Low GI Blitva: Croatian Greens & Potatoes

Blitva is a simple and yummy Croatian dish consisting of potatoes, greens, garlic and oil. It’s simple to make and works great as a side dish, or on its own as vegetarian lunch. Although this dish contains, potatoes, we’ve found a way to make it more low-GI friendly so that you can enjoy it as part of a healthy lifestyle.

It’s important to note that potatoes are high GI when baked (over 100). However in this recipe we are boiling small, new potatoes with their skins on, this has a lower GI (78).

Serves: 4 as a side dish

Preparation time: 5 mins

Cooking time: 15-20 mins

Ingredients

• One generous bunch of silverbeet (washed, white stalk trimmed and thrown away, greens roughly chopped)
• 4 potatoes (peeled and thinly sliced 1-2 cm) this can be less if carb conscious or more if you want it to be more filling
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of minced garlic
• pinch of salt

The Silverbeet can be substituted for other leafy greens including chard, kale or spinach. If using spinach simply add the to the pot once the potatoes are cooked, as it needs much less cooking than other greens.

Method

• Boil a large pot of water with salt until bubbling and boiling
• Add potatoes and silverbeet together and cook until potatoes are soft (takes approx. 10-15 mins)
• Drain potatoes and silverbeet thoroughly ensuring all water is gone
• Put potatoes and silverbeet back in the pot and on very low heat
• Add a generous amount of good olive oil
• Add minced garlic and stir so the garlic just cooks
• Salt to taste

Credit, this recipe was inspired by: Babas Blitva