A big low-calorie meal

I often talk about how I can't stand being hungry, and how my new eating habits have only worked because I have been able to keep eating big meals. No surprise then that people have asked me to say what these meals are. Tonight is a good example - it's curry night! I'm having 200 calories of samosas and 200 calories of rice, but that is quite a small meal. So I'm also having a big vegetable curry - the ingredients (and the photo is for double these portions) are red pepper (150g), aubergine (130g), celery (130g), broccoli (100g), lettuce (100g), onion (80g) and baby corn (60g), plus a scotch bonnet chilli, lime juice, a stockpot and various curry spices. That gives a curry that weighs 750g (more than a pound and a half!) with total calories of only 160.

There is no added fat, so I start off the cooking with the lime juice, then add the aubergine on a low heat. The aubergine softens with almost a fat 'mouth feel', and that's a good start, then I add the other things depending on how solid I want them in the final curry. I can vary this recipe as I like, and I have this sort of vegetable dish often. So if it's to go with a chilli, I might leave out the broccoli and the curry spices, and use a Mexican stockpot instead plus some garlic. And it's fun to change the vegetables, or even add some fruit. But, whatever else is in the meal, a vegetable dish like this gives a huge and filling plateful, with very few calories. It's been a big part of the success of my weight loss.