Slimming World

Bassar Mix!

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I realise that not everyone knows what bassar is, I didn’t either till after I got married. I am from an Indian background and growing up my mum used a mixture of different spices for curries. Cooking Indian food looked really difficult and it never interested me. Being the youngest child I guess I got away from going in the kitchen too!

When I got married that is when I came across bassar, it was widely used by the in-laws. It makes life so much easier using this ready made spice mix! My mother in law makes her own, I have bought many different brands over the years and my favourite is the one pictured.

I have recently bought some bassar mix from a lovely lady who makes it herself and that’s what I have been using lately and it is the best! I have no idea what exact spices goes in it but it tastes amazing!

So in my recipes where I state curry powder, that’s what I use – bassar. You can get this from most of your local Asian supermarkets. If you are in Birmingham you can definitely pick this up from shops in Stratford Road, Ladypool Road, Alum Rock Road etc.

If you use bassar in your cooking, comment below which one you use. Do you use a homemade mix or buy ready made? Have you come across a good ready made brand?

Pakistani Bassar

Carrot & Lentil Soup

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I’ve had this recipe saved in my scrapbook for a very long time, I can’t remember where I got it from but it was online. I love the fact that it is super easy to make and it is perfect if you are following Extra Easy SP.

Serves: 4

Syns: FREE if using milk as part of your healthy extra A choice

Time Taken: less than 30 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Carrot and Lentil Soup

Carrot and Lentil Soup

Ingredients

  • 600g carrots, coarsely grated
  • 140g red lentils
  • 1 tbsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp red chilli flakes
  • 1lt vegetable stock
  • 125ml milk

    Method

    Heat a large saucepan and dry-fry the cumin seeds and chilli flakes for 1 min, or until they start to jump around the pan and release their aromas. Add the carrot, lentils, stock and milk to the pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15 minutes until the lentils have swollen and softened.

    Whizz the soup with a blender or in a food processor until smooth (or leave it chunky if you prefer). Season to taste.

    A new SW Member – Me!

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    So today I took the brave step to walk into a new Slimming World group as a new member. I haven’t weighed myself for a while and every so often I weigh at my own group but I strongly feel I need the support for my own journey.

    The last few months I have struggled myself. I know the plan, I know it works and all my meals are cooked the SW way but old habits have started to creep in! No excuses for it really, just me giving in to temptations and not caring about the consequences. I’ve had enough of feeling this way, and I know I’ve gained some weight back as my clothes are starting to get tight!

    I chose a group far away from where I live as I just want to be a member, I don’t want people to judge me for being a consultant.

    I followed my Sat Nav to the venue and parked up. I have to admit I felt very nervous, just as nervous as I was back in January 2011 when I first joined a SW group. I’d previously sent a text to the Consultant to let her know that I was going to join her group. She already knew who I was and asked to be treated just like a member.

    As I walked into the hall the room was busy. Lots of women were chatting away to each other. I had no idea where to go next. I felt as if all eyes were on me. I was looking out for the Consultant and could not see her at all. I started to panic as I thought maybe she wasn’t in today! I went up to one of ladies and asked for the Consultant and thankfully she was there! She was weighing her members.

    I made my way to the new members area and started filling out an enrollment form. The Consultant came over and had a little chat making me feel more at ease. I didn’t get a new Member Talk, she said ‘you know the plan and what to do’. So over I went to find a seat in the horseshoe. Most of the chairs were taken up, people put their bags and coats over them. I found an empty seat and just sat there. I sat there for what seemed like an eternity, looking around, checking the surroundings and the members chatting to each other. Luckily I had my phone on me so I decided to check my messages and read the news!

    The group was really buzzing and more people kept coming. Eventually the Consultant started the session. I missed her ‘hello and welcome’ with all the noise from the members! They were a rowdy bunch! It reminded me of my group. I am a quiet Consultant, I sometimes struggle to get my members attention when we are ready to start too.

    Yet it got worse, throughout the whole of Image Therapy the ladies sitting to my side kept chatting to each other! I found it really distracting and totally rude to the Consultant and other members actively involved in Image Therapy. Crucially there were a few times when I missed what was being said by another member because of all the little group chats. Again, that got me thinking, how must new (and existing) members at my group feel?? What important information are they missing out on? Does this put them off from staying for Image Therapy?

    I got weighed at the end of group by the Consultant. I was really dreading the scales. I had no idea what to expect! I knew it would be a gain but didn’t know how much. I was surprised by the amount I’d let myself gain but at the same time I was so glad I went along. Had I weighed at my group, I would’ve ignored the damage and carried on regardless. After all, I didn’t feel I had to be accountable to anyone. I set my target again, I need to lose 1st to be where I was a few months ago. I am annoyed, disgusted, ashamed and angry at myself for losing sight of my journey. Every week I stand in front of my members and help them learn new slimming grooves, make better choices and find healthier alternatives. I was not just letting myself down but also my members.

    I know that now I am part of a SW group again, as a member, I will concentrate on getting those weight losses going again for myself. I also know I can do it, I’ve done it before. If anything, now it should be easier as I know the plan inside out! I owe it to myself to not cheat the plan, I promise myself to weigh and measure everything that needs to, count my syns more carefully and most important of all, I will enjoy eating Free Foods without feeling guilty. I am done with the self sabotage, here is to a healthier me again.

