Hands up those who like eating broccoli! Not many I think.

What prompted me to write about this bland tasting vegetable, as my husband says of it? The fact or what we know as facts that this mighty vegetable has a bunch of goodness in it for us. I succumbed to a recent sale (yes, again!) on Australian broccoli (3-heads for S$2.45, a real bargain) and this brings back memories on my broccoli lunch diet for a month after returning home to Singapore from Hong Kong. Overweight, not grossly, but uncomfortably and wanting to get back on track to a manageable weight made me create this diet. Lunch everyday was a head of broccoli, microwaved and served with a teaspoon of soy sauce as a dressing. This was supplemented with homemade wholemeal muffins & oatmeal cookies during hunger pangs during the rest of the day. Did it work? Yes! I am now back to the stage of needing to start this diet again, first I have to get proper meal times set or get a job. I’ll let you know.

My knowledge or memory of what it had was mainly folate and that it belonged to the cruciferous family together with cauliflower and the like and was likely to contain properties that helps with cancer fighting.

Move on to search engines and more is revealed about this bland vegetable. Other than  looking good in a bouquet (yes, just google it!), the health benefits in broccoli to name some are that it contains beta-carotene (Vitamin A), potassium (Vitamin K), Vitamin B compounds, Vitamin C (1 cup of cooked broccoli = 1 orange’s worth), folate and fibre.

( Health Benefits of Broccoli )

How to cook it? Easiest, cut into florets, wash and rinse, blanched or microwaved. My way of blanching is to dump the broccoli in when the water is boiling and turn the heat off, let the broccoli sit for a few minutes before taking them out.

You can serve it with some Italian dressing (home made or store bought) or some healthy salad dressing. What is known as unhealthy dressing, in my opinion, is not that unhealthy as it really depends on how much of it that you put on.

The Chinese like to use it in stir-fries, with mixed vegetables or with beef. The options are many and it is up to you to try broccoli with potato & leek soup or a broccoli gratin or maybe even broccoli tempura?