Easy to make high protein lunches

I have started to make some major changes to my diet and eating habits. I found that it is actually easier to make and implement these changes when living by your self and cooking for your self.  I do shopping just for me.. so no more 'oh maybe I will take some of this home for Prudy'.. hehehe.. It is hard to make these changes though.. as I am finding it pretty hard to look for recipes specially for lunches. And here are the reasons why:

• I want something I can make in bulk and store.  But when I do eat them they should still seem just as fresh! (or almost)
• I want the recipes to be somewhat indianized because I know I will not be able to adhere to fully european meals every lunchtime. So it has to have some of that Indian flavour.
• I dont want to be using many pots and pans partly becuase I dont have any. No blenders/graters etc either.. so quick one pot meals preferred.
• Simple ingredients.. since I dont have a full kitchen and I wont be able to either (since the flat I stay in the kitchen is tiny as!).. no indian stores so need to have readily available ingredients.
• Meals can have some carb in it but need to source some very high in protein ingredients.

Anyway after much research, trial and error.. I have come up with two recipes that fit all of the above mentioned criteria.  The major ingredients being soya chunks (like those nutralla nuggest) and chickpeas.  Doing some online research, soya chunks actually have a lot of protein! I never realised. And chickpeas although a bit high in carbs, most of the carbs are in the form of fibre rather than sugars and they are also higher in protein than other lentils. So first recipe because there is lots of protein in soya chunks and not much carbs, I am adding brown rice to it. Since every meal needs to be 40-40-20 (protein-carb-fat).  The second recipe only chickpeas used as major ingredient since it has carbs and protein.

 

First recipe, soya chunks and brown rice pilau:

• Using spray oil I lightly grease the bottom of the pressure cooker, add in onions, chopped tomato, coriander powder, cumin, chopped chillies, chopped ginger and garlic, salt.. (the usual basic spices).
• Cool the masala/onion/tomato mixture well
• Add in pre-soaked soya chunks (I love them so I add liberally :)) and pre-soaked brown rice. I dont add in much brown rice, although the recipe says its a pilau (which usually is more rice than vegies.. its more like soya chunks and mix veg with sprikling of rice)
• At this point I also add in chopped brocolli, chopped carrots and peas (or any other vegetables I have in the fridge, like mushrooms, capsicum)
• Mix everything, add in water (twice the amount to brown rice since there are heaps of veges too) and pressure cook it all together.
• Add chopped coriander at the end and store in containers.

 

Second recipe, chana chaat (chickpeas)

• Cook chickpeas separately in pressure cooker. Can cook with a piece of cinammon stick and black cardomom to add some flavour.
• Chop onions, tomatoes, cucumber, capsicum (and anything else you think will go with chickpeas)
• Drain the chickpeas well, add chopped ingredients and mix well.
• Add chaat masala, little lime juice and chopped coriander.

Sunday and Wednesday evenings are my cooking days, so I make enough for three lunches and store in the fridge.  The thing with these recipes is that they taste alright if I reheat and eat (I dont reheat the chana chat, just bring it to room temperature and eat).  Because they are vegie I dont have to worry abt it going bad etc like for meats.

 

Now the challenge is to find some similar recipes for Dinners! Dinner will be extra hard since carb content will have to be very low...

 

Any suggestions girlies.. on similar lunch/dinner recipes that fulfil the above criteria!? Help needed!! :)

 

Spinach Rice

Hey all!

I just experimented today .. wanted to make a single dish for lunch and tried spinach rice. I looked it up online and modified the recipe a lot just cos I can never follow a recipe straight (a weird prob of mine)..here's the final recipe that came out yummmmy

Ingredients
~ 1cup chopped spinach (i used frozen)
1.5 cups basmati rice
a small onion - sliced thin
3-4 green chillies slit lengthwise
salt
coriander powder
chilli powder (very little, remember the chillies)
ginger (a small piece chopped finely or *TIP* i usually just freeze ginger and scrape off a bit into the dish; this way, it comes out really fine so that u wont have the strong taste if u bite into a piece, not to mention u can store it forever)
Whole spices:
cardamon (1-2 pods)
bay leaves (1-2)
cloves (1-2)
cinnamon (1 long stick)
carraway seeds (1 tsp)

Method
We have to pressure cook this so the best way utensil to use for all the 'prep' is a pressure cooker. Alternatively, u could use the rice cooker container on the stove i guess..
Heat oil, add all the whole spices. Once aromatic, add the onions, chillies and ginger and fry till the onions are translucent. Now add the spinach, chilli pwd and coriander powder. Once the spinach is totally wilted and looks almost cooked, add the washed rice and fry for a few seconds. Now add salt to taste, and around 1.75 cups of water (this is what i used and the texture came out pretty good.. think 1.5 cups might give the perfect 'separate' rice texture) and pressure cook for 3 whistles.

We had it with raita & some leftover alu kurma.. Ram reckoned just the raita was best.

:)

Tamarind Rice

Yayyy! Thanks for the yoghurt rice Megs.. it is SO yummy! I'll try making it sometime , the recipe looks pretty easy too :)

Here's my 2 cents on the same note:

Tamarind Rice/Pulihara

You need:
Cooked rice - 1 cup
Tamarind paste - 1 teaspoon mixed with water (else about a tablespoon or two of tamarind pulp)
Peanuts/cashews - a handful
Green Chillies - 1-2 (depending on personal taste/hotness)
Ginger - a small piece or even ginger powder
Tumeric pwd - 1/2 tsp

Tadka:
Oil
Curry Leaves
Mustard Seeds

Start with the tadka, and add the peanuts, chillies, ginger into the tadka. Once everything is spluttery & the peanuts are well done, add the tamarind paste/pulp, tumeric and let it go for another 5-10 mins, till it condenses into a thick pulp. Mix this with the rice and voila.. ready!

I never was a big fan of this before but now quite like it.. the peanuts/cashews add a nice crunch to it so they are necessary in my opinion. In fact, u can actually even add a few chana dal to the tadka for an extra crunch. Have it with yoghurt and/or pickle and yum yum. You can also make the same thing with lemon juice, just do the same as above minus the tamarind. Add the mixture along with lemon juice to the rice (don't cook the lemon juice).

Enjoy :)

Spiced Yoghurt Rice

So here's my contribution. A recipe that every south indian everyone knows (and more likely than not loves). Spiced Curd/Yoghurt Rice. I'm pretty happy with my version after a couple of attempts...so here goes.

 

Ingredients:

1 cup rice - cooked

3/4 cup yoghurt - fat free is fine

 

For the tadka:

2 dried red chillies

A bunch of curry leaves

1 tsp pepper corns

1 tsp mustard seeds

A small pinch of dried ginger powder

 

Fry the tadka in oil till the dried chilles and the curry leaves are nice and crisp. Let it cool down a little.

Make sure the rice has cooled down as well.

Add the yoghurt to the rice with salt (to taste) and add in the tadka. Mix it with your hand if possible cause you want the fried curry leaves and chilles to get crushed and completely mix into the yoghurt and rice.

 

I know it's a very simple recipe, but the blog has been waiting for 2 weeks and this is something i love, and make both when i'm not in the mood to cook and also for festivals!

 

xo

M