A Healthy Lunch Menu

My refrigerator was getting filled up with left over vegetables; a raw banana here, a beetroot there and lots others in little quantities. As you see, these veggies weren’t suited for a mixed vegetable curry or sambhar. So I decided to make separate dishes of out each for lunch. And I ended up dishing out the following spread.

Dali Thoy
Raw Banana Mashed

Beetroot n Carrot Salad

Dali Thoy
Ingredients:

• 1 cup Toor dal
• ½ tsp Turmeric
• Salt to taste
• For the tempering: 6-7 Garlic cloves (crushed), 2-3 Dry red chillies (broken into halves) and 2 tsp oil

Method:

• Wash and clean the toor dal and drain the water.
• Pour 2 cups of clean water into the dal.
• Add turmeric powder and stir.
• Pressure cook it for 2-3 whistles
• Now mash the pressure cooked dal using a whisker; but remember that the mashed dal should not be not too thick or too watery
• Add salt to it and heat it on a low flame, stir occasionally
• While the dal is heating prepare for the tempering.

Tempering

• Heat oil in a skillet, add garlic cloves and fry them till they turn slightly brown.
• Now add the red chillies and fry for sometime
• Take it off the flame and pour it on the dal.
• Stir well, switch off the flame when the dal comes to a boil. Serve it hot with rice.

Raw Banana Mashed
Ingredients:

• 1 Raw Banana, peeled, cooked and mashed
• 1 Onion (medium sized), chopped roughly/finely
• 1 tsp mustard oil
• Salt to taste

Method:

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well using your hand. Proper mixing is essential for the salt and the oil to blend evenly.

Beetroot and Carrot Salad:
Ingredients:

• 1 Beetroot - cooked, peeled, grated
• 1 Carrot- peeled, grated
• 1 cup- Yogurt, whisked
• ½ cup- grated coconut
• 1 handful of roasted and crushed peanuts (tip borrowed from Maya of Konkan
  World)
• Salt to taste
• For the tempering: 1 tsp Chana dal, 1 tsp Urad dal, 1 Dry red chilli (broken into halves), 1tsp Mustard seeds and 5-6 Curry leaves

Method:

• In a large bowl, put Grated beetroot, carrot, yogurt, peanuts, salt and set it aside
• Heat oil in a skillet add chana dal, urad dal fry till it becomes light brown
• Add mustard, red chilli, curry leaves to it and wait till it sputters.
• Take it off the flame and pour it over the salad mixture.
• Put in the grated coconut and mix well and the salad is ready to be served.