melt 2 tbsp unsalted butter over medium heat.
•    Add 2 chopped onions and sliced kosher salt. Cook for half an hour and then let it cool.
•    Grab a bowl, mix the onion mix, along with black pepper a bar of cream cheese, 1 cup sour cream and 2 tbsp chopped chives.
•    Serve with kettle chips India for best flavours!

2.    Guacamole

 
•    In a bowl, add 1/2 chopped onion, 1 chopped jalapeno, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, some kosher salt and black pepper to taste.
•    Then, mash in the veggies till they start to release juicies.
•    Then add 2 diced avocados, 2 tbsp fresh lime juice and serve up with potato chips!

3.    Hummus

 
•    Puree 1 can chickpeas, 1 clove garlic, 1⁄4 cup olive oil, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp sesame seed paste, 1 tsp ground cumin, and some salt until desired level of smoothness.
•    Put the mixture in a bowl, add 1/4 teaspoon paprika and sprinkle some olive oil and serve alongside a few packs of kettle chips India!

4.    Salsa

 

•    In a bowl, mix 2 diced plum tomatoes, 1 diced yellow bell pepper, 1 diced cucumber, 1/2 diced red onion, 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil along with some kosher salt and black pepper. Mix well, and serve with chips and dippers!

5.    Spinach and Parmesan Dip

 

•    Grab a bowl and mix 1 package chopped spinach, 1 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, 1 clove garlic, some kosher salt and black pepper to taste. Easy as can be!

Health Benefits Of Indian Tomato Sauce

When I look back at my childhood days, I realize that there was no day without the participation of the Indian tomato sauce in our breakfasts. Be it for sandwiches or cutlets, the tomato sauce bottle used to be the permanent accessory on our tables.

Even now, when I am messed in the rush of morning hours, the Indian tomato sauce acts like a savior and gels with every type of breakfast recipe, saving a lot of time!


Let us have a look at some of the health benefits of the tomato sauce, and know why it is the permanent companion of easy and healthy breakfast recipes, since ages!

• Vitamin C: It is a well-known fact that tomatoes contain Vitamin C and that Vitamin C is one of the most important requirements of the body. It metabolizes extra fats of the body, speeds the wound healing up and keeps our teeth and gums healthy. Why run for other Vitamin rich dishes when we can have it all in our tomato sauce!

• Antioxidant: The tomatoes have a powerful antioxidant called lycopene which prevents the cell damaging caused by the free radicals from the food we eat and the water we drink. Cell damaging increases the aging process, and if you want to keep your cells undamaged and look young throughout, tomato sauce would give you a tasty way of doing it!

• Low on fats: Compared to other cream based sauces available in the market, the tomato sauce is low on fat and carbohydrate content, hence it doesn’t add much of calories into your body. The nutritional value of this delicious treat makes it a preferred choice among sauces.

And with no doubts about its deliciousness, tomato sauce does wonders in enhancing the flavor of pizzas and burgers and what not!

How to Make Pizza At Home

Home delivery is quite common these days. This option is available in a number of restaurants, bars and other fast food outlets, but let’s strict our discussion to the fast food industry.

Food services in India are more than blessings. How much we enjoy the surprised faces of our beloved ones when they see their birthday cakes delivered! And how much we love those pizza guys smiling at us when we open the doors for them!

Talking about pizza, I believe it’s not just the home delivery pizzas that fill us with delight. Homemade pizzas are fun too, and here we’re not talking about one of those easy and healthy breakfast recipes, which are quite easy to make. So making a pizza is going to take time, but it is going to be worth it. Check this out.

1.First of all, preheat the oven to over 200 degree Celsius. The oven should be blazing hot before you start. Don’t use your hand to test the temperature.

2.Get the crust from store. Remove the unbaked crust from the packet and spread olive oil all over it.

3.We are Indians and we love tomato sauce! Spread the tomato sauce mixed with spices on the crust. You can alter the spices according to your taste.

4.Time for toppings- Put your favorite toppings like onions, chicken pieces, spinach leaves and other peppers and load them as much as you want.

