Lunchbox Recipe 16 - Snakeguard Rice

Snakeguard  healthy fibrous vegetable. It is good to add it in our Lunch routine. Here I have given a tastier nutritious lunchbox rice made with snakeguard and chana dal. It is more tasty with a papad or Vadam.

Children Lunch Box Idea - 16

Click the Link Below for Step by Step Pictures of making the Dish with Clear Procedure 

Snakeguard Rice
Grapes
Curd Rice with Pickle

Snakeguard Curry Recipe

Snake gourd is one of the vegetables that is widely used in South Indian cooking. Snake gourd vegetable is believed to have a cooling effect on the body and is high in water content. So if you want to loose your weight, you can take snakegourd, ridgegourd, bottlegourd, bittergourd dishes often and these vegetables has highly rich in fibre content. 

Here in this recipe I have included more Chana dal that is cooked with Snakegourd to make the dish tastier and nutritious. Chana dal is easily digestible and rich in proteins. Lets move on to the recipe for easy snake gourd chana dal curry.

Ingredients:

1. Medium size snakgourd - 1
2. Chana Dal - 4 tbsp
3. Onion - no
4. Tomato - 1 small size
5. Green Chilli - 1 no
6. Homemade Sambar powder - 1 tsp
7. Mustard - 1/4 tsp
8. Split Urad Dal - 1 tsp
9. Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp
10. Curry leaves - 1 sprig
11. Coriander leaves
12. Cooking Oil - 1 tbsp
13. Salt as per taste

Cooking Method:

• Scrap the outer layer skin of snakegourd with a knife. 
• Cut into 2 or 3 pieces.
• Remove the seeds inside it and wash thoroughly.

Cut the vegetable into small cubes.

• In a pan add oil followed by mustard, urad dal, curry leaves.
• Next add Onion then Tomato. 
• Saute until tomato becomes soft. 
• Now add cubed snake gourd and saute till raw smell leaves.
• After some time add sambar powder, Turmeric powder and again saute it for few seconds.

• Now add water and cook for about 2 mins depends on your quantity. 
• Since we have sauted for some time, at that time itself it was half cooked. 
• So don't overcook. 

• Simultaneously cook chana dal separately in a cooker. 
• Add cooked chana Dal along with the cooked snake gourd. 
• At this time add salt. 
• Close the lid and cook for about 2 mins.

• Finally add grated coconut and garnish with coriander leaves.
• Now our snakegourd curry is ready to have it with plain rice. 
• since we have added more chana Dal the taste will be more when eaten with white rice.

For Making Snakeguard Rice

• In a pan add cooked plain white rice and cooked snake gourd curry. 
• The white rice must be cooled before adding it to the curry. 
• If it is added hot, the rice will be mashed with the curry and the taste differs.
• Mix it gently with spoon. Season with Coconut Oil.

Now our Snakegourd Rice is ready to serve for Lunch

Children Lunch Box Idea 15 - Broccoli green Peas Pulao

 

Broccoli green peas pulao is a healthy lunchbox recipe with goodness of Broccoli and peas. It is a different and tasty rice recipe compared to usual fried rice dishes. You can prepare the Masala for this recipe the before night and can kept in fridge for tension less morning preparations. 

Children Lunch Box Idea - 15

Click the Link Below for Step by Step Pictures of making the Dish with Clear Procedure 

• Broccoli green Peas Pulao
• Soya Chunks fry
• Onion Raita
• Snacks : Pomegranate

Children Lunch Box Idea 14 - Chana Masala Rice

Chana Masala rice is one of the spicier version of chana Biryani. But when paired with Raita it comes with an excellent flavour and taste. For packing lunchbox, the chana has to be soaked before night itself, so that it will be ready for cooking in the morning. You can prepare only the Masala and can be packed separately along with White Rice or can be sent as a side dish for Chapati. 

Children Lunch Box Idea - 14

Click the Link Below for Step by Step Pictures of making the Dish with Clear Procedure 

• Chana Masala Rice
• Onion Raita
• Carrot Sprouted greengram Salad

Crunchy Babycorn Salad

Baby corn Salad is one of the nutritious and stomach filling diet recipe. This recipe can be eaten for breakfast along with oatmeal or can be taken as brunch. Different kind of dishes can be prepared with Babycorn. One of my recipe is crunchy and crispy babycorn fingers. Now I am sharing a healthy low calorie crunchy and tasty brunch recipe with you all. Relish your day with Babycorn recipes.

Ingredients:

• Fresh Baby corn - 5 nos
• Capsicum - 1/2 
• Grated Ginger - 1 tsp
• Chopped Garlic - 1 tsp
• Red Chilli Sauce - 1 tbsp
• Soy Sauce - 1 tsp
• Pepper Powder - 1 tsp
• Salt as per your taste
• Olive Oil - 1 tbsp

Cut Babycorn and capsicum lengthwise as shown above.


Cooking method:

Take a pan. Add Olive oil followed by Onion, green chilly, Grated Ginger, finely chopped Garlic. Since we need crunchy Onion, Saute it just for 10 seconds.

Add Soy Sauce, Red chilly sauce. 

Then add Baby corn cutted lengthwise. 

