My family genrally leaves home by 8 a.m. and returns by 5 p.m., whether it is to go to work or go to school. Which is a good thing................lunch is prepared in the morning and packed into bite-sized portions. A few snacks and munchies are also added.
Breakfast and lunch are the main meals of the day; foods that we need to keep ourselves going and performing well at work and studies. It's got to be nutritious, fresh and appetizing! The trick to doing this, according to me, is keeping it short and simple...........
Most of the food options in the lunch box have their origins in memories of my own lunch box during my school years- fond reminiscences of Mum's cooking. An abiding interest in food developed; hectic years of preparing for a professional career heightened, instead of hampering, the intensity with which I view eating- and eating healthy. Yes, Mum did remark "What is the use of earning money if you can't sit down and enjoy your food?"
Pondi fried rice is terrific when eating piping hot, and good even when eaten cold out of the box.
1 cup Ponni boiled rice- cooked al dente, tossed with salt, turmeric and red chilli powder
3 eggs-scrambled
Prawns- lightly fried in a little oil with mustard seeds, curry leaves, salt, ginger-garlic paste and sambar masala
A salad of tomatoes, cucumber and onion
Materials and methods:
Low- fat yoghurt 200 gm
Paneer or cottage cheese- 200 gm
Pulp of one mango (mine was from the kitchen garden- sweet, albeit fibrous, local variety)
3 eggs- whole
Powdered sugar- 1 tablespoon
Lemon rind for garnish
Brown bread slices for base
The paneer was piling up in the house, and I was sick of making mutter-paneer again since Gargi started getting tired of paneer in general. Digestive biscuits weren't around but 3 leftover brown bread slices were, so I decided to make a healthy cheesecake, and time was of the essence as we were already drooling!
Turned the oven on. Lined the baking tin with the slices of bread. Gently blended yoghurt, paneer and mango pulp, one at a time. Broke the eggs into the liquidizer, blended again. Added the sugar by hand. Poured it all over the bread- it was thick and gooey. Grated the rind of a lime from our garden on top. Baked at 200 degrees C for about 20 minutes. Cooled under fan, placed in fridge and attacked after 2 hours, post lunch.
It was delicious, but the brown bread was not such a good idea, and pieces of it had broken off and invaded the upper layers. Must repeat with digestive biscuits next time, but I think I'll just use them to layer, and not mix with butter as described everywhere. Hope it wins!