5.Sprinkle cheese all over the toppings. The rule remains same- thin layer of cheese for light pizza and thick layer for heavy pizza.

6.Remember the hot shot oven we talked about in the beginning? Place the pizza in the oven for about 20 minutes, and then allow it to cool.

If you succeeded in making a delicious pizza through this recipe, enjoy it with the people around. If you didn’t, well that pizza guy is just a phone call away!

Some Interesting Uses Of Ketchup

Who doesn’t like tomato ketchup? It goes with anything and everything. But when I tell you about some of the interesting methods in which we can put ketchup to use, you are surely going to be surprised and thrilled at the same time. So read on to know more:

1. Tomato ketchup as a cleaning agent

Surprised to learn this property about the very thing that makes our fingers sticky? Well, it’s true. Due to the presence of acetic acid content in ketchup, it acts as a great cleansing agent for brass, copper, and silver. So the next time you find rings or bangles dirty, you know what to use. And do no forget to say thanks to the ketchup suppliers in India.

2. Make perfect pancakes

Do you hate making unevenly shaped and textured pancakes? Me too! And that is why you are so going to love this trick. Pour the pancake mixture into an empty and clean squeeze ketchup bottle. And using the nozzle, get ready to make those stellar pancakes you dream of.

3. Making homemade red paint

Most people do not know how unbelievably simple it is to make red paint from Indian tomato sauce at home. Take the same amount of flour, salt, and water and mix them together in a bowl until the mixture becomes smooth. When done, just add food colouring to the mixture and - voilà! - homemade paint is ready.

4. Use frozen ketchup packets to soothe minor abrasions

Frozen packets of ketchup do the work of gel ice packs by numbing the stinging sensation of minor abrasions. The fact that they are easily accessible and cheaper makes them feasible as well.

5. Makes food tastier

The most obvious point in the end! Being a ketchup lover, I use ketchup with every food item that I consume. From noodles to rice, pancakes to parathas, sandwiches to momos, and of course pizzas to burgers- ketchup makes everything taste so much better.

Indian Tomato Sauce and Breakfast Recipes

Indian tomato sauce is an ingredient which almost all the Indian food consists of. Such is the flavor and deliciousness of Indian tomato sauce that we, Indians, involve it in anything and everything that we eat, breakfast, lunch and even dinner. We dip our paranthas and French fries of early morning breakfast in the tomato sauce, we use it along with cheese spread between the breads of our burgers and we also eat it with the veggies just to add an extra tomato flavor to the recipe. Indian tomato sauce is also an important part of non-vegetarian dishes such as fried chicken and grilled fishes. Although a large number of brands are available in the market which offer the bottles of tomato sauce, some people prefer home-made tomato sauce over the ones available in the market. One reason for the same is the freshness of tomatoes used in the recipe. The other reason is that the tomato sauce made at home can be personalized according to the taste of the maker. You can spice it up with extra chili flavor if you like it spicy or you can add a paste of garlic and black pepper and other Indian spices.

Although the tomato sauce is used along with a number of dishes, the use of tomato use in Indian breakfast recipes is most common. Some of the easy and healthy breakfast recipes that require less amount of labor and can be quickly eaten in combination with the Indian tomato sauce are omelets, grilled sandwiches, potato fries and paranthas. Omelets can be quickly made by stirring egg yolks, onions, salt and spices, and heating it up for merely 2-3 minutes. Similarly, basic sandwiches can also be made with the use of breads, cheese, tomato, onions and other salads which are easily available. Potato fries is another recipe which is easy as well as fulfilling. There are many other breakfast recipes which can be easily prepared with limited ingredients. These recipes serve a lot of people who do not want to spend too much time in cooking.

Mayo Sauce- My Love

For me, mayo sauce is one of the greatest inventions of mankind. My mother truly feels fortunate for my love for this magical ingredient as she exactly knows how to cheer me up after a bad day. She takes the trouble to cook the tastiest of foods incorporating my favourite ingredient just to see me happy again.

