A Mid Saturday Lunch: Protein packed Vegetarian Mini Thali

Mallika is a foodie who loves her native Indian cuisine. She enjoys exploring the cuisine and sharing it with others.

Date: Jan. 9th 2021, Time: around 11.30 AM.

As Saturdays and Sundays are weekends offs, for working people, time will be there to prepare a hearty meal, to try and experiment new recipes.

For the mid-Saturday, I wanted to prepare lunch(a meal, eaten around midday & second meal after breakfast) which consists full of vegetables with protein-packed. I planned to prepare a mini thali with three dishes. "Thali" means a plate which has a platter of two or more food items. I selected:

1. Paneer peas pulav
2. Mixed Vegetable curry and
3. Onion raitha

Let's see the recipes:

Vegetables used in the three recipes

1. Recipe-1: Paneer peas pulav:

A vegetable pulav is a rice dish which is cooked with rice, water/vegetable stock, vegetables and spices. I wanted to prepare paneer/cottage cheese pulav with minimum spices and yummy taste. I selected paneer, fresh green peas, french beans/green beans and capsicum in the recipe. I used ghee than oil which gives sweet aroma to the dish and included fewer spices for a mild spicy taste. Let's see the recipe:

Cook Time

Note: The three recipes can be made side by side. So, the total cook time is approximately 30 to 40 minutes.

Ingredients

• 4 cups raw rice, short grain or basmati
• 200 gm paneer/cottage cheese, cubes
• 1/2 cup onions, chopped, vertically
• 1/2 cup green peas, fresh
• 1/2 cup green beans, 1 inch cuts
• 1/2 cup capsicum, 1 inch cuts
• 1/4th cup green chillis, chopped , vertically
• 1 small tomato, chopped
• 1/2 cup coriander leaves, fresh
• 2 tablespoons ginger+garlic paste, used homemade
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon cloves
• 2 inches cinnamon, cut into small pieces
• 2 cardamom, pods
• 1 teaspoon kasuri methi
• 1 tablespoon coriander powder
• 3 tablespoons ghee/clarified butter
• 8 and 1/2 cups water

Cooking utensils used:

• round thick bottomed & deep, wide mouthed cooking vessel
• stainless steel rice spoon
• stainless steel plate as a lid

Instructions

1. Wash the raw rice two times with water in a colander and drain the water. Transfer it into another vessel. Pour 8 and a half cups of water to the rice and let it soak for 5 to 10 minutes. Here the ratio of rice to water is 1:2 respectively and an extra half cup is added. Keep it aside.
2. Wash the vegetables and cut as per instructions.

3. Turn on the stove and keep it low flame. Place the round and thick bottomed cooking vessel and pour ghee and let it heat. Add cumin seeds, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and let the spices sputter.

4. Add onions, ginger-garlic paste, kasuri methi and green chillis and mix with the rice spoon. Saute for 2 minutes.

5. Now add the vegetables-paneer, peas, beans, capsicum and tomatoes to the vessel and add one tsp. salt. Mix well the ingredients so that salt is mixed with the vegetables and tempering. Keep the lid and let it cook for 5 minutes.

6. When the vegetables are half cooked, add rice with water, salt as per taste, coriander powder and fresh coriander leaves and mix well. Change the heat of the stove to medium to high and place a lid on the vessel and let the rice be boiled for 15 minutes.

7. When the rice is being cooked by absorbing water, mix it well and check the seasoning. Add salt if required. Lower the flame to low and keep the lid. Let the pulav be slow-cooked for another 8 to 10 minutes till the rice is completely cooked. Place some weight on the lid so that heat would not escape. Here a steel mortar is used as the weight.

After 8 minutes, check the pulav and lightly mix with the spoon and close the lid. Let it sit for another 2 minutes. Paneer peas pulav is ready to serve.

2. Recipe-2: Mixed vegetable curry:

A Mixed vegetable curry is a gravy type of curry with lots of vegetables and spices. Here dry coconut powder is used as the gravy ingredient. Fresh coconut or dry coconut is used in the curries and stir-fries of South Indian cuisine. Let's see the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1/4th cup onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 cup potatoes, cubes
• 1/2 cup cauliflower, small florets
• 1/2 cup Indian broad beans, chopped
• 1/2 cup carrots, cubes
• 1/2 cup fresh green peas
• 1/4th cup fresh coriander leaves
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 2 teaspoons ginger-garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon kasuri methi
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 2 teaspoons red chilli powder, as per the taste
• 2 tablespoons dry coconut powder or freshly grated coconut
• 1 and a half teaspoon coriander powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• salt, as per the taste
• 2 cups of water

Cooking utensils used:

• 5-litre pressure cooker
• Stainless steel cooking spoon

Instructions

1. Wash the vegetables and cut them as instructed. Switch on the stove and keep the pressure cooker on low flame. Add oil and let it heat.

2. Add onions, kasuri methi and ginger-garlic paste and saute for 2 minutes.

3. Add the vegetables except for tomatoes and add 1 and a half tsp. salt and mix well. Let them cook for 2 minutes. Then add tomatoes, fresh coriander and the spices-turmeric, red chilli, cumin, coriander, garam masala powder, coconut powder and salt. Pour two cups of water and mix well. Check the seasoning and add spices if needed.

4. Close the lid and let it cook up to 4 whistles. Switch off the stove and let it sit for 5 minutes. Open the lid and mix well once. Mixed vegetable curry is ready for serving.

3. Recipe-3: Onion Raitha

Onion raitha is the basic raitha and tasty one as well. Let's see the recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh curd
• 2 tablespoons onions, chopped
• 1 tablespoon green chillis, chopped
• 1 tablespoon tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh coriander leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Cooking utensils used:

• A stainless steel serving bowl
• Small serving spoon

Instructions

Take curd in a bowl and mix all the chopped vegetables and add salt. Mix all the ingredients and check the seasoning. Raitha is ready to be served.

Take a plate or thali and serve all three dishes. This meal is healthy and power-packed with proteins. Enjoy this meal with your family and friends.

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