Quick Cuboidal lunches

Wait, what? What is a cuboidal lunch.

Well, it's really just lunch tha's packed into rectangular tupperware. But using geometric words make things sound cooler for engineers!

Home made Indian lunch, placed in rectangular box tupperware, makes it easy to carry in another rectangular shaped lunch bag. That's all it is folks.

Pic 1: Assembled cuboidal lunch

Now, let's get on with the plan.

What you need already prepped/cooked:

1. Dal (lentil dish) - green mung+split chickpeas featured here. (Recipe for lentils).
2. Rice.
3. Vegetable curry or some side (Suggestion: cooked plantains) 
4. Fruits (your favorite). e.g. Peeled oranges, berries, chopped melon/cantaloupe etc.
5. 1/2 cup yoghurt - plain, whole & with live cultures. (optional, but highly recommended)
6. Chopped cucumber (optional) and radishes (optional, in season) or baby carrots. They add color!

Image of ruler embedded into pic 2 is sourced from http://nitasoesabdo.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html

Lentil Lunches

Raw lentils and rice to whip up a quick meal
Ingredients:
Lentils - mung beans or yellow split lentils or red lentils etc. - shop
1 teaspoon cumin seeds - shop
1 tbsp - Garam masala (indian spice mix) - shop
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup diced tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped carrots or some bell peppers (if you like them)
Few cilantro leaves (fresh is ideal), dried or frozen work ok too.

rice and dry lentils

Rinse the lentils and rice and let them soak in lukewarm water for 10-15 mins.

Tip: Sometimes it is better to rinse them separately (lentils first) then add to pot or rice cooker.

Measurement thumb rule: 
1 cup raw lentil  will expand to 2 cups cooked lentils.
1 cup lentil, needs 2 cups + 1 tbsp water.

If cooking in an open pot, then bring water to boil with 2X water, then turn heat to simmer, cover with a lid and cook for another 10-15 minutes till it is well cooked. Add a spoon of butter at the end and let it melt in. Check occasionally with a fork or spoon.

If using rice cooker add 2X water, add 1 tbsp butter and pinch of salt.
Eat with Yoghurt for simplest of meals. Or you can spice up your meal lightly with these additions:

Cooked and ready to eat dish (only the brown dal and rice). You can eat this with another stir fry dish (link) or mix it with an Indian spice powder like curry leaf powder or groundnut spice powder and serve with chips (kids like this). For adults you can also add some steamed veggies on the side or freshly chopped onions and tomatoes and add a dollop of plain yoghurt, along with the spice powders.

Seasoning the rice dish - you can heat up a skillet, add one TBSP oil, add  1 teaspoon cumin seeds - let them sizzle, then add some chopped onions, then chopped carrots after 2-3 minutes and once these vegetables cook, season further with garam masala powder (2-3 teaspoon) and little salt, finally topping off with some kasoori methi or cilantro. You can add the rice and mix it lightly, then serve immediately.

See other variations/related recipes here: http://spicetruck.blogspot.com/2012/06/colorful-food-is-appetizing.html

Cooked rice and lentil mix

You can also "cheat" and use spice mixes like this one by MTR (get them online or at your local Indian grocery store).

Plantains - Tamil Style

South Indian style plantain curry.

Diced, lightly salted, then braised in a pan with roasted mustard and split lentil seeds.

Uses about 2-3 tbsp oil for 2 large plantains. Salt to taste and chili powder to taste.

I add roasted flax seeds to the dish sometimes to give it better texture.


By the way, I added some rock salt to season this. Didn't have the heart to use the biggest crystal featured below though!

This other picture does show most of the salt crystals that were crushed and added to the meal!

Colorful Food is Appetizing!

A good mix of colors in the food I eat is always very appetizing to me. Even a simple salad made out of carrots, cucumbers (and you can add spinach, cilantro, walnuts or almonds for plant protein) looks great simply due to the contrast of bright colors. That is one of the items I made today for lunch along with a lentil-rice "pie" and a stir-fry with assorted vegetables.

Carrot-cucumber salad: Washed carrots (scrub well), washed cucumbers and then peeled. Sliced both into small pieces, mixed them up in a salad bowl with some lemon juice and sprinkled salt to taste. Also added some almonds to my salad to give some crunchiness. Picture shows what is left of the salad after we ate it while waiting for the stir fry to get ready.

Stir-fried Vegetables: Will add procedure soon. This included potatoes, zuccini, red peppers with cilantro seasoning at the end. Spices used were garlic, ginger, cumin seeds and asafoetida (optional).

Lentil-rice "pie": Not really a pie, but I just shaped the rice and lentils that I had cooked to softness in a pressure cooker (with 1 tbsp butter added) into the shape of a pie. You can also make this in a crock pot but start preparing the lentils first and then add the rice in about a 1/5th into your estimated total cooking time. So if you wanted to cook lentils for 60 mins in a slow cooker, then add rinsed rice and appropriate amount water about 12 mins into cooking cycle.

A different angle

Note: usually I add 2.25 cups water per cup of dry lentils and 2 cups water per cup of brown rice. these amounts may vary with your rice/lentil type.. add less and you can add more later if needed.

For other recipes using lentils, check out: http://spicetruck.blogspot.com/search/label/lentils