A dear friend asked me what I cooked for lunch during the week. She keeps a gluten-free, vegan, soy-free diet, and is always looking for tasty, healthy, simple meal options. I told her my weekday lunch routine – brown rice, lentil dal and a vegetable dish. I didn’t set out to find a simple formula but it has so happened over the last couple of weeks that I have been unfailingly following this 3-item menu. It takes the endless questioning ‘what-do-I-make-for-lunch’ out of the weeknights. Keep it simple for weekday lunches and save the drama/glamor for the weekends!
Brown rice
A friend suggested I buy Oyama stainless steel rice cooker. It is not cheap (it cost me $70, if I remember right) but I think it is great value for money. P and I eat rice almost every day, and while I like cooking rice on the stove top, it is nice to have an option that frees up one of the burners (and a cooking pan as well). Oyama has a stainless steel cooking vessel and so I don’t have to worry about the non-stick coating leaching into the cooked rice… Yech. That being said, brown rice needs a good lot of water for it to be cooked properly. I have been buying brown Basmati rice from my local Indian store, and following the 1:3.5 ratio for rice and water. The cooking process tends to be a tad messy because of the huge quantities of steam/water droplets emitted through the vent in the lid. Also, you have to monitor the cooking process closely so that you can turn off the power when the rice is cooked. On its own, it is automatically turned off only when all water has been completely absorbed, and to my taste, that renders the rice too dry.
Lentil Dal
Aah, the protein warrior for vegetarian diets! If someone asks me one more time about vegetarians and protein sources, I will hand them a packet of moong dal and ask them to shut up. Now I won’t do that, you know it! But lentils and beans are great sources of protein, as many vegetarians know. There are kinds and kinds of lentils – some light and easy to cook and to digest, some that do well with pre-soaking and require longer cooking times, some that work brilliantly with garlic, ginger and green chillies, while some others that only need cumin roasted in ghee and a garnish of cilantro to taste divine. Beans are heavier to digest. They are best consumed during summer and winter. They also need to be pre-soaked for a few hours before cooking. I cook both lentils and beans in my trusty stainless steel pressure cooker. In some regards, my kitchen is a direct descendant of the kitchens of my mother and mother-in-law, in that the pressure cooker occupies a place of pride. I have three of them and each one gets its turn routinely.
Vegetable Dish
My Mom has a lovely knack of making a vegetable dish out of almost anything. Give her a bunch of hardy greens, a giant colored squash, or a bundle of beets, and she will go at it with full enthusiasm. Her formula is simple. She chops the vegetable finely, so it cooks up in minutes. She uses spices very sparingly these days, preferring to rely on her trusted turmeric-red chilli powder combination mostly to draw out the natural flavors of the vegetable. Every once in a while, she will use a mix of dried cumin and coriander powder to add some North Indian flavors to the dish. Or she will add a teaspoon or so of the ubiquitous garam masala. In South Indian preparations, she uses coconut oil as the cooking medium and these days, I have begun to do that as well. Oh, she is also very liberal with her use of curry leaves. Sometimes, she will add freshly grated (or frozen) coconut to the dish after it is cooked. Very simple, honest flavors… homely and nourishing. That is Mom’s cooking.
There you have it, the magic weeknight formula to cook lunch for the next day… no fuss, no muss (whatever muss is!). The lentils on regular rotation in my kitchen include split pigeon peas (toor dal), green moong (or mung), yellow moong dal. Moong is one of those lentils that cooks up like a dream, is a powerhouse of nutrition, and most importantly, is easy on the digestive system. As for vegetables, I generally pick whatever is on sale at the local farmers market. Zucchini, green beans, sweet potatoes, beets and greens have been showing up regularly at Sandy Springs Farmers Market since weeks, and so, those are the veggies gracing our lunch boxes these days.
