Packed lunches

Although it is very tempting to have Fakhruddin's biryani or KFC's chicken fry every day for lunch, it is surely taxing on the stomach.  When any food item is deep fried, the quality of the item becomes less healthy and multiplies in caloric density. Most of the delicious food that we can ever think of either have too much oil in them or too much sugar! So, does it mean that we must have dull and drab food everyday and keep away the delicacies for special occasions? Not necessarily! 

Having the same item every day can be rather boring and exasperating to the tongue.  But, cooking complicated and healthy items in the morning when there are multitudes of things to do can also be bothersome. In such cases, many of us give in to the pressure and pack ourselves anything that is available like sliced fruits and vegetables to the simplest of sandwiches.

This week, we tried to provide a few recipes for each of the five working days at hand. The recipes will be simple but scrumptious! The choices present have been made keeping in mind the lack of time. Each recipe will not take more than 20 minutes to complete given that prep-work has been done like onions cut beforehand and kept in the fridge, garlic-ginger paste prepared beforehand, etc.

Day 01 - Sunday

Salad Bonanza 

Prep time - 5 min

Cooking time - 5 min

Ingredients 

300g (trimmed) green beans

3-4 large sized tomatoes

100g (cubed) feta cheese

1 tbsp olive oil

Method

Take a medium sized pan and then take five cups of water. Boil the pan of water. Once the water has come to the boiling point, add beans and cook for 4 minutes until the beans are soft and tender. Drain the water from the beans and then mix it with sliced tomatoes and feta cheese. Take a bottle of olive oil and drizzle over the mixture, and then season generously with black pepper.

Day 02 - Monday

Delightful Prawn Noodles

Prep time - 5 min

Cooking time - 10 min

Ingredients 

1 packet egg noodles

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium sized onion

100g cherry tomatoes (halved)

1  green chilli

200g (pre-cooked) king prawns

2 limes for juice

4 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

25g roasted cashews

100g baby spinach leaves

Method

Boil the noodles for around 4 minutes. Follow the regular steps of draining the noodles and then cooling it under running water. After the mini process of working-up the noodles, place it in a large bowl and then cut it into shorter more edible pieces. If long noodles are your thing and you have mastered the art of chop-sticks, do not bother cutting them, hence saving few more minutes of your valuable time.

Take another pan and add olive oil, diced onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, green chillies and pre- cooked prawns and sauté for 2-3 minutes. While doing so, mix some lime zest, lime juice and chili sauce to get that blissful taste. Take this dressing and fold it into the noodles in the large pan. To make it healthier, you can also top the noodles with a handful of fresh spinach and roasted cashew nuts.

Day 03 - Tuesday

Swimming in soup

Prep time - 5 min

Cooking time - 15 min

Ingredients 

1tbsp olive oil

1 finely diced onion

2 sliced garlic cloves

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 sweet potato cut into 1 cm cubes

600ml vegetable stock

220g chickpeas

1 tbsp sour cream

50ml milk

Salt to taste

Method

Heat oil in pan; add onion and sauté for 2 minutes. Add garlic cloves, ground cumin, ground coriander and sauté for a few more minutes. Add the small cubes of sweet potatoes and fry for another 2 minutes. Add in 600ml of vegetable stock, and boil until potatoes are tender. Add chickpeas. Stir in 1 tbsp sour cream and add that to the soup and milk. Pour the completed soup into a thermos to keep it warm till lunch time. 

Day 04 - Wednesday

Relinquish the Deshi 

Preparation time - 5 min

Cooking time - 15 min



Ingredients    

2 cups basmati rice 

2 eggs

2 tbsp ghee/oil

Garnishing cilantro 

¼ sliced onions

5  (slit) green chillies based on taste/preference

1 small size (chopped) tomato

1 and ½ spoon ginger-garlic paste 

1 bay leaf, 3 cloves, 2 inch cinnamon, 1 star anise 

Whole garam masala 

3 cups water

Salt  to taste 

Method

Begin the process by heating a small amount of ghee/oil in a pan. If you prefer a healthier option please opt for Canola Oil or Rice Bran Oil as a good alternative. Put in whole garam masala into the pan. Sauté onions, ginger-garlic paste, tomatoes, green chillies and salt into the same pan. Break the eggs and sauté along with the above mixture. Add some water to the scrambled eggs. When the water boils, add the already soaked rice into the pan and let it cook on low flame. You can also use a rice cooker for the entire process. Garnish with cilantro. You can add chicken, shrimp to the entire mixture if preferred.   

Day 05 - Thursday

Champion chicken

Prep time - 5 min

Cooking time - 15 min

Ingredients

2 pieces chicken breast

2 tbsp store bought tandoori chicken masala mix

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt to taste

Method 

Sprinkle some chicken masala mix and salt on the poultry and rub it in carefully. Heat a griddle over medium flame and drizzle in a bit of oil. Place the chicken breast pieces on the griddle and flip using tongs to cook the chicken. Once the chicken turns golden brown and is firm on both sides, you know that your preparation is complete.

You can now enjoy this chicken as a packed lunch with steamed vegetable or fresh salad as a side dish.

By Mehrin Mubdi Chowdhury

Photo: LS Archive/Sazzad Ibne Sayed