CALORIE DENSITY: 12% = 517kcal/(1110ml x 4)
(Compare with Sugar: 95%, butter: 180%)
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COST: 47p (So don’t tell me that eating healthy food is expensive!)
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INGREDIENTS
- Carrots 500g: 136kcal (450ml) Asda Sweet & Crunchy British Carrots 2kg for 45p = 11p
- Onion 160g: 70kcal (200ml) Asda Brown Onions 3 (435g) for 26p = 10p
- Chickpeas Dried 100g->220g: 266kcal (400ml) Asda Good & Balance Chick Peas 500g for £1.15 = 23p
- Curry sauce 60ml: 45kcal (60ml) Asda SP Mild Curry Sauce 440g for 20p = 3p
INSTRUCTIONS
- Soak 100g dried chickpeas overnight & boil for 90 minutes to make 220g cooked. This may be achieved in the microwave by setting it for 10 mins at 800 watts followed by 80 minutes at 180 watts. Most microwaves can do this by a single program these days if you know how to do it!
- Dice carrots and onion and place in a large plastic container
- Sprinkle on Turmeric & Black Pepper to make the carrots & onion look browned and add salt to taste
- Heat for 11 minutes in the microwave at 800W
- Heat chickpeas and curry sauce for 2 minutes in the microwave at 800W
- Serve the carrots and onion on a large plate and pour the chick peas in curry sauce on top.
COMPARISON WITH A HIGH DENSITY VERSION OF THE SAME MEAL
Compare with carrots, onion and chick peas fried in 2oz butter: 540 kcal extra & volume reduced by a half which makes the Calorie Density: 48% = 1067kcal/(555ml x 4)
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In other words imagine the amount of the ingredients reduced by nearly a half so that you consume 533 kcal instead 1067 kcal and imagine the volume reduce by half again because frying dehydrates food. How satisfying do you think that meal would be in comparison to the low density version. “Not a lot,” I hear you say and all you need to do to get the advantage of the low density version of this meal is to give the butter the heave-ho!
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(Originally published as a facebook note on 19 April 2016 – transferred here on 21 June 2018.)