Indian Inspired Broccoli and Potato Stir Fry

Once again I didn’t have enough leftovers in the refrigerator for my husband’s lunch today. I made this quick Indian flavored stir fry this morning while I prepared breakfast. I waited longer for the allicin to develop in the garlic then it took to make the rest of the dish.

This is something that I tossed together from what I had on hand. The seasonings are Indian inspired because I wanted to use turmeric today. Those of you that read regularly know that turmeric is a powerful antioxidant that inhibits the growth of many cancer cell lines in the laboratory. As usual I sautéed the turmeric in a little oil with a generous amount of black pepper to make it more absorbable. I combined broccoli and tomato in this dish since they have a synergistic effect and are both more effective when consumed together. Ginger is frequently used in Indian food as well as being a powerful antioxidant so it went into the dish. I also like knowing that ginger helps to reduce the formation of new blood vessels to cancerous tumors. Garlic was included for flavor and because it promotes cancer cell death in a number of different cancer cell lines.

As my husband will tell you he feels like a nutrition experiment much of the time. I think you can see why that may be. He is happy that I am sharing this information with all of you so he doesn’t “have to” hear about it at each meal. Don’t misunderstand he does appreciate that I do all of this for him; he just likes to fuss about it more. I think it must be a guy thing. Here is what I made this morning for Dan’s lunch today.

Indian Inspired Broccoli and Potato Stir Fry
Serves 1

Ingredients:

6 ounce organic Yukon gold potato, scrubbed and pierced with the tip of a paring knife
2 cups frozen broccoli florets
1 teaspoon canola or olive oil
½ teaspoon black mustard seed
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon cumin seed
½ teaspoon coriander seed
¼ teaspoon onion flakes
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 pinch red pepper flakes
¼ inch ginger root, finely minced
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely minced (allow to stand 10 minutes so allicin with develop)
1 tomato, diced
1 tablespoon cashews

Directions:

Microwave the potato and broccoli florets and cook until done. While cooking the broccoli remember that cruciferous vegetables are more nutritious when lightly cooked. I stopped the broccoli as soon as it was no longer frozen. When the potato is cool cut it into bite sized pieces. Cut cooled broccoli into bite size pieces.

While potato and broccoli are cooking start the spice mix. Heat the oil and add the spices, ginger and garlic and sauté until fragrant and heated through. Add the cut potato and broccoli and stir to cover the vegetables with the spice mix. Turn off the heat and add the fresh diced tomato. You want the tomato to heat through so the lycopene is more bioavailable. The tomato will also help the dish to cool more quickly so it can be packed for lunch sooner.

The dish is now ready to eat or pack for lunch. Sprinkle the cashews on top the stir-fry.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 355.48
Calories From Fat (26%) - 92.99

Total Fat - 10.87g
Saturated Fat - 1.44g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 97.34mg
Potassium - 1863.82mg
Total Carbohydrates - 57.64g
Fiber - 16.29g
Sugar - 9.98g
Protein - 15.89g

Comments:

You may notice that this dish contains no added salt. The omission was intentional. You may want to add salt to this dish. I am trying to reduce our sodium intake so I left it out. This dish is packed with flavor even without the salt. In fact if you don’t like strong flavors this dish may have too much flavor for you. You can start with half of the spices if you aren’t certain about the flavors or add twice the amount of veggies. Both options would work well to reduce the spice flavor of the dish.

If you have more time to make this dish than I did you can use finely minced onion in place of the onion flakes. I might also take the sautéed spices, garlic and ginger and add that to the blender with a little reduced fat coconut milk and pour that over the potatoes, onion and tomato for a different creamy version of this dish. Fresh cilantro would also be nice in this but I didn’t think of it this morning when I was rushing to get this ready for Dan’s lunch. There are many options for changing this healthy dish.

Most important for me this dish is full of nutrition. This one serving recipe contains over 1800mg of potassium, 4300IU of vitamin A, 220mg of vitamin C, 240mg of calcium, 260mcg of folate, 270mcg of vitamin K, 360mg of phosphorus, 150mg of magnesium and 13mcg of selenium. I love it when quick, tasty dishes like this provide so much nutrition.

In his lunch today my husband has this Indian stir fry, cold spinach and edamame soup with tofu sour cream, an apple and walnut butter, and kale chips. I like knowing that he has healthy food to eat when he is at work. This lunch combined with green tea with ginger and vitamin C and I feel like he has all he needs to keep his body functioning at peak fighting capacity. Is this all a little over the top? Maybe, but it certainly doesn't do any harm. I imagine this is more than most cancer survivors/patients do but I always strive for the best and my husband’s nutrition is no exception. If food has any benefit to keeping him healthy we should be home free.