#529 What was on my plate for lunch?

 What was on my plate for lunch?

Picture Credit : My mobile
Design Credit : Canva

I like cooking which acts as a therapy or a stress buster. It’s a survival skill especially when you live abroad. You can save a lot of time and money when you can cook decently. Cooking involves a lot of processes including cleaning and cutting vegetables, following a recipe, presenting the dishes and cleaning the dishes and kitchen. No matter how clumsy the entire process may appear, the result is worth satisfying our taste buds.

I have been trying to follow a healthy diet and making it rich with all kinds of available veggies. The picture is the plate of my lunch which consisted of plain rice, cucumber slices as salad, Dalma(a curry from Odia cuisine) containing flat beans, potato,brinjal and zucchini, fried egg curry and fruit cream as dessert.

For those of you who don’t know what Dalma is, here’s a short description. Dalma is a very sought-after curry in Odia cuisine which consists of seasonal vegetables like pumpkin, potato, brinjal, tomato, drum sticks etc. in a lentil base like Arhar/Moong Dal. It’s very simple to cook, so is prepared on a daily basis. First, you’ve to add some turmeric and salt to the boiling water in either a pot or pressure cooker, then add the washed daal (arhar/moong/masoor or mix of all) to it. After that add all the vegetables of your choice which are cut into big cubes and pressure cook them for about one whistle time. At the end, add a tempering of panch phoran and dried red chillies and serve it hot with rice or roti.

Egg curry is another simple dish that is among my favorites. Boil some eggs in salty water. Then remove its shells, prick them with the help of fork and marinate them with salt, turmeric, and red chilli powder. Then fry them in hot oil along with some diced potatoes. In a pan, put some cumin seeds, once they become aromatic, add sliced onion and ginger garlic paste. Fry them until they become golden brown, then add chopped tomatoes to them. Now, is the time to add basic powder Masalas like cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder, and chicken masala along with salt as per the taste. Once tomatoes become mushy and start losing oil, add some hot water and let it boil for 2-3 minutes. Now add fried potatoes to it and let it get softened by absorbing the curry, then add fried eggs to it. Let the curry simmer for 2-3 minutes so that all the flavors get absorbed in potatoes and eggs. At the end, garnish it with coriander leaves.

I gave a twist to the traditional fruit cream by replacing milk with curd. I added brown sugar to the curd containing 10% fat to make it healthier. This fat content gave it a creamy texture. I added some pomegranate for the crunch. It was so delicious as a dessert and concluded my simple lunch. I got so satisfied with the efforts that I put in preparing this lunch.

 Little improvisations in our food habits can create a big difference. So, we should invest in mindful eating.

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Swati Sarangi

12.06.2024

P.S: I’m participating in #BlogchatterFoodFest2024.

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