Cornflakes Chaat

It is challenging for every mother to meet the dietary requirements of highly active & energetic teens today. She needs to serve them 4 meals a day that satiates their hunger, nourish them adequately, and most importantly please their palate. Since it is almost near to impossible to prepare healthy hearty delicious meals four times a day, it is a good idea to prepare a dish that can be reused for the next meal. Now I have prepared yellow peas ragda (curry), served delicious cornflakes chaat as an evening snack, and serve the same ragda with chappathi or poori for dinner.

Paneer Dum Biryani

Biryani is a medley of rice, vegetables (or meat) & spices popular in India, Srilanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other countries in south Asia & central Asia. Traditionally biryani is cooked over hot coal in a sealed cooking pot allowing the aroma of spices permeated into both the vegetables (or meat) & rice. This method of cooking in low heat is known as “Dum” process. Now I have prepared Paneer Dum biryani over stove top, but we can also cook dum biryani using slow cooker, or bake it in the oven.

Chitrannam

We serve Chitrannam, a platter of rice dishes, as a lunch meal for the Aadi Perukku festival that we celebrate on the 18th day of the Aadi month of the Tamil calendar. Traditionally, we prepare tamarind rice (puliyodharai), lemon rice (elumichai sadam), coconut rice (thengai sadam), and sweet Pongal (Sarkarai Pongal). You can also check out my traditional chitrannam recipes here. Nevertheless, I prefer my chitrannam platter to be colorful and flavorful. So I have prepared spicy red tomato rice, aromatic green mint rice, nutty brown sesame rice, sweet yellow candied rice, and creamy white curd rice. Besides, they are easy to prepare with commonly available ingredients and we can even pack these rice dishes for children’s lunch boxes.

Fresh Fruit Salad

I like to take a bowl of fresh fruit salad for my lunch whenever I don’t feel like cooking an elaborate meal. I also don’t feel like missing my meal because of mint leaves & chaat masala, the star ingredients used in here. So anyone who wants to reduce the in-take of carbs can try this salad as it satiates one’s hunger. Besides we can serve this delicious fruit salad to children who refuse to take fruits, as they like the flavor of chaat masala.

Buttermilk & Lassi

We prepare buttermilk by diluting curd (yoghurt), and we also prepare creamy lassi using curd made of full fat milk. Spiced buttermilk is a traditional south Indian drink usually served after taking an elaborate lunch meal to improve the digestion. Buttermilk with jeera powder or chaat masala is popular in other parts of India. Lassi is usually served chilled as a dessert in almost every part of India.

Green Chutney

We can prepare restaurant-style Green Chutney easily at home using mint leaves or coriander leaves. A pleasant green chutney with a burst of flavors will surely make anyone salivate. Hence we can also serve this as an appetizer for kids or sick people who refuse to take food. It is heavenly to take soft idli or crispy dosa along with green chutney, red chutney (tomato chutney), hkjhkhd white chutney (coconut chutney) & sambar for breakfast.