She has even taught me easy sandwich recipes (with mayo sauce, obviously) that I can make on my own in her absence. And I doubt there exists any food item with which the mayo sauce dip can’t be used. But here is a list of some snacks which seem inedible to me without the delicious dip:

1.Chips and nachos

I remember the night when my best friends had come over to my place to stay the night. We bought one huge packet of nachos and a bottle of mayonnaise to go along with it. Munching on the snacks while watching one of the scariest movies ever made, we emptied the entire bottle of mayonnaise too.

2.Momos and spring rolls 

Chicken momos without mayo dip on the side is like a TV without a remote for me. Ludicrous as my example may have sounded to you, it is an unchangeable truth for me nonetheless. The same holds true for chicken spring rolls. These delectable, mouth-watering items taste absolutely boring without a dip on the side. And what could be better than mayonnaise?

3.Instant noodles

I love to experiment with the instant noodles. More than the spicy and original version of the noodles, I prefer the creamy taste that I add using cheese, butter, or mayonnaise.

I would tell you about the best mayo sauce recipe in India that my mother recently tried out, but my empty stomach is imploring me to gulp down the hot chicken wings lying on the table. Let me go satiate my appetite and I really hope to see you soon!

Why You Should Never Skip Breakfast

So, I definitely agree that living in a fast paced world like ours, it is very common to put breakfast on the lowest spot on our priority list, because come on we have a meeting scheduled, we need to take a bath, iron our clothes, get ready prim and proper and rehearse a little on our way to office, so siting down for breakfast seems like a luxury. But, in reality it takes only some minutes to eat a little something which would help you function throughout the day. Let’s study why you should never skip breakfast:

•Break-the-fast:

That’s exactly what break-fast is supposed to mean, because you sleep 8 hours at night so you need to fill your body and brain with fuel after an overnight fast, hence having a proper breakfast is necessary to get you going. Fruit and vegetables are good sources of vitamins and minerals, and surprisingly Breakfast can be good for waistline too, research shows those who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight and more likely to be within their ideal weight range compared with breakfast skippers.

•Cognitive functions:

Breakfast restores glucose levels and energy, which is an important requisite for our brain to function properly. It improves memory and concentration levels and also improve mood and lower stress levels. Studies amongst children prove breakfast can improve attainment, behaviour and has been linked to improved grades.

•Long Term Benefits:

A Regular breakfast and lessen the chances of Obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease in the long run.

Moreover, people who thought breakfast are all cereal and boring, are completely wrong, because the breakfast products from Bector food are enough to break the myth. These ketchup suppliers in India, have clients like Macdonalds who swear by their sauces and dips, freshly baked bread and their home-made Indian tomato sauce have found a fan in many, including me. Learn the importance of breakfast, try Bector food and improve your health now!

Top 4 Ways to Eat Tomatoes

When it comes to salad, my sole interest is devoted toward the tomatoes! Yes, every time I see a ripe and juicy tomato, it sends down a feeling of euphoria in my entire system. No, I am not the only one obsessed with tomatoes; there are other tomato lovers out there as well who can go about picking out tomatoes out of any dish prepared for them! For all those who are smitten by tomatoes, here is a list of ways you can eat this heavenly vegetable.

Raw is real

When nothing else works out, eat it raw! Forget salad just eat it raw. Cut it into slices and sprinkle a bit of salt and bite! You will taste heaven at its real best. I often try this at home. This is healthy with volumes of vitamin C going in your body and for tomato lovers like me, it is the best and the simplest way to enjoy one!

Sauce it up!

Most Indian tomato sauce has this sweet flavour to it, which true tomato lovers do not like. So how about making tomato sauce at home?  It is a fabulous thing to try this scorching summer! All you need is olive oil and basil. Smash it, mix with olive oil and make a sauce out of it! Add basil and bruschetta as a topping! You are now ready to give tough competition to the ketchup suppliers in India with your own tomato sauce!

The salad saga

How about an all tomato salad or, a salad with predominantly tomatoes in it? Saves you the pain of picking out the tomatoes from salads, right? Just add a cup of fresh mozzarella balls. Top it up with the juice of a lemon, 2 tablespoons decent olive oil, and fresh and sliced basil to go with it. Mix salt and pepper to taste. You are ready for a lip smacking salad!