    To my dear Members in both Groups, my experience has made me realise that it is easy for both new and existing members to miss out on the immense benefits of Image Therapy. I wish to ask all of you to please be aware of this and to catch up with fellow members and friends before and after Image Therapy and not during it, and while Image Therapy is ongoing and you have something to share please share it with all members in attendance.

    Chicken Katsu Curry

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    This is a mild Japanese curry with a Slimming World take! To save on time and convenience you can use ready made breadcrumbs, just remember to look up the syns beforehand. I served it with boiled rice and pickle cucumbers.

    Serves: 4

    Syns: 1.5 syns per serving

    Time Taken: 60 minutes

    Difficulty: Moderate

    Chicken Katsu Curry

    Chicken Katsu Curry

    Ingredients

    For the chicken

    • 4 skinless chicken breasts
    • 2 slices of wholemeal (from a 400g loaf)
    • 2 eggs, beaten
    • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

    For the curry sauce

    • 2 onions, chopped
    • 2 carrots, peeled and grated
    • 4 celery sticks, thinly sliced
    • 5 cloves of garlic, crushed
    • 1 tbsp mild curry powder
    • 1 tbsp soy sauce
    • 600ml chicken stock
    • Low calorie cooking spray
    Chicken Katsu Curry

    Chicken Katsu Curry

    Method

    Pre heat your oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas 6. Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Place the chicken breasts between cling film, beat until 1 cm thick and season.

    Whizz the bread in a food processor to make fine crumbs. Tip onto a large plate and season well. Dip the chicken breasts into the eggs, then lightly coat each in a quarter of the breadcrumbs. Transfer to the baking tray sprayed with low calorie cooking spray and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

    Season the breadcrumbs with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place each chicken breast in some clingfilm and flatten with a rolling pin or meat tenderiser. Remove the clingfilm and dip the chicken in the egg, then coat with breadcrumbs and place on a baking tray sprayed with low-calorie cooking spray.

    For the sauce, spray a large frying pan with low calorie cooking spray and place over a medium heat. Stir fry the onions for about 5 minutes, then add the garlic, carrots and celery. Stir fry for a further 5 minutes then add the curry powder, stock, soy sauce and season. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 15-20 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened. Blend the sauce for a smooth curry.

    To serve, slice the chicken breast into pieces, spoon over the curry sauce and serve with steamed jasmine rice.

    Speedy Hummous

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    Hummous is such an easy thing to make and great to have with some speedy crudités as a snack or even a light lunch with crispbreads.

    Serves: 2

    Syns: FREE

    Time Taken: 10 minutes

    Difficulty: Easy

    Speedy Hummous

    Speedy Hummous

    Ingredients

    • 400g can chickpeas, drained
    • 2 garlic clove, crushed
    • 2 tbsp lemon juice, plus extra to taste
    • 2 tbsp fat free natural Greek yogurt
    • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
    • Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)

    Method

    Put the chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice and yogurt into a food processor and pulse until fairly smooth. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, add more lemon juice to taste and sprinkle with cayenne pepper if you want a bit of spice.

    Keep in the fridge for up to 3 days and serve with your favourite crudités or crispbreads.

    Sweetcorn Soup

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    One of my favourite soups from the Slimming World ready meals frozen range is the Sweetcorn Chowder soup, it is super delicious. So I though I’d try to recreate my own version of it and it came out quite nice! Here’s the recipe below.

    Serves: 2

    Syns: FREE

    Time Taken: 30 minutes

    Difficulty: Easy

    Sweetcorn Soup

    Sweetcorn Soup

    Ingredients

    • 1 medium potato, peeled and chopped
    • 2 celery sticks, chopped
    • 1 tin of creamed sweet corn
    • 1tsp dried basil
    • 1 tsp chilli flakes
    • 1 stock cube

    Method

    Put the potato, celery and stock cube in a pan with enough water and cook for about 15-18 minutes till the potato is cooked.

    Once cooked, blitz. Add the basil, chili flakes and tinned sweetcorn and cook for a further 5 minutes. Adjust any seasoning if needed.

    It’s a wrap!

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    Wraps can be so high in syns, it can vary from 5 syns up to 9 syns each in some cases! It is great that there are a couple of options for us slimmers to choose from as part of healthy extra B choice – BFree Gluten Free Wrap or Weight Watchers Low Fat White Wraps. You can choose to have either as a B choice or if you want to syn them, the BFree wraps are 5 syns each and the Weight Watchers one is 5.5 syns which is not that bad at all if you love wraps!

    They are really handy for a packed lunch, you can load it with any Free Foods you enjoy, or if you fancy something else, have a look at the following ideas.

    Wrap Pizza

    Wrap Pizza

    Pizza – Spoon some tomato puree all over the wrap and sprinkle in some mixed herbs. Then just top it with all your favourite Free toppings and add 40g of light cheddar cheese as your healthy extra A choice. If you prefer a different cheese, just look up on your food optimising book for the amounts you can have for a different cheese.

