Lunchbox Series (Grilled potato and sprouts sandwich)

When my son started public school, I discovered something about myself that I didn’t know before. I actually enjoyed packing his lunches! I liked to plan out a weekly menu for him just like his school calendar, scour the various blogs and sites for back-to-school lunch ideas and yes, also make his lunch look colorful enough for him to want to eat it! It felt very satisfying to pack greens, nuts, veggies, fruits and grains and get a lunch review from him every day. On most days the lunches come back empty, and on some, there are a few half eaten bites. The rule is to leave everything in the box so I can keep track of what he is eating every day.

I tried to be a little more creative than packing mac n cheese and PBJ and being vegetarian, I also had to ensure there was enough protein and fibre in his lunches. And so began the search for a lunch box that would go beyond the basic brown bag. Laptop Lunches did the needful for me! The simple, colorful, plastic containers were just what I needed to get my creative juices flowing and make those lunches look edible too. What follows is a series of some lunch ideas for your school goer…and it works for those work lunch totes too.

Sprouts and Potato Sandwich

Ingredients:

Moong Sprouts – 1/2 cup

Potatoes – boiled and mashed – 2

Whole wheat bread – 4-6 slices

Chaat masala – 1 tsp

Onion, chopped – 1 medium

Green chilies – 1, finely chopped

1. You can prepare the filling the night before. Boil and mash the potatoes, add the onion, green chilies, chaat masala, salt to taste. Mix well.

2. The next morning, preheat the sandwich maker. Butter each slice of bread, add the filling in between, and toast the bread till golden.

Note: You can also add green chutney to this mixture before you add the filling to the buttered slices. Adds some spice to it, so this may be an option for the grown up lunches.

To pack Nikhil’s lunch, I used a kitchen shear to cut the sandwich into smaller triangles, and added orange wedges and yoghurt to make it a filling laptop lunch!

Sprouts n Salsa

I haven’t mustered the courage (call it timeliness) to submit any of my entries to a food blog event…but it’s always nice to read them all after the event is done. It’s like having a cookbook full of recipes to choose from! So when I saw Nupur’s blog at One Hot Stove, calling for entries for “Less is More” or recipes that call for 5 ingredients or less, I thought of submitting this recipe that I got from my dear friend PM. The only problem was that this was an original recipe, not borrowed from another blog as the event called for. So, as usual, I waited..for the event to be done, so I could, once again, read them all and maybe experiment later.

The dish, that I very plainly call “Sprouts and Salsa” is something that I do want to share, not as an entry to the event, but more for its simplicity. It’s literally that..Sprouts with salsa and some seasoning to create a dish that tastes much like Indian moong dal!

Ingredients:

Green gram sprouts (moong dal sprouts) – 1cup

Salsa (hot) – 1/4 cup

Garam Masala – 1/2 to 1 tsp

Chopped cilantro – 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

1. Soak the moong beans overnight and leave them for a couple of hours until they germinate. You can find a detailed description on how to sprout moong beans here.

2. Take a saucepan or a heavy bottom vessel. Add the hot salsa and heat over a low flame for a few minutes.

 3. Add the garam masala. You may also add some chopped green chiles for added spice.

4. While the salsa is cooking a little, cook the moong sprouts. Take the sprouts in a microwave safe bowl, add a thin layer of water and cook on high heat for about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.

5. Add the steamed moong to the salsa. Add salt. Mix well and cook for another 5 minutes. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot with chapatis or rice.