Last year, both of us stopped sugar cold turkey for almost 6 months.  No sugar in our morning coffee, no chocolate, no sweets or cakes or cookies, no sugar in anything we cooked or bought or ate. (Which made me realize how much sugar there actually is in our daily diets!  Watch out for the salad dressings, nutrition bars, and on and on… )

Since then my goal has been to be more disciplined about sugar and be aware of how much I am eating.  I have been looking for good books to help me with this.

And I just finished reading “Lick the Sugar Habit” by Nancy Appleton.  Appleton’s contention is that sugar throws off the body’s homeostasis and affects the endocrine system.  I liked the part of the book where she divides the food we eat in to five categories and recommends eliminating categories 4 & 5 (consisting mainly of Alcohol, Sugar, Cocoa) for better health.   She has recipes at the end of the book, most of which did not inspire me much.  However I decided to give the Broccoli – Potato Salad a try with heavy modifications.

On a side note, no sooner did I finish the book that I got this cute sugar-laden gift from a friend at work.  Why oh why oh why!!

Tempting!

Now on to the recipe.  I changed it quite a bit, but still was not too happy with the dressing, although V enjoyed it.

Couple of notes.   I always use my trusted steamer for broccoli.  It is a simple contraption with a large pot at the bottom for water on top of which a vessel with holes sits.  I just think it is a terrible waste of nutrients to blanch vegetables especially if you are going to throw out the water used to blanch.

Broccoli steaming

 The original recipe called for steaming the potatoes as well, but I preferred to saute it crisp with some fragrant sesame oil (which I also used in the dressing) and some chili powder.  The iron “vaanali” (Tamil loosely meaning wok) is a hand-me-down from my aunt and is exactly the type that is widely used to make South Indian stir fries.

Potatoes cooking in my iron “vaanali” (wok)

Recipe adapted from “Lick the Sugar Habit” by Nancy Appleton

[Printable Recipe]

Ingredients:

1 medium broccoli cut in to florets

1 medium potato peeled and diced

About a tablespoon of sesame oil

2 tsp chili powder (or more if you can handle the heat)

Optional: Sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds roasted

For dressing:

2 Tbsp Tahini

2 Tbsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp sesame oil + a splash more

4 cloves of garlic peeled and minced

pinch of salt

(generous) pinch of black pepper

1. Steam the broccoli for about 8 mins until tender but crisp and set aside
2. Heat about a tablespoon of sesame oil.  Saute the garlic until slightly golden and fragrant.  (You can skip this step and just whisk in fresh garlic in your dressing if you choose).  Remove the garlic with a slotted spoon and set aside
3. Now add the remaining sesame oil.  When hot, add the chili powder, then the potatoes and cook until golden brown.  Let cool
4. Whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing adding the garlic and adjust salt and pepper to taste
5. In a large bowl, mix the broccoli and potatoes and drizzle the dressing on top
6. You can garnish with roasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds to give the salad some crunchiness

Broccoli – Potato Salad for dinner

How would you fix the dressing?  Do share your thoughts.