This Valentine's Day, How Non-Cooks Can Impress Their Partners

Valentine's day dinner to impress your partner

Valentine's Day dinner needs to be a celebratory meal. But what if you are nor really the chef in your relationship?

Here are some Valentine's Day special food – reasons to eat them, and easy ways to cook them right too.

The Snacks

Makhana to stay calm

The isoquinoline alkaloids found in fox nuts – makhana – have sedative and calming properties so can help bust stress and keep one happier.

Try this: Makhana Bhelpuri

Take roasted makhana, add chopped onions, cucumber, tomatoes, black salt and add generous squeeze of lemon. Mix. Also add pumpkin seeds to boost the mood. They pack a big punch and as they are rich in tryptophan.

Apple to improve your love life

An apple a day not just keeps the doctor away, but it could improve your love life too. Apples (along with berries, cherries, onions, and dark-colored grapes) are rich in quercetin, which boosts circulation and keeps you healthy.

Add in some nuts too to keep the mood going. Cashews and almonds are full of zinc, whilst walnuts are high in Omega 3.

Try this: Cheesy Apple

Try sliced apples and cheese with a sprinkling of cashews and almonds – a European favourite.

The Mains

Beets have compounds betaine, and tryptophan that help relax and make us feel happier. This red root is kind of like chocolate, but without the fat component.

Try this: Beetroot salad

Chill boiled beetroots, diced into cubes. Mix orange juice, oil, salt, black pepper, mustard powder and orange zest in a bowl and whisk well. Pour the dressing over the beetroot pieces and garnish with spring onion and mint. Serve chilled.

Try this: guava curry

Heat a little oil, add a pinch each of mustard seeds and asafoetida. Add spices coriander, cumin, red chilli, turmeric powder (5 gm each) diluted with a table spoon of water.

Add one kg guava chopped into pieces and stir-fry for 5 minutes.

Add 1 chopped tomato and stir-fry further for 5 minute on slow heat.

Add sugar, salt, to taste and some lemon Juice. Take off the flame keep it covered it for 2 minutes. Garnish with chop green chilli and cilantro.

The Dessert

Chocolate is one of the best-known and best-loved aphrodisiac.

Chocolate contains over 400 different chemicals including caffeine and phenylethylamine (PEA), a brain chemical that is produced in the brains of people who are in love. The body also releases serotonin and an array of endorphins which increase your urges, making your body feel more pleasure. This reason apparently got chocolates banned from some monasteries a few centuries ago.

Remember with chocolates darker the better. It's a fact that plain dark chocolate products containing 70% or more cocoa solids are the healthiest way to satisfy a craving for chocolate, without consuming too much sugar and saturated fat.

Bonus Ideas

Make up a batch of heart-shaped pancakes for a yummy Valentine's breakfast or brunch. Just pour the batter in the frying pan in a free-form heart shape and serve with strawberries and whipped cream.

• Drink strawberry daiquiris or pink champagne.

• Stuff sandwiches with pink salmon.

• Put strawberries and cherries on croissants with whipped cream.

• Try sundaes with strawberry ice cream or real strawberries.