Work day quick breakfast and lunch preparation technique - a walkthrough of my morning cooking
Have you ever woken up late and you need to make breakfast and lunch and pack it and eat it and get dressed and oh the morning routine is crashed! But we've all been there. Most of us , if we don't have children or old people at house will simply decide to have food from outside that day. But living in a joint family, I can no longer do that. Hence today I thought I'd discuss a gameplan on how to cook ,pack and clean in 45 minutes to one hour.
Now work day cooking is always done with a bit of advance planning. I'm sure most of you already chop vegetables the night before or make idly dosa batter in advance . Other things that I've seen people doing are preparing chutneys ,idly podi or green sauce in advance. These are lifesavers if you have a lot of feed and less time . At my house ,idly or dosa batter is made every Sunday evening and will last for 4 days. While this can be seriously boring and monotonous, there are easier and healthy breakfast options like upma that can be prepared just as easily. I would suggest everyone to invest in a pressure cooker. The amount of time you save is enormous.
Today's recipe is:
1.Breakfast - Idly and idly podi or chutney ( podi is made in advance ,so you save on cooking time, else you can make a simple chutney with coconut, one green chilly and salt, grind it and drizzle with coconut oil and mix, it will hardly take 2 minutes)
Boiled egg, coffee / Horlicks .
2.lunch - Rice, tomato rasam, potato dry masala, olan .
So I finished this is 45 minutes without any preplanning .
Here's how it goes .
I wake up at 6.30 am and can't open my eyes. So I stretch and turn and the next thing I know it's 7 am. My husband is back from his jogging session and the baby is almost awake. My husband is hovering over me with a phone showing me the time. I say 'shit'( what a lovely word to say first thing in the morning eh?), Jump out of the bed the noise of which wakes up the baby. Now she needs to be fed ,so another 15 minutes gone.. after all the confusion, I finally enter the kitchen at 7:30 and remember I didn't chop any veggies the previous night( silent cursing!). So I decided on rasam and potato masala .
1. Open the fridge, take the milk ,two eggs and veggies out. Also take your idly batter out. Wash the eggs . Turn on two gas knobs ,one to boil the milk other for eggs. Now the gas is occupied for 10 minutes. So we can do some other work.
2. I take 3 potatoes, 2 onions and 9 cloves of garlic and peel it. By the time peeling is done, the egg would have started boiling. Time to act fast. Take a lemon sized tamarind and soak them in a bowl of water ( buy tamarind pulp instead to save time if you prefer) .Take your rice and wash them thoroughly. Wash your cooker ,add the rice and the required amount of water ( water should be at least 2 inches above rice) . Take the peeled potato and cut in half and place it on top of rice. Close the lid and keep aside. In a mixie or a masala dry grinder, add a teaspoon of pepper and jeera seeds and crush them to fine powder.add the garlic and crush it too. You can buy pre made rasam Powder if you want .
2.By now either eggs or both eggs and milk will be ready. In my case milk was not ready ,so I took the eggs off and placed the cooker on the gas . Now while the milk is about to boil, you need to stop multitasking and concentrate on the milk else it will boil over. Once the milk is done. Take a pan or pot. Wait for it to get hot in medium flame.
Meanwhile quickly Start slicing a tomato and onions. But before you complete the onions , the pan will be hot. Add a big spoon of oil and add mustard seeds . Wait for it to crackle and add the stir . Add the chopped tomatoes and let it fry for 2 minutes . Continue slicing the onions. When done add your tamarind water and add about 3 cups of waterAdd a table spoon each of chilly and coriander powder a teaspoon each of turmeric and asefoitida Powder and also required amount of salt. By now two whistles would have come from the pressure cooker. Take it off the pan and put another pan. Reduce the heat of that burner to low.
Start pulling up the whistle to release pressure. Be verrrrryyyy careful. Working with pressure cooker is dangerous. NEVER OPEN THE LID of the pressure cooker without releasing the pressure COMPLETELY. Release the pressure. If the lid doesn't open still, it means there is still more pressure inside. So what people generally do is add tap water to the sides to cool the vessel which will build up the pressure which can be released . Be very careful ( I cannot stress this enough and would not recommend to beginners , unless they practice well enough) , don't ever force the lid to open.
Meanwhile let the pot of rasam boil. Once boiled you are done.
