Simple, Healthy and Quick Recipes

I am not a nutritionist or a professional chef or a food expert. I prefer fresh vegetables to preserved ones, fresh fiber fruits to packaged juices and cooking meals from scratch than ordering from take-outs. Studies have found that higher consumption of ultra-processed food is associated with overweight/obesity. Even though I cannot completely avoid processed food I do make an effort to use as many raw ingredients as I can. Given a choice I would love to grow my vegetables and fruits in a small patch of garden. These days I am consciously trying to cook up recipes with Beetroot, roasted cumin powder and Gooseberry. For cumin powder, I roasted a cup of cumin seeds till they turned brown and gave them a good mix in the grinder. 

Suji Cheela (Semolina pancake)

1. 1 cup sooji
2. 3-4 tablespoon curd
3. Half cup of water
4. Add finely chopped coriander and mint
5. Grate a slice of beetroot (beetroot will make your batter 
6. Grate 1 gooseberry (amla)
7. Add salt to taste
8. Add a pinch of roasted cumin seed powder

Let the batter sit for about 15-20 minutes. Heat a pan and add either a few drops of vegetable oil or ghee. Keep the pan on low heat and spread the batter evenly in whatever shape you prefer. Let it cook, once it turns golden or brown, flip and cooks from the other side. 

I love eating green chilies, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner or Maggi snack time. I also made some garlic and mint chutney to go with the sooji cheela. 

Rice flour Dosa

1. 1 cup of rice flour
2. 1 cup of water
3. Kept it overnight to ferment
4. Add a pinch of roasted cumin seed powder

Heat a pan and add either a few drops of vegetable oil or ghee. Keep the pan on low heat and spread the batter evenly in whatever shape you prefer. Sprinkle grated beetroot and gooseberry over the dosa, let it cook, flip the dosa once it turns golden brown and then cook from the other side too. 

For the dosa I made aloo jeera and sprinkled cumin powder and kale namak (Himalayan black salt) on the curd. 

Boiled Moong dal filling for sandwiches

1. Boil a cup of overnight soaked moong dal
2. Prepare caramelised onion
3. Add bell peppers/ carrots/ spring onion
4. Add salt to taste
5. Add grated beetroot
6. Add grated gooseberry

Add the moong dal filling in between two slices of bread. Smear butter or ghee on the bread and toast them over a gas stove till golden brown. 

I also added lettuce for extra crunch. 

Lockdown in Muscat has been extended to 22nd March. There is no shortage of any essential here and pretty much everyone is following social distancing. There is a Spinney’s store in our society, it’s a bit on the expensive side compared to our regular hypermarket – Lulu hypermarket, that is one place I have spent the most time in while setting up home in Muscat. In this lockdown and work from home routine, I am spending most of my time experimenting with recipes, painting and trying to read more. How are you all coping up with the lockdown?

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