Burnt garlic glass noodle with Endamame

Cook glass noodles also known as bean sprout noodles according to the package directions. Fry some garlic and carefully burn it by forgetting. Add some shelled frozen endamame, stir fry for a couple of minutes. Add some soy sauce and add the cooked glass noodles. It actually takes 10 minutes to get it all on the plate.

Glass Noodles with Endamame

Stiry fry with Seeds of change brown rice, quinoa and sprouts

Found the brown rice and qunioa at Costco and brought them on an impulse. They are quite easy to prepare and a good standby option for a quick meal. We had cooked the rice in the microwave according to the instructions. Stir fried half a cup of moong sprouts and 1 cup of pea shoots in a little oil and mixed the rice mix in for a nutritious lunch. Added some soy sauce for a taste boost.

Make it a Meal with Barnyard Millets

Everyone, the world over, are waking to the power of millets. To me, there are two benefits of eating with the 'small' grains. They are not only good for us, but they can in a small way help the climate change. They do not need a lot of water or fertile land to grow. Very hardy and can grow in different and difficult climatic conditions. As a bonus, they are power houses of nutrition too.

Here is a meal with millets, dal, rasam and a curry. The traditional rice meal replaced with barnyard millets. Just cooked it similar to rice with 1 millets to two water in a rice cooker. Let us do our bit to the environment by slowly incorporating millets into our diet.

Sauteed Paneer, Peas Pulao and Boondi Raita - Balance of Nutrition

The boondi, paneer and curd for the protein, peas and cucumber pitching in with the vegetables and the brown basmati rice adds the carbs and a bit of fiber. Delicious and healthy with a right balance of flavors.

Chilli curry with sesame powder

Sesame seeds are powerhouses of nutrition. It is the oldest known condiment to the mankind. Blogosphere is full of information on the beneficial effects of using this seed. Toast them lightly, cool and powder and use it to spike up the nutrition and the taste factor in any vegetable saute.

Delicious and Colorful - Sprouts, Kale and Tomatoes

Stir fried masoor sprouts with some packaged kale salad. Topped with a thousand island dressing. Sliced a tomatoes and sprinkled some salt and pepper. Added a slice of toast on the side for a delicious brunch.

Spinach and Corn Uttapam - Classic Combo in a new avatar

Slightly sour dosa/idli batter mixed with onions, chilli's is the way we usually make the uttappams. I am trying different combinations to increase the intake the vegetables and spice up the regular dishes. Spinach and corn compliment each other perfectly in many dishes. Tried to get them into the uttappam batter and the resulting dish was quite tasty. In many ways, it can be a one pot meal with all the necessary protein, vegetable and carbs together presented in a tasty combo.

Healthy Indulgence for a weekend brunch

Green chutney and cheese sandwich grilled with a healthy dose of creamy mashed potatoes and quick sauteed broccoli - a nice and healthy weekend brunch.

No recipe needed.

Make it meal with Sandwich

Fried moong dal served with a grilled cheese and vegetable sandwich. Serve with a glass a buttermilk to make it an easy and protein rich meal.

Masoor Sprouts Dahi Papdi Chaat

Tangy Imli chutney, spicy green chutney, crunchy papdi and the cold dahi - this is a dish which has several nuances in every bite. I had a few masoor sprouts which have been quickly boiled for 5 minutes and added in the place of potatoes. The resulting dish was as tasty as the original with the addition of sprouts for the health factor. No one would refuse sprouts if served like this.

Sabudana Vangi Bath

Vangi Bath is a very popular rice dish in Karnata. There are special green long brinjals which are specifically used for this dish. I had some soaked sabudana and a few purple brinjals when I tried out this dish. With the addition of peanut powder, it is an excellent one pot dish with vegetables and proteins. Served with a bowl of curd or a raitha it is a tasty variation of the traditional vangi bath.

Lettuce wraps with Soy Granules and Corn

The picture is perfect and so is the dish. Very rarely do I get both right, especially the picture. After cooking, I hardly have the time to plate it perfectly and take the good picture. I did not do anything special for this dish too, but the simple ingredients and the gorgeous colors stand out without any effort.