Saute for about 5 seconds. Then close the lid. If u feel it is burning after sometime, you can sprinkle water and then cook for about 5 minutes in medium low flame.

Now add capsicum cutted lengthwise and saute it just for few seconds. Add salt.

Also add pepper and saute it for few minutes. The capsicum and babycorn should be crunchy. So do not overcook. If you have coriander leaves garnish it. I don't have :(. So I garnished it with chopped Onion. Now your diet Salad is ready for your brunch. Have it with a cup of green Tea.

Notes :

• For Variations you can include grated Carrot and soaked groundnut. It adds a great taste to the salad. 
• If you like lemon flavour, finally squeeze some lemon juice after adding pepper and serve.
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Plantain / Raw Banana Fish Fry Recipe

The dish looks like nethili Meen (small variety fish). This is a wonderful recipe which my sissy cooked for my blog and I clicked. The recipe name looks strange, because it tastes exactly like fish fry which are made from raw banana or plantain. So this name suits the recipe. Here the spice masala used for making this plantain fish fry gives an extraordinary flavour and tastes sooo good. Let us see how my sissy is doing this Fry recipe.

Ingredients:

1. Plantain - 2 medium size
2. Tomato - 2 medium size
3. Ginger - 1 tsp
4. Garlic - 4 nos
5. Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
6. Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
7. Cinnamon - 1 inch stick
8. Clove - 2 no
9. Red Chilli - 2 no
10. Mustard - 1/4 tsp 
11. Curry leaves few
12. Cooking Oil for deep frying

Cooking Directions:

Peel the skin of Raw Banana and cut into half

Cut into lengthwise pieces as shown below. Deep fry the pieces.

Fry it and keep it seperately

In a wok add Oil followed by cinnamon cardamom, Ginger , Garlic

Add Tomato and Fennel seeds

Saute until tomato becomes soft. Finally add Asafoetida and switch off the flame.

Cool down the mixture and add in a mixie jar and grind to a smooth paste. No need to add water. 

In a Wok add a tbsp of oil add mustard, curry leaves and ground paste

Let the masala cook for some time until it becomes thick

Add the fried Plantain into the spice mix and cook until it becomes dry

Now our tasty Vazhaikkai Fish Varuval is ready to serve with Rice

Mint Krushers Recipe

Why don't your kids be a chef for a day...? Here is an easy, quick and wonderful recipe for kids. Actually this is our vacation project in our school. Any recipe can be done by students. I chose this would be easy for my kid to do, as it is a fireless cooking recipe and no complicated methods and Ingredients needed. This is a Kfc style Mint Krushers and I think it is similar too. My hubby and me love this Mint Krushers and for sooo long time I wanted to post it in my Blog and now came the right time for this recipe. Vyshu enjoyed doing this summer drink and it was a pleasant experience for her. Moreover we prepared this krushers with farm fresh Mint leaves from our Garden. So it was a special Summer drink too. 

Ingredients:

1. Lemon - 3 medium size
2. Mint - 10 to 15 leaves (approximately)
3. Powdered Sugar - 2 to 3 tbsp (or) sugar syrup
4. Salt - 1 pinch
5. Chilled Soda water - 1/2 bottle (I used Lehar Soda)

The above mentioned Ingredients makes 2 glasses of Mint Krushers

Directions to make Mint Krushers:

Cut 1 Lemon and extract juice from it. Cut the remaining lemon as wedges

 Add the mint leaves and sugar in the Mortar. I used normal sugar.

Crush it nicely for about 5 seconds. That is enough. Add a pinch of salt

Add Lemon wedges. Crush it gently for about 2 to 3 seconds. That is enough. If you crush it for long time, the juice from it will be bitter.

In a bowl or Mug add the Ice Cubes followed by lemon extract

Also add the crushed Ingredients. If you need sugar you can add it at this stage.
Mix it well with a spoon

In a glass you can just add Mint leaves for Garnishing. Pour the crushed Ingredients as it is. If you want a clear juice, filter it using a juice filter. 

Vyshu do not like to drink as it with the crushes leaves of mint and with lemon wedges. So she is Filtering.

Add Chilled Soda water to the Glass of Mint mixture. You can add sugar at this stage too.

Dissolve Sugar

Now our Delicious Summer drink is ready done by Vyshu. Serve Immediately as chilled Juice.

Notes:

• If you do not have Mortar and Pestle Just add the Ingredients in a glass and with a help of any Iron rod or chapati rod crush the Ingredients.
• Do not grind the Mint leaves. As the flavour may differ.
• Granulated sugar may take time to dissolve, so you can use powdered sugar or sugar syrup.
• As soon as the Ingredients are crushed add ice cubes and soda, else the colour of mint leaves may change and taste differs.
• The carbonated water(soda water) must be consumed, once it is opened. As soon as the Mint Krushers are prepared, serve it without any delay.
• Please avoid preparing the Mint Krushers in prior, keeping it in fridge and serving later. It is not Krushers at all. 
• Be careful in every step of preparing the krushers. If anything goes wrong the Taste completely differs.
• If your lemon size is small or big change it according according to your taste. Sugar can be adjusted.