Simple Nutritious Lunch

March happens to be National Nutrition Month. The idea is to get back to the basics and to enjoy foods that are nutritious and healthy. The choices that we make about food daily are very important especially if we have young children - the food decisions we make today are going to stay with them lifelong.

Growing up with the right choice of food will hopefully help them make the right food choices as adults. This was not a big deal when we were growing up because the plethora of food choices available to kids these days were not available then. Foods eaten by kids these days and what we grudingly call junk foods - everybody has a love(when savoring them) hate (when they end up in our hips and other parts of the anatomy) relationship with them. But these were special treats those days when an aunt or an uncle visited once in a while, who can forget the special taste of a Five Star candy bar or a Cadbury's Milk Choclate bar? hmmmmm. I doubt if kids relish them, now they just eat them.

With obesity, diabetes and other diseases on the rise in young children and adults educating kids on the right choice food is as important as education and character. A well balanced diet which includes protein, green vegetables and carbohydrates are essential for energy as well as health.

On to our Simple Nutrtious Meal, chappathis/rice with dal and a vegetable.



Brussel Sprouts and Moongdal
Ingredients
1. 1/2 Cup of Split Moong Dal cooked with a pinch of salt and 1/4 tsp oil.
2. 1/2 red onion chopped
3. 4 garlic cloves chopped
4. 3 green chillies split
5. 5-6 Brussel Sprouts chopped (substitute green beans, cabbage, ridge gourd, brinjal or any vegetable you have on hand)
6. 1 tsp Sambhar
7. seasoning cumin,mustard,methi seeds,a pinch of asfoetida and curry leaves

Method
1. In a pan, heat a tsp of oil and when hot add asfoetida, cumin, methi, curry leaves and mustard and when the mustard start to pop
2. add onions fry till translucent, add garlic and green chillies and saute for a minute add
3. the brussel sprouts saute few more minutes, add salt and when they start to sweat
add the sambhar powder and mix
4. add the mashed dal and enough water and salt.
5. let it cook for 5-6 minutes.

Kovakka(Tindoora) Fry
This is one vegetable that is easy to cook and there is not much that can go wrong with it. I have never tasted this vegetable back home. I have see the plants grow on fences and goats and cows relishing them. Well they were smart animals. But my first taste of this vegetable was at a friends house, and she had cooked it with onions and tomatoes, after some trial and error the one I have settled on is just frying kovakka with some sambhar powder till they start to turn black almost. This has become a favorite in our house now.

Ingredients
1. Kovakka washed and sliced into thin rounds
2. 1 tbsp sambhar powder (1/2 tsp cumin powder, 1 tsp corriander powder and 2 tsp chilli powder)
3. Salt and 1 1/2 tsp oil

Method
1. In a pan heat oil add the kovakka and saute. They do not stick to the pan that easily and so keep moving them around every 5 minutes or so
2. When they just start to turn color add the salt and sambhar powder and saute them till you get to the desired state.

Serve with chappathis/rice and Dal.