Friday, April 3, 2009

Wholesome healthy lunch menu - Palakwali Moong Dal, Paneer Burjee and Carrot Raita

I made this for lunch a couple of days back and then saw this event on Kid's lunches, hosted by Srivalli. I was not sure if this qualified - its healthy and all that, but would a kid relish this ?



I found the answer in all the slurps from my son when he had it for lunch and decided I will go ahead and post this and make it my entry for the Monthly Mingle- Kids Lunches, which is hosted by Srivalli this month and originally concieved by Meeta of the very popular Whats for lunch, honey.

My son's a little over 3 and he is really a no-fuss child(thank God for that !!) Already a budding foodie,(with parents like us, what did you expect ??) who relishes even his khichdis, which I make when I am really not upto cooking anything else !
Even on the days, I think I am being a cool mom and ask him if he wants to eat out at McDonald's (thats next door to where we stay), he will insist that I make roti sabji / khichdi at home. He does have his days when he wants just potato chips as a meal, but overall, he's a total sweetheart !

What I made for lunch that day was Palak with moong dal (Spinach and green gram dal), paneer burjee (cottage cheese), carrot raita and rotis - complete balanced meal



For the Palakwali Moong Dal

1 cup chopped spinach
1 cup green gram dal
1 small onion
1 tsp cumin seeds
1-2 green chillies
1 tomato
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp butter / ghee

Wash the dal and soak in water for about 15 mins
Chop the spinach and blanch
Chop garlic, onions and tomatoes into small pieces
Cook the dal in the pressure cooker
Prepare a seasoning in oil with cumin seeds, slit green chillies and garlic
Add onions and fry for 2 mins
Then add tomatoes and the spinach
Add the cooked dal and salt and allow it to simmer
Add a little butter or ghee. Serve hot.



Carrot Raita

2 carrots
2 cups curd / plain yoghurt
1 tsp cumin powder
a pinch of salt

Peel and grate the carrots
In a bowl, which the curd / yoghurt with salt and cumin powder
Add the grated carrot and mix well
Garnish with a little cumin powder
Chill and serve



Paneer Burjee (Scrambled cottage cheese)

2 cups crumbled paneer (Made mine at home - method below)
1 onion
1 tomato
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp chilli powder or 1 green chilli
1/4 tsp salt
a few coriander leaves

Finely chop the onion and tomato
Heat oil in a pan and add the onion and tomato
Add the cumin powder, chilli powder and salt
Add the crumbled cottage cheese
Stir for about 3 mins
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves

The days I forget to keep the milk in the 'fridge and it doesnt seem so good(there is no way it will survive the hot weather here), I make paneer out of it, so paneer at home is never intended, it just happens !!
To make cottage cheese /paneer at home, add 1 tsp of vinegar / juice of half lemon to milk when it is boiling. The milk will start to split. Keep it on a low flame for about 8-10 mins. The water will start separating and your paneer is ready. Drain the water out and the paneer is all done.

10 comments:

SJ said...

Very lucky to have a no-fuss kid, my 30yr old kid is horribly fussy!!! Love that paneer burji.

FH said...

YUM! Great selection of goodies to make and very very healthy. My kids must eat whatever I make, no choice! ;D

Anonymous said...

I want to be your son, to have those lovely lunches! but when I was young I was not as blessed as your son, I was a verrrrrrrry picky eater.
wow, I've heard of cucumber raita, but never carrot raita. interesting!

Cham said...

Paneer burji and dhal is healthy one for kids!

Deepthi Shankar said...

i love that moong dal recipe .. really yumm ..

Miri said...

God bless the two of them for not giving us grief in the food department! :)

The spread looks delicious and of course he relished it!

Srivalli said...

All look so filling!..thanks for sending the entries!

Manju said...

totally wholesome..lucky kids to have such good food :)

Vani said...

SO nice to hear about a kid who relishes his meals! My daughter is quite happy to live on love and fresh air! But she is getting a bit better these days and mealtimes are not so exhausting as they used to be.

Lovely meal that! I've never had home made paneer before. That must be super-yum!

EC said...

That definetely is one healthy meal that can be relished by elders too

LinkWithin

Related Posts Widget for Blogs by LinkWithin