Soy granules and sweet corn wrapped into crunchy lettuce is a perfect appetizer or a guilt free snack. One of the quickest and tastiest snacks, I can ever make

Sabudana Kichidi with Yogurt - Complete Meal

Sabudana kichdi with curd is a complete meal and quite tasty even when cold,  making it a good lunch box option.  It does require some planning in soaking the sabudana overnight and if peanut powder is ready gets done without much effort.

Ragi Khakra Pizza - Guilt free and tasty snack in minutes

Just take a khakra, spread some tomato sauce, few basil leaves, sprinkle a handful of cheese and grill for 2-3 minutes until the cheese just melts. Absolutely tasty after school snacks. I have used off the shelf khakra's available in most stores now.

Green Pea(ce) rice and a greener plate

An easy recipe for a tasty and a healthy rice. The tender green peas are cooked along with some diced fresh jack fruit seeds in a simple mixture of corriander leaves, ginger and green chillies. Tastes awesome even when cool and makes an ideal picnic lunch to be packed and eaten under green trees with plates made from beetle nut leaves. Jack fruit seeds are rich in protein and add a nice nutty taste to the dish.

Serve with pickle and curd for an all rounded meal.

Malabar Spinach Dal Paratha - LeftOver Magic

Malabar Spinach or Basella is a tropical vine which grows in the tropical regions. This was one green that was used widely at home, simply because it is an annual and was always available in the kitchen garden. Hardly takes any space or effort to grow this green.

Moreover, the english spinach was not always available and was not as popular in the 70's and 80's as it is now, in small towns of South India. Even if spinach is abundantly available now, with the reports of high pesticide content, it is safer to turn to Basella. Nutritionally it is equivalent if not more than the regular spinach.

We typically use it to make a dal or an instant chutney. Yesterday I had some leftover dal and turned it around into a simple paratha and served with a simple curry made of soaked green peas and coconut. A very nutrient dense lunch box option that is finger licking tasty.

Spinach Paratha and a green lunch box

Stir fried spinach mixed with spices and besan (chick pea flour), stuffed and rolled into parathas, dipped into corriander chutney, a spoon full of curd and a bite of sauteed green chillies with some salt and all this in a lunch box, what is not to like in it. It does sound very cumbersome to cook and pack, but it actually is not. The green chutney (slightly sauteed corriander leaves and chilli grided with salt and lemon juice) can be made in advanced and left in the fridge overnight to make it easy in the morning. Even the stuffing and the atta can be prepared the night before, all making it very easy to roll them out and pack in the morning. A view of the tasty and easy green lunch box. I should shop for a green one to match for the contents :-)

Macaroni Soychunks Manchurian

Gobi Manchuri/Manchurian is a very popular street food. The bright orange food coloring, the overused oil, the grease and what not - all these add to the taste factor. The resulting brown mass with the addition of crunchy onions is a big favorite with many youngsters. 

If you love that taste but started getting health conscious, then this dish comes to your rescue. It is also a healthier alternative to serve to your kids. Macaroni, soy chunks and manchurian are magnets on their own, and combine it with making it healthier, in a pressure cooker, then what is not to like in it. I have also found that this dish is pretty tasty even it is cold, making it ideal for a lunch box option.

Aloo Paratha Overloaded

Aloo paratha is tasty. No second opinions about that. I have not met anyone till now who does not like one. What if you can overload it with nutrition too. I added some moong sprouts and sesame seeds to up the nutrition level. Of course you act coy and do not mention all the good additions and serve without mentioning anything. Trust me that the parathas will be finished without any complaints or detecting and picking out the "too healthy " elements from the plate.

Overload is used in a positive context here. If you have done any Java Programming, you would know where I am coming from.

Dosa Makeover: Foxtail Millet (korralu) dosa

Foxtail millet aka korralu in telugu were widely used couple of generations back. I am glad that they are making a comeback into the main stream. For this generation that has grown up on rice and wheat (polished ones at that), it will take some time to get used to the complex nuances of the hardy millets. Each of them have their own flavor and taste unlike the white rice which blends in with any dish without any personality of its own. 

Millets in addition to being good for us are good for the planet too. They are not resource intensive crops and can grow easily on marginal soils too.

Dosa and idli batter when made with millets was the best way to introduce them into our diet. Here I have used a combination of brown rice and korralu and the resulting dosa was quite tasty. The batter and the dosa are slightly brown and are not pristine white unlike the one made with polished rice. Taste wise, the millet dosa has a personality of its own with some complex flavor but it is hard to pin point the differences.