Wrap it up

Make your own tomato wrap. Toast two of the biggest slice of sourdough bread. In one slice, spread prepared hummus, then comes the best part: add big, fat slices of the best, ripest tomato you can lay your hands on and top it with the other slice of the bread. Now you are ready to relish!

Never Skip Your Breakfast

I have often heard my mom telling me how important it is to have a healthy and fulfilling breakfast. When I was in school, I used to have just a glass of milk before going to school. During my college life too, I never ate breakfast unless I planned to miss my morning lectures. Then one fine day, someone asked me a thought provoking question. That person asked me if I charge my phone before leaving for work. My answer was – “of course I do. Otherwise I would not be able to sustain the battery of my smartphone till the end of the day.” That person was very happy with my answer. He then asked a rhetorical question. He said “even a non-living thing needs to be charged in the morning. How do you expect a living being to survive the morning with no food?” I had no answer. He had managed to convince me.

There are so many food service India providing us with convenient ways of obtaining healthy food. Why do we still hesitate to nourish our bodies? Breakfast is an important meal providing us with the energy to function properly throughout the day. These days there are so many options. I am sure you would find copious easy and healthy breakfast recipes on the internet. The breakfast does not need to be boring. If your child refuses to have his morning meal, find creative ways to do so.

If you still aren’t convinced of the importance of having breakfast daily, I suggest you try it for a few days. Have wholegrain bread, cereals or fruits. Try it for at least a month and see if you feel any change in your energy level. But do give it one shot.

I also have a quick tip- start your day by drinking a glass of water to keep yourself hydrated.

An Unhappy Customer + an Angered Cook = the Birth of Potato Chips!

We all enjoy a good ol’ packet of crispy potato chips from time to time, don’t we? Since times immemorial I have lazily munched on some delicious packaged potato chips, whether as a snack at recess during school years, or a welcome break at work, or even while my eyes are glued to the television.

But here’s something you might not know about it, they aren’t all as good ol’ as we might think. Most brands of crispy potato chips are actually manufactured through a continuous flow machine, so it’s not all that authentic. But the traditional way of chip-making is a different story.

So let’s take a walk down snack food memory lane, shall we?

Legend has it that the potato chip was ‘invented’ in the year 1853 (can you imagine your great-great-great-grandparents coolly munching on some chips?)! The story goes that a dissatisfied customer at a restaurant in New York sent his plate of French fried potatoes back to the kitchen on account of  being too thick. Angered and frustrated, a chef named George Crum sliced away till the potatoes were razor-thin (thereby coining ‘wafer-thin’ as well, I suppose!), fried them until they were crisp, and seasoned them with extra salt –much to the delight of the customer who absolutely loved them!

And thus began the love for potato chips. The traditional method of cooking potato chips is therefore in individual batches, rather than in continuous flow machines. And that’s the whole concept behind ‘kettle chips’. Kettle chips therefore give a more home-made feel. The love for such chips has permeated the entire globe, and so the scenario in India is not much different.

If you’re looking for kettle chips in India, there are a number of brands that sell it. Popular amongst these is Cremica, with their Opera Cottage Style Potato Crisps. Imbibing the essence of kettle chips, each pack of Opera Crisps are imbued with hand-made qualities and prepared with the utmost care and attention to retain their natural flavor and fresh taste. With four positively delicious flavors, Cremica’s Opera Crisps are amongst the best kettle chips India!

Tweak Your Salads with a Dash of Spices

Swapping fried fare with salads and some greens is the first step towards a healthier leaner self. However, a major obstacle in making this essential swop is the insipidity and well, lack of variety. While salad will still be a salad, we can surely spruce it up for you to give the much needed push. Here are 6 interesting and healthy Indian salad dressings that will add flavour to the blandest of veggies.

Ranch Dressing

Take a cup of buttermilk and add to it ¼ cup low-fat shredded paneer, some dried onion flakes, salt, lemon juice and pepper. Store it in an airtight container and refrigerate.

