Whole Wheat Savoury Porridge

Healthy breakfast part deux!!!!

This is all part of an attempt to eat healthy! This recipe is by far my most favourite. An Asian take on porridge, made with non-traditional wheat grains! No, not broken/crushed wheat, just plain old whole wheat!

You will need:

•       Wheat grains (soaked overnight):  1 and ½ cups
•       Spinach: 1 and ½ cups
•       Mushrooms: 150 gms.
•       Ginger: ½ inch
•       Garlic: 5-6 cloves
•       Chilli oil: 1 teaspoon (optional)
•       Light soy sauce: 1 teaspoon (optional)
•       Oil (rice bran/canola or any other): 1 tablespoon
•       Pepper: to taste
•       Salt: to taste
•       Water: 1 litre

In a pressure cooker, add the soaked wheat and water and cook for 30 minutes on medium heat. (Alternately, you can boil the wheat in a pan with enough water, although this may take a little more than an hour.) Drain and reserve the water.

Chop the garlic and ginger and slice the mushrooms.

In a wok, add oil and fry the ginger and garlic on medium heat for about 30 seconds.

Add the mushrooms and stir fry for about 2 minutes or until the mushrooms start to brown.

Add the spinach leaves and cook for a minute.

Add the wheat and about 1 cup of the reserved water (more if you prefer it soupy: adjust salt accordingly), chilli oil, soy sauce, salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes.

Serve hot. Gobble.

Note: Makes enough for two people or one super hungry person.

Moong Dal Chaat

I am not a morning person. Neither is the husband. We usually grunt at each other until we have had at least a large mug of tea/coffee and breakfast. So food in the morning is pretty damn important. Since we are both heading towards the big 3 0 (uggghhh) we have decided to ditch our unhealthy eating habits and try to live a healthier life. This recipe is one such.

Although I must admit this is a fairly easy recipe for all who are experts at Indian cooking (mom, ignore this post), but for all those who haven’t reached advanced levels, here goes! This was today’s breakfast. Enjoy!

You will need:

•       Moong dal (split dehusked mung beans): 2 cups
•       Water: 3 cups
•       Oil (sunflower or canola): 2 tablespoons
•       Onions: 2 medium
•       Tomatoes: 2 medium
•       Green chili: 1
•       Chaat masala*: 1 teaspoon
•       Red chilli powder: ½ teaspoon
•       Juice of 1 lemon
•       Rock salt: To taste

*Substitute chaat masala with equal parts of cumin powder, coriander powder and dried mango powder/sumac/pomegranate seed powder to make up one teaspoonful.

Soak the moong dal overnight (or for at least 2 hours).

Thinly slice the onions and tomatoes. Slit the green chilli if you prefer a bit of spice.

In a pan, bring the moong dal to a boil and boil for 10 minutes.

Drain and keep aside.

In a wok, heat the oil, add the onions, tomatoes and chill and fry on medium heat until the onions turn translucent and start to brown around the edges.

Add the boiled moong dal, chaat masala and salt and stir fry for 2 minutes.

Remove from heat, add the juice of 1 lemon (or lesser if you prefer) and serve hot.

Note: feel free to add more veggies: Cauliflower florets and/or bell peppers work really well.

Zucchini Hash

Breakfast is my favourite meal and I truly enjoy it anytime of the day or night! I don’t see any reason why one can’t eat a full English fry up for dinner. I think we Indians are fairly flexible in this regard. We don’t really think twice about eating stuffed parathas or luchi-torkari (fried breads and vegetables), both typically breakfast food, anytime during the day or night.

 After a long day at work, rubbish weather and battling crazy hunger, I could truly only summon enough will to make something breakfast-y (I had a pretty long discussion in my head about getting take out too). I had precisely two zucchini in my fairly empty refrigerator, some eggs and some celery growing in a pot on the balcony, which resulted in this amazing eggy yummy zucchini hash! I am not ashamed to admit that