3 Low-Calorie Snacks By Chinna Dua To Stay Healthy This Year

Healthy eating can be a tumultuous and mundane task when all you have is bland food. Thank goodness for people like Mrs. Chinna Dua who can tactfully create tempting yet nutritious meals. She's a doctor by profession, a self-taught baker, and cook, and creates the most subtle and delish food with love. 

She was kind enough to prepare 3 low-calorie dishes for us to review. All of three of them are simple enough for one to make, regardless of your skill level. They're quick, they're easy, and they're healthy!

Kulla (Kulliya)

• Prep Time:20 mins
• Cook Time:5 mins
• Total Time:25 mins
• Servings:6
• Easy

Ingredients

• Cucumbers long
• Potatoes narrow and oval
• Tomato narrow and oval
• 1/4th cup Chickpeas- small white variety
• 1 tsp Matar Masala
• 1/4th tsp Kala Chaat masala
• 1/4th tsp Black Salt
• Salt
• 1/8th tsp Red Chilli Powder
• Lemon juice to taste

• Step 1

  Soak the chickpeas overnight and pressure cook with just about enough water and salt in the morning. Drain the excess water. Peel and shell the pomegranate.

  

• Step 2

  Cut a cucumber horizontally into bite-sized pieces of two inches each. It's up to you to peel the cucumber. Carefully scoop the inside with a melon baller, ensuring that you don't pierce the bottom. In case you pierce the bottom, seal it with a bit of the scooped part.

  

• Step 3

  Peel the potato and cut it into two halves. Scoop the inside with a melon baller, ensure that the sides are thin and uniform. Boil the hollow potato in a pan.

  

• Step 4

  There is no need to peel the tomatoes. Make the base of the tomato flat and scoop the inside with a melon baller.

  

• Step 5

  For the filling, mix boiled chickpeas, pomegranate, and all the spices (except the lemon juice) as per your taste. Mix everything well.

  

• Step 6

  Fill up the hollow vegetables with the above filling. Finish it off by adding lemon juice. Serve cold.

  

These bite-sized snacks are perfect for serving at parties as an appetizer or satisfying your midnight craving. They're fresh and nutritious, and can also be made using sweet potatoes, bananas, melons, and filled with paneer, dry keema, only chickpeas, only green peas, only pomegranates and the likes. Let your imagination run wild!

Matra

• Prep Time:15 mins
• Cook Time:15 mins
• Total Time:30 mins
• Servings:4
• Easy

Ingredients

• 2 cups Matra/ dried white peas
• 5 cups Water
• Salt to taste
• 3/4 tsp Haldi/ Turmeric powder
• 5 tsp yellow chaat masala
• Imli/ Tamarind chutney/Sonth to taste
• 1/8 tsp Hing - optional
• 2 tsp Refined oil - optional
• 3/4 tsp Jeera/ Cumin seeds - optional
• Chopped onion 1 cup
• Diced tomatoes 1 cup
• Julienned garlic 1/2 cup
• Chopped coriander leaves 1/4th cup
• Green chilies 1/4th cup
• Lemon juice

• Step 1

  Soak the matra or dried white peas overnight. Rub the peas with your fingers to remove the outer covering (peel), wash and throw away as many peels as possible.

  

• Step 2

  Add 5 cups of water to the peas in a pan and boil for half an hour.

  

• Step 3

  Heat oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds/jeera and hing. Stir constantly for a minute. This step is optional.

  

• Step 4

  Add the matra to the pan, and sprinkle yellow chaat masala as per your taste. Add imli chutney for a tangy flavor. Mix well.

  

• Step 5

  Garnish with chopped onions, tomatoes, garlic, green chilies, coriander leaves and lemon juice.

  

• Step 6

  Serve hot in a bowl. It can be devoured with kulchas as well.

  

An integral part of the Indian chaat, matra is a light and delicious snack for all purposes. The best part is that matra is customisable to one's taste and mood.

Cheela

• Prep Time:15 mins
• Cook Time:15 mins
• Total Time:30 mins
• Servings:2
• Easy

Ingredients

• 1 cup Besan or Gram flour
• 1/8 tsp Ajwain or Thymol seeds
• 1/2 tsp Jeera or Cumin seeds
• 1 tsp chopped Onion
• 1/4 tsp chopped Green Chillies
• 2 tsp chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp Coriander
• 175 ml Water
• 1/4 tsp Red Chili Powder -optional
• Salt to taste

• Step 1

  Mix all the dry ingredients i.e. besan/gram flour and spices in a bowl.

  

• Step 2

  Add water to the mixture to make a paste. Ensure that the batter consistency is neither too thick and not too water. Mix well to avoid lumps.

  

• Step 3

  Smear the frying pan (preferably non-stick) with some oil and heat it on the stove. Take the batter in a ladle and spread it on the pan in a circular motion, starting from the center. If the batter is mixed well, you will be able to see tiny holes in the cheela.

  

• Step 4

  Use a spatula to lift the cheela and flip it to cook the other side.

  

• Step 5

  Place the cheela on a plate when it is nicely cooked. You may fill it vegetables/paneer/chicken and fold it in half.

  

• Step 6

  Serve hot with mint chutney and other sauces.

  

Cheela is probably one of the most filling yet delectable snacks of all time. You can play around with the recipe by mixing moong daal atta (lentil flour), whole wheat flour, ragi atta or bajra atta. You can also add shredded spinach, thinly sliced mushrooms, corn kernels, thinly shredded cabbage to the batter. 

What I fancy the most about these low-calorie snacks is the fact that even a beginner, who only knows how to boil water, can easily master these dishes. They don't require any sort of an exotic or expensive ingredient, everything is available at one's convenience in a kitchen. 

Not only do these recipes breathe life into ordinary food but also cater to people's tastes as they are highly customisable. I think it's time to don your chef's hat, arm yourself with cooking equipment and get moving!