Omana, a dear friend, recently returned from Chile. She gave us some interesting insights into Chilean cuisine. Perhaps there’s a Spanish influence in their food, but Chilean cuisine contains 3 popular vegetables – lettuce, tomato and potato. Avocado is widely used in their dishes. Avocado is rich in mono unsaturated fats (the good variety). Meats, sea food, breads, corn form the carbs and protein sources in their diet. Pisco, aka Pisco Sour, is the local and most popular drink in Chile. Quinoa is also popular here because it’s one of their major crops. Compared to many other grains, quinoa has good amounts of protein.
If any of you have more inputs on Chilean cuisine, do share.
A few weeks ago, during my consulting session, I came across a person who ate aloo (potato) as a vegetable accompaniment almost everyday in his meal. When asked why, he said that he had no idea what other vegetables he could eat and his cook didn’t know to prepare any other vegetable dish. It seemed to me that he had never seen a vegetable market in his life! When I mentioned about the need for using other vegetables in his daily diet, he said “But I’m not fat, so why can’t I eat aloo everyday? I love it.”
Hmmm. After some explanation, he agreed to try out other vegetables. But the idea that aloo needs to be eaten only if you’re slim is so not true. Aloo has gained a bad name because potato chips, French fries, aloo bonda and aloo bhajia are deep fried and are loaded with fat & calories. But the humble aloo when eaten boiled, steamed or in the form of a sabji, sambar, raita, contains very little fat unless you douse it with butter / oil. Aloo can be eaten by slim as well as not so slim people provided it’s cooked in a healthy manner.
Share your ‘aloo’ experiences, if you wish.