It has been quite a few weeks from the point I last updated on my low carb/Keto meals journey. I feel like new update is far overdue.
I am a curry lover and that has not changed over the years. I am a rice lover too. Major parts of my meals consisted of Sri Lankan rice and curry and homemade sourdough breads.
I am not a stranger to trying out diet plans, I have tried few over the years myself. I have tried vegan/plant based, low carb, paleo, intermittent fasting with low carb and now I am trying out Keto meals.
I have achieved my goals under all of them eating delicious food. I think that lot of meal plans can be customized to suit each of our flavor profiles, wonderfully. Each diet has its high and low points, but low carb is the first diet I felt like I am not depriving myself of anything. I am happy about the meals I get to create under new keto meals umbrella with the spice blends I love.
Without going down in the rabbit hole of analyzing all the diet plans I have been in, the highs and lows of each, I am trying to share today is some of most enjoyable keto meals and menus I am doing with my own curry-based flavors.
If there is anything that we all the diet communities can agree on, if the meals are healthy while being satisfying and flavorful, you have better chance of keeping on with your diet. I am happy that I have lot of room to play with the curries that I love, in my current keto and keto friendly low carb meals.
Honorary mentions of some top keto meals I created and loved so much.
Sri Lankan style stuffed Squid
This is one of my favorite meals out of all that I made so far. It is also easy to make. This recipe is inspired by Sri Lankan style stuffed cuttlefish curry. I used a combination of zucchini, eggplant, and mushrooms to make a filling and stuffed inside cuttlefish before grilling them on hot grill. Alternative to this you can also shallow fry these stuffed cuttlefish. Stuffed cuttlefish cooked this way, becomes a flavor bomb exploding in your mouth, just like you have eaten a dumpling.
Pretty easy way to stuff cuttlefish is to follow the method that Brad does on Buzzfeed, Just with Keto friendly vegetable based filling.
Mouthwatering curry roasted Salmon keto meal
I am not a huge fan of cauliflower rice. My favorite method of cooking cauliflower is roasting them under hi-broiler with curry powder and salt. This is just one occasion I loved a serving of cauliflower rice more traditional way, like it is made for low carb diets. I pre steamed quartered cauliflower in microwave with yellow curry powder and salt, before mashing it on a skillet with dash of heavy cream and butter, in a skillet.
As for salmon, I used a popular recipe of baking salmon by Terri-Ann’s Kitchen and adopted it to suit my favorite flavors by marinating with curry powder. I did a double marination first with yellow curry powder, lots of salt and salt pickled lime peels ( you could also use fresh lime peels or zest ). after about half an hour, rinse off the salt and yellow curry powder. save the lime peels.
Marinate again in red curry powder, salt, and lime peels. after half an hour, coat the salmon in butter and dust thoroughly with fine sea salt and red curry powder. Bake until copper brown crust forms and cooked through. (375 f Degree oven about 40 minutes)
Keto style pork cutlets with steamed broccoli
Pork cutlets are a perfect make-ahead keto meal. Also, a good old fashioned deep fried in oil delight. Easy marinade with red curry seasoning paste, little salt for half an hour and then coated in eggs and crusted with coconut and almond flour mixture. Deep fried to perfection. Paired this with steamed broccoli florets for a delicious dinner.
Cauliflower mash with rotisserie chicken and grilled vegetables
What was my dinner like after spending the day out enjoying the summer heat in the beach. It still felt good making time to cook and have a delicious keto dinner that did not come from leftovers. Cauliflower mash comes together in minutes and serves that with store-bought rotisserie chicken and quick grilled vegetables. It is important to have easy to eat keto meals like this in your menu journal, when you have young ones.
Life is not very structured at this phase of life. No matter what you do, you plan, unexpected things do happen. Like taking longer to have fun outdoors. Entertaining kids a little longer. It is a good feeling when you can keep up with your diet even when you don’t have a lot of time for long dinner preparation and cooking.
Zucchini boats with stir fried squid and eggplant curry with avocado cream
Lets mention, one of the breakfast recipes that I fell in love with so much that feels as good as toast and eggs does. I was looking at creative ways I can incorporate avocado into my everyday meals as much as possible. Except for avocado smoothie and eggs and avocado, there were not any ideas worth exploring. One day, I decided to go ahead and make avocado garlic cream for zucchini boats and pair it with cuttlefish stir-fry.
My zucchini boats are thinly sliced zucchini lightly blanched in the skillet. I spread them up with an easy avocado and garlic cream and topped up with sauteed cuttlefish with veggies. Perfect savory breakfast for with black coffee.
Almond flour keto pancake, low carb style chia Jam with yogurt and cream cheese spreading
Almond flour pancakes are no brainer to keto meals or low carb meals. They are nutritional and flavor packed alternative to the regular carbohydrate loaded version. I always use the easiest to make almond flour pancake recipe from wholesome yum to make myself a delicious pancake breakfast paired with berry chia preserve and Greek yogurt. It helps to satisfy my sweet breakfast cravings. I always add a little stick of cinnamon when I make blueberry preserve with monk fruit sweetener for extra flavor.
Curry keto meal with Sri Lankan stuffed pepper curry
My love for Sri Lankan stuffed peppers has been undeviating. Whether I decide to fry or curry the peppers, flavor is always so good. That spicy awakening of flavor makes you feel in the moment. Traditionally peppers are stuffed with fish and potato-based filling in Sri Lanka. I customized the recipe to use grated zucchini eggplants and cheese to make it a low carb/ keto meal
Curried peppers with fluffy scrambled eggs for pack and go keto meal
Always start with an extremely hot skillet to make fluffy scrambled eggs that perfectly pairs with curries. This is not your regular scrambled eggs with soft and creamy curdled texture, because you want the eggs to soak up the sauce from the curry. Break up three eggs and whisk them with a fork gently before adding them to extremely hot skillet. let it cook few seconds and start folding the corners on itself until eggs become fluffy and well done.
Sri Lankan stuffed capsicum curry is perfect pairing for this keto style breakfast. You can stuff the capsicums with a filling of your choice before making a curry out of them. I stuffed mine with vegetables and fish-based filling.
Keto style noodle bowl with Sri Lankan style meatballs curry
Cucumber noodles is something I am beginning to really love presently. They are light, healthy super quick to make and delicious.
My inspirations to make noodles out of cucumbers came from looking at Korean cold cucumber soup recipe by Maangchi. First, julienne one medium sized cucumber, sprinkle with little salt and let it sit for about 10 minutes. squeeze the water out and lightly sauté in a very hot skillet. Serve the noodles in hot yellow curry broth that meatballs were cooked in. What is special in Sri Lankan style meatballs is refreshing and very spicy flavors of coriander, green chilies, and ginger inside them. The yellow curry sauce just absorbs all these flavors and becomes a nice addition to this keto meal.
Keto bread and curry plate with Zucchini bread and chicken Balti
I shared my recipe of keto zucchini bread in my most recent post. what I love about this recipe so much is light and refreshing flavor of yellow curry powder shining with nutty flavor of almond and lovely fresh flavor of zucchini, It is really great pairing with quick chicken Balti made with peanut butter and chilies.
