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.

Soaked rice proves the adage "Old is Gold"

In Telugu, my mother tongue, there is a saying, Peddalamata chaddi annamu muta. Here left over cooked rice is compared to the wisdom of the elders. It is not glamorous but is full of life's wisdom distilled, that we take for granted.
Before the dosa,idli and the cereals of today took over the breakfast scene, it was a bowl of this rice soaked in water overnight, that filled the tummies of the farming community. Today it is proven that rice soaked and eaten like this has a lot of health benefits.

Instant Tomato Pickle

When you need something to perk up your lunch or dinner with a spicy pickle without laboring too much, I make this instant pickle which comes together in 15 minutes

Cabbage jowar roti with spring onions and left over rice

A cup of left over rice, a cup of jowar flour and add a lot of cabbage and spring onions with some ajwain. There is a lot going on in terms of ingredients, but the taste is excellent and is the best way to incorporate more millets like jowar into the dinner. This is not rolled like the normal roti's or chapathi's but must be patted on a banana leaf. Kannadigas are very proficient at making this kind of rotti.

Colorful and Healthy Sandwich Meal

Stir fried on high heat with a tea spoon of olive oil, cheery(cherry) tomatoes garnished with basil and seasoned with salt and pepper are the star of this sandwich meal. The sandwich itself is simple, spread with some corriander chutney and onions and grilled till crisp and brown.

The tomatoes were bursting with flavor and perfectly complemented the spicy sandwich.

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.

Lacy Millet Coconut Neer Dosa

Neer Dosa is quite popular in coastal Karnataka. Rice and coconut are the main ingredients for this lacy and tasty dosa. We were first introduced to this on a trip to Sringeri at Coffee Shop Bhadra Stop. White lacy dosa was served with peanut onion chutney on the banks of river Bhadra in a coffee plantation. What is there not to like in it. Came back and searched for the recipe and tried it out. It took some turns to get the recipe right. 

With my quest to have more of millets, I tried to replace the rice with Little Millets and followed the same process resulting in quite tasty but brown dosa. Served with a dollop of butter for a tasty meal.

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.

Pepper Roasted Cauliflower

How can a simple dish be so tasty? That was the question I had when I put the cauliflower in my mouth. All it needs is some time  and an absolutely hands off one at that. This is one of those dishes that are best forgotten once on the stove. Constant intervention only spoils it. My cauliflower is golden brown only because I added some turmeric like in everything else I cook.

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.