    Egg & Sausage Wrap

    Egg & Sausage Wrap

    Breakfast Wrap – Fill the wrap with two cooked sausages of your choice, I love the Linda McCartney’s Vegetarian Sausages (0.5 syn each), a fried egg or two and fried mushrooms. Then lightly toast the wrap for a warm breakfast wrap.

    Masala Fish Wrap

    Masala Fish Wrap

     

     

    Masala Fish – Cook your masala fish as normal and fill your wrap with the fish, lettuce, tomato and cucumber. So simple and so good, perfect served with syn free chips.

    Breakfast

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    Some people eat breakfast whilst others cannot eat anything first thing in the morning, not me though! I can eat anytime! Breakfast is one of my favourite meals of the day, having a good breakfast  sets me up for the rest of the day. I do find on the days I just grab a piece of fruit or have nothing to eat because I am in a rush, those are the days I tend to go overboard with my syns.

    If you don’t enjoy eating breakfast, you don’t have to force yourself to eat it. Maybe just grabbing a piece of fruit may be enough for you.

    My breakfast tends to be the same most days. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that the majority of the time my breakfast consists of half a pot of Alpro Plain with Coconut ‘yogurt’ mixed with 1tbsp of sweetener, layered with crushed Weetabix and fruit. Raspberries are my favourite fruit for this breakfast, sometimes I add chopped mango or kiwi and drizzle some passion fruit on top. This is my all time favourite breakfast! I have recently started having chocolate Weetabix and oh em gee it is soooo good. You can have the chocolate Weetabix as a healthy extra B choice which is a bonus! But I tend to just syn my breakfast and use my healthy extra B choice later on in the day on Slimming World hifi bars. You can prepare this breakfast the night before as you do with overnight oats or make it in the morning.

    Alpro with Weetabix

    Alpro with Weetabix

    I do love overnight oats but don’t make it as often as I don’t like to use my healthy extra B choice first thing in the morning! If I do overnight Weetabix that is fine for me as I only ever use 1 Weetabix which is half a B choice or just 3 syns each for the plain Weetabix.

    If I have the time, I do enjoy a Slimming Word friendly cooked breakfast. I have fried eggs, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes and vegetarian sausages. This is a great way of saving your healthy extra B choice for later in the day and it is a completely FREE breakfast depending on what type of sausages you use.

    Another breakfast that I enjoy eating is scrambled eggs! Get the recipe for perfectly scrambled eggs every time here

    Scrambled eggs with mushrooms & beans

    Scrambled eggs with mushrooms & beans

    Eggs are just good in any way really, I do always have boiled eggs ready in the fridge to snack on throughout the day or breakfasts when I am in a rush.

    On the odd occasions I do have porridge – sometimes just cooked simply in half water half milk mixture and topped with fruit or I do baked oats. Recipe here for baked oats. Bear in mind not all porridge sachets can be used as a healthy extra B choice, do check your food optimising book or the Slimming World app for all the up to date healthy extras. This one below is a B choice and it is lovely.

    Big Bowl Porridge

    Big Bowl Porridge

    What is your favourite breakfast? Do share in the comments below what you enjoy eating for breakfast.

     

     

    Nargisi Kofta Curry

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    Nargisi Koftas are basically an Asian version of a Scotch egg! It is packed full of flavour and can be served on its own with a salad or chaat, or you can make it into a curry and serve it with boiled rice and/or chapattis and naan bread. I’ve used Laziza Kofta spice mix to the mince to add more flavour but if you haven’t got that you can use curry powder instead.

    Serves: 4

    Syns: FREE

    Time Taken: 60 minutes

    Difficulty: Moderate

    Nargisi Kofta Curry

    Nargisi Kofta Curry

     

    Ingredients

    • 4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped in half
    • 500g lean mince
    • 3 tbsp Laziza Kofta mix
    • a handful of fresh coriander, chopped
    • 4 onions
    • 1 tsp ginger/garlic paste
    • 2 tbsp tomato puree
    • 5 tbsp passata
    • 1 tbsp hot curry powder
    • 2 tbsp fat free natural yogurt

    Method

    Chop 2 of the onions finely and blend using a hand blender. Add the onions, fresh coriander and Laziza spice mix in to the mince and mix well.

    Flatten some of the mince into the palm of your hand and add one half of the boiled egg and cover it completely with the mince. Repeat this until all the eggs are covered in the mince. If you have any leftover mince you can shape them into meatballs without the egg.

    In a frying pan, gently fry the koftas till all the meat is sealed around the egg. Remove from the pan and set aside till needed.

    Chop the other two onions finely and fry in a pan with the ginger/garlic paste for around 10 minutes till the onion are lightly golden. If the onions start to stick to the bottom of the pan, add hot water to stop it sticking.

    Add the tomato puree, passata and curry powder and cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes before adding the koftas in to it. Lower the heat and cook gently for around 20 mintutes until the mince is cooked all around. Try to be very gentle when stirring the koftas to avoid them breaking up. Add the yogurt in the last 5 minutes of cooking.

    Serve with boiled rice.