Into the other pan, add oil ,mustard and jeera seeds ,each half a teaspoon.once crackled,add some curry leaves ( optional) , 2 sliced garlic cloves and the sliced onions. Add salt and stir and leave it to brown a bit in low flame .
Meanwhile lift the potatoes out and strain any water from the rice. Most people add fresh cold water to ensure the rice doesn't mush up.
The potatoes will not be mushy but a little under cooked. Chop it to cubes or which ever shape you want . Take your idly patram or the steamer used for idlies . Oil the tattu or the plates before pouring the idly batter.
3. Stir the onions and add the potatoes. Stir ,add 1/2 small spoon each of turmeric and asefoitida, a teaspoon of coriander and red chilly powder and mix. Once the potatoes are coated with the spices ,add a cup of water. Cover the lid and cook on high.
Remove the rasam pot and place your idly patram with water and the plates and close the lids firmly.
Once the water evaporates from the potatoes, add a teaspoon of Garam masala and stir and turn off the gas. If you have coriander leaves adding a bunch would enhance the taste.
Now it's about 30/ 35 minutes and all you have left to do is peel the eggs, add milk to individual glasses with whatever morning drink you prefer. I have coffee while husband takes Horlicks. Also you while you wait for idlies to be ready you can pack lunch for work and clean the kitchen. If you are running late you can leave the dishes in the sink but ensure you fill water in it else it'll be a herculean task to clean in the evening. I however don't keep dishes without washing them.i prefer to come back to a clean kitchen ( personal preference only).
Once the idlies are done, you can spoon it out and enjoy them hot .
Tada.. celebrate, because you not only cooked and served a healthy Indian meal ,you also packed another healthy meal for lunch . No takeouts, no bread jam mornings and no starvation.
Source>Shutterstock.com showing a typical Indian lunch box.
Now most people will incorporate some of advance meal prepping if they are working and if they have some time crunch. Certain tips that I have shared are very convenient while executing a crunchy morning routine. You can also buy products like tamarind pulp, ginger garlic paste, instant masalas and spice mixes and also having a bag of frozen cut veggies can also help in these dire emergency situations <wink wink>
Alternatively you can plan menus for the whole week in advance, prepare cooked dals and freeze them. You can also introduce Variety rice which includes rice veggies and/ or protein in one dish . This is a complete meal ready in one go. Vegetarian pulav, paneer rice, capsicuim rice, egg or chicken fried rice, masala bhat ,tomato /coconut/ pudina / sambar rice, the options are endless.
Thank you for reading.
Now work day cooking is always done with a bit of advance planning. I'm sure most of you already chop vegetables the night before or make idly dosa batter in advance . Other things that I've seen people doing are preparing chutneys ,idly podi or green sauce in advance. These are lifesavers if you have a lot of feed and less time . At my house ,idly or dosa batter is made every Sunday evening and will last for 4 days. While this can be seriously boring and monotonous, there are easier and healthy breakfast options like upma that can be prepared just as easily. I would suggest everyone to invest in a pressure cooker. The amount of time you save is enormous.
Today's recipe is:
1.Breakfast - Idly and idly podi or chutney ( podi is made in advance ,so you save on cooking time, else you can make a simple chutney with coconut, one green chilly and salt, grind it and drizzle with coconut oil and mix, it will hardly take 2 minutes)
Boiled egg, coffee / Horlicks .
2.lunch - Rice, tomato rasam, potato dry masala, olan .
So I finished this is 45 minutes without any preplanning .
Here's how it goes .
I wake up at 6.30 am and can't open my eyes. So I stretch and turn and the next thing I know it's 7 am. My husband is back from his jogging session and the baby is almost awake. My husband is hovering over me with a phone showing me the time. I say 'shit'( what a lovely word to say first thing in the morning eh?), Jump out of the bed the noise of which wakes up the baby. Now she needs to be fed ,so another 15 minutes gone.. after all the confusion, I finally enter the kitchen at 7:30 and remember I didn't chop any veggies the previous night( silent cursing!). So I decided on rasam and potato masala .
1. Open the fridge, take the milk ,two eggs and veggies out. Also take your idly batter out. Wash the eggs . Turn on two gas knobs ,one to boil the milk other for eggs. Now the gas is occupied for 10 minutes. So we can do some other work.
