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It’s 2023, and Karan Tacker is one of the fittest actors around. But this is nothing new.On a recent Instagram story, the star of Hotstar’s Special Ops and Netflix’s Khakee posted a photo of his delicious meal, captioning that requests for his diet plan are quite common and that he was obliging his adoring fans. The meal is an excellent example of a well-balanced diet, and what’s more, it's one that you can easily recreate at home with very little effort. It had all the major food groups you want in your food: malai chicken with fat and protein; white rice with carbs; methi aloo with minerals, vitamins, and carbs; and fresh-cut haldi with some more micronutrients packed in it.
The point of this piece is therefore quite simple. Eat like Karan Tacker. Who knows, you may even end up looking like him. Who are we kidding? But one can only dream. And every dream starts with a plate that looks like his.
METHI ALOO
For this recipe, we turn the OG TarlaDalal, the Ina Garten of India. When in doubt, turn to Dalal. This is a tried and tested recipe, and one that you should have in your repertoire at all times.
Ingredients:
• 1.5 cups of boiled and peeled potato cubes
• 4 cups washed and drained methi
• Salt to taste
• 4 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp jeera
• ¼ tsp hing
• 1 tsp each chopped ginger and garlic
• Chopped green chilies according to heat tolerance
• 2 whole dry Kashmiri red chilies
• ½ tsp of haldi powder
• 2 tsp dhania jeera powder
Method:
Place the methi in a bowl, sprinkle with salt, toss the leaves, and set aside. Squeeze the water out of the methi and keep it aside. Heat oil in a deep pan, add jeera and hing, and sauté on medium heat for a few seconds. As the seeds crackle, add the garlic, ginger, green chilies, and red chilies and sauté on medium for 30 seconds. Add haldi powder and potatoes, mix gently, and cook on medium for five minutes. Add the methi, dhania jeera powder, and salt; mix well, and cook for the next two to three minutes while stirring occasionally. Serve the delicious methi aloo hot!
MALAI CHICKEN
Malai chicken is as decadent as it is easy to put together. Don’t be intimidated. Get cracking. For this recipe we turned to people who know a thing or two about chicken – Licious themselves!
Ingredients:
• 500 g Boneless Chicken
• 2 teaspoon Ginger Paste
• 1 teaspoon Garlic paste
• 2 tablespoons fresh cream
• 5 tbsps. boiled cashew nut paste
• 1/2 teaspoon Lemon Juice
• 1/4 teaspoon Black pepper powder
• Salt - to taste
• 1/2 cup fresh cream
• 2 cardamom pods - powdered
• 2 teaspoon kasurimethi dried fenugreek leaves
• 4 teaspoon ghee
• 3 tbsps. melted butter for basting
Method:
1. Take the chicken in a big bowl and add salt and pepper, and mix well. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours.
2. Soak Kasurimethi leaves in 1/4th cup of water in a small bowl.
3. After 2 hours, take the chicken out of the fridge and let it get to room temp.
4. Add garlic, ginger, lemon juice, boiled cashew nut paste, and 2 tablespoons of cream to the chicken and keep it aside for 20 minutes.
5. Add butter in a small saucepan and melt it. Keep it aside.
6. Drop ghee into a separate, heavy-bottomed pan and heat. Add cardamom powder and the marinated chicken pieces and let it cook for 10 minutes.
7. For extra creaminess and consistency, regularly baste the chicken with 3 tbsps. of melted butter. After 10 minutes, add the cream.
8. Let the mixture reach a boil while stirring occasionally. Continue cooking the chicken pieces till you get a semi-thick gravy.
9. Strain the soaked methi leaves and sprinkle them in the gravy and stir well. Cook for another minute or two.
10. Switch off the gas, cover the dish and let it sit for 10 minutes before serving.
As for white rice, consider substituting with unpolished rice – it is definitely a healthy alternative. And as for freshly sliced haldi, while the entire range of medicinal qualities attributed to it are not scientifically proven, it still makes for a tasty condiment and is packed with some useful micronutrients. So, tack it on to your meal, much like Karan did. And enjoy!
