Coming up with a simple, nutritious and delicious dinner when you come home from work is no easy feat.
That's why NHS doctor Amir Khan, who has appeared on ITV's Lorraine and Good Morning Britain, has a go-to meal he always makes after he comes home from a busy day at work, and doesn't know what to cook. After sharing the dinner with his 55.7k TikTok followers, many were left surprised by his choice.
Dr Khan, who is a vegetarian, revealed that his go-to dinner is a potato salad, which is a starchy food which is quite high in carbohydrates. But the NHS actually recommends we eat potatoes, or other starchy foods, as part of a healthy, balanced diet. Potatoes are a "good source of energy", fibre, calcium, iron, potassium and B vitamins.
In the clip, Dr Khan can be seen boiling potatoes with the skin on, while making a dressing out of olive oil, mayonnaise, salad cream, honey, dijon mustard, parmesan, lemon and mixed herbs.
He then chops up some vegetables into tiny pieces - cucumber, red pepper and red onion. When the potatoes are boiled he puts them in the air fryer tray before smashing with with a fork and drizzling them with olive oil and paprika seasoning.
The doctor then mixes the crispy potatoes with the vegetables and mixing in the sauce. In the comment section, he added that chickpeas would also work well with this recipe for some added protein.
Many people said the dish "looked amazing", and wanted to try their own variation, adding things like feta cheese, chicken, salmon or boiled eggs. One person wrote: "Looks amazing! I'm also (mainly) vegetarian. People talking about protein, could easy have a boiled egg and a glass of milk along side the meal!" Another added: "Looks incredible I’m going to try this. Can take leftovers for lunch too."
According to the NHS, eating potatoes with the skin on is actually a "good choice when you're trying to lose weight". However, if you want to limit the number of calories when cooking with potatoes you should go for "lower-fat or polyunsaturated spreads, or small amounts of unsaturated oils, such as olive or sunflower oil". Potatoes are also known to help reduce the amount of cholesterol in your blood.
In a previous video, Dr Khan explained why he loves using red onions and cucumber in recipe. He said: "He shared: "It's got red onions in there, which are great for gut health and red onions in particular have a plant compound called anthocyanin in them, which have been shown to be heart healthy. I've also got some chopped cucumber in there, which is a very good source of vitamin K, needed for healthy bones. There's fibre in the skin of the cucumber which is good for my gut health and cucumbers also contain a plant compound called cucurbitacin, which might have some anti-cancer properties."