Vinaigrette with a twist

Buy the healthier variants by one of the best food services India and play around with its flavours every time you use it. A few ideas can be to add a few drops of orange juice, or apple juice or even vanilla essence. You can also put some grated lemon rind and a few drops of lime juice for a tang or simply whip it up with a table spoon of yoghurt before adding it to the salad.

Spicy Indian Salad dressing

Take a quarter cup of lemon juice and add to it some tomato puree, red chili powder, some tabasco sauce, cilantro leaves, salt and ½ tsp jaggery dissolved in water. Shake them well and its ready.

Thai salad dressing

Take some peanut butter and add a little boiling water to it. Sprinkle in some apple cider vinegar, a dash of honey, salt to taste. Now spice it up with minced garlic cloves and crushed and roasted red pepper.

Curry Dressing

Roast some curry powder dry in a skillet and then cool it. Add a bit of light mayo, yogurt, mango chutney, minced ginger and grated orange peel and whisk properly. You can store this for a while so make for the weeks ahead.

Having a Frequent Snack-Time!

The in-between snacks that are most widely known reasons and explanations that your waistline is increasing, is now the sham-fact. Owing to the recent studies, nutritionists now vouch for the small portion or rather the snack-y diet i.e. baked potato chips and other healthier options than the heavy meals that you consume thrice a day. The between meals, says a renowned nutritionists takes good care of your metabolism along with putting a full spot to your frequent hunger pangs. 

Physiologists while putting forth a reason to this intermittent eating habit explain that whenever an individual suppresses his in-between feeling of hunger, they end up sending an emergency stimulus to the brain. The brain then treats this suppressed hunger as a sign of famine and slackens your metabolism rate which then totally defeats the purpose of dieting which is that of losing weight.

In this light people that are especially on diet should reconsider their diet plan and accommodate few snack breaks like having homemade healthy potato chips in their diet. But the hack here is to be extra careful about what you kind of snack you plan to infuse in your diet plan. It is also next to fooling yourself when you frequently skip your meals which are supposed to look after your nutritional needs with some snacks that are high in calorie. Remember that checking the calories in your diet is the basic principle behind going on a diet. 

Now the next tip is to deal with the blood sugar levels that can be accentuated or controlled with an appropriate meal. It is imperative that there aren’t any frequent changes in these levels or else your health suffers making your diet a fail. 

Make note that indulging yourself in snack frenzy is not a solution either. Going all mad about the candies and chocolates is in fact worse than being fond of baked potato chips. Ensure that you aren’t hungry for long but pushing yourself in a serious type of eating disorder is not a solution either.

Best Holiday Dips

With holiday season down the corner, you sure must be looking forward to a lot of relaxing and munching. In the midst of all that action and inaction, family time is also imperative. 

What better than food to bond on?!

While you can have food from the best food service in India or you can just hit the kitchen and prepare dips to enjoy throughout the holiday season. After all any excuse to indulge into snacks is most welcomed!

Here are some amazing dips you can comfortably prepare while sitting back at home:

-Caramelized Onion Dip

This one is truly a classic while comforting your sweet tooth simultaneously. All you need to do is cut onions into half and slice them. Then heat the pan with some butter and oil into it. Follow the rest by adding onions, salt, cayenne, sugar, garlic and onion powder while stirring and sautéing it simultaneously. While the mixture is cooling down add cream cheese, sour cheese and mayonnaise as prepared from the mayonnaise sauce recipe to it. Mix these well and serve them with chips.

-Spinach and Cheese Dip

The dip guarantees clean plate says a restaurant with best food service in India. Prepare the oven by preheating it to some 350 degrees F. Cut the bread loaf on inside such that it forms a bowl and cube the top slice and centre to make croutons. Now fry the pancetta until it is golden brown, now add croutons to it layer it with pancetta fat. Add salt and pepper to it. Oven-cook it for 5 minutes.

For the dip- Mix well the cheese and flour and add pepper for seasoning. Take a saucepan and heat beer and garlic. Add cheese to it, stir till the cheese melts. Stir these in spinach and sambal. Fill the bread bowl with it and place it in an oven for 15 minutes and enjoy this offbeat dip

For more recipes: http://www.cremica.com/recipes.php