2. I take 3 potatoes, 2 onions and 9 cloves of garlic and peel it. By the time peeling is done, the egg would have started boiling. Time to act fast. Take a lemon sized tamarind and soak them in a bowl of water ( buy tamarind pulp instead to save time if you prefer) .Take your rice and wash them thoroughly. Wash your cooker ,add the rice and the required amount of water ( water should be at least 2 inches above rice) . Take the peeled potato and cut in half and place it on top of rice. Close the lid and keep aside. In a mixie or a masala dry grinder, add a teaspoon of pepper and jeera seeds and crush them to fine powder.add the garlic and crush it too. You can buy pre made rasam Powder if you want .
2.By now either eggs or both eggs and milk will be ready. In my case milk was not ready ,so I took the eggs off and placed the cooker on the gas . Now while the milk is about to boil, you need to stop multitasking and concentrate on the milk else it will boil over. Once the milk is done. Take a pan or pot. Wait for it to get hot in medium flame.
Meanwhile quickly Start slicing a tomato and onions. But before you complete the onions , the pan will be hot. Add a big spoon of oil and add mustard seeds . Wait for it to crackle and add the stir . Add the chopped tomatoes and let it fry for 2 minutes . Continue slicing the onions. When done add your tamarind water and add about 3 cups of waterAdd a table spoon each of chilly and coriander powder a teaspoon each of turmeric and asefoitida Powder and also required amount of salt. By now two whistles would have come from the pressure cooker. Take it off the pan and put another pan. Reduce the heat of that burner to low.
Start pulling up the whistle to release pressure. Be verrrrryyyy careful. Working with pressure cooker is dangerous. NEVER OPEN THE LID of the pressure cooker without releasing the pressure COMPLETELY. Release the pressure. If the lid doesn't open still, it means there is still more pressure inside. So what people generally do is add tap water to the sides to cool the vessel which will build up the pressure which can be released . Be very careful ( I cannot stress this enough and would not recommend to beginners , unless they practice well enough) , don't ever force the lid to open.
Meanwhile let the pot of rasam boil. Once boiled you are done.
Into the other pan, add oil ,mustard and jeera seeds ,each half a teaspoon.once crackled,add some curry leaves ( optional) , 2 sliced garlic cloves and the sliced onions. Add salt and stir and leave it to brown a bit in low flame .
Meanwhile lift the potatoes out and strain any water from the rice. Most people add fresh cold water to ensure the rice doesn't mush up.
The potatoes will not be mushy but a little under cooked. Chop it to cubes or which ever shape you want . Take your idly patram or the steamer used for idlies . Oil the tattu or the plates before pouring the idly batter.
3. Stir the onions and add the potatoes. Stir ,add 1/2 small spoon each of turmeric and asefoitida, a teaspoon of coriander and red chilly powder and mix. Once the potatoes are coated with the spices ,add a cup of water. Cover the lid and cook on high.
Remove the rasam pot and place your idly patram with water and the plates and close the lids firmly.
Once the water evaporates from the potatoes, add a teaspoon of Garam masala and stir and turn off the gas. If you have coriander leaves adding a bunch would enhance the taste.
Now it's about 30/ 35 minutes and all you have left to do is peel the eggs, add milk to individual glasses with whatever morning drink you prefer. I have coffee while husband takes Horlicks. Also you while you wait for idlies to be ready you can pack lunch for work and clean the kitchen. If you are running late you can leave the dishes in the sink but ensure you fill water in it else it'll be a herculean task to clean in the evening. I however don't keep dishes without washing them.i prefer to come back to a clean kitchen ( personal preference only).
Once the idlies are done, you can spoon it out and enjoy them hot .
Tada.. celebrate, because you not only cooked and served a healthy Indian meal ,you also packed another healthy meal for lunch . No takeouts, no bread jam mornings and no starvation.
Source>Shutterstock.com showing a typical Indian lunch box.
Now most people will incorporate some of advance meal prepping if they are working and if they have some time crunch. Certain tips that I have shared are very convenient while executing a crunchy morning routine. You can also buy products like tamarind pulp, ginger garlic paste, instant masalas and spice mixes and also having a bag of frozen cut veggies can also help in these dire emergency situations <wink wink>
Alternatively you can plan menus for the whole week in advance, prepare cooked dals and freeze them. You can also introduce Variety rice which includes rice veggies and/ or protein in one dish . This is a complete meal ready in one go. Vegetarian pulav, paneer rice, capsicuim rice, egg or chicken fried rice, masala bhat ,tomato /coconut/ pudina / sambar rice, the options are endless.
Thank you for reading.
Comments
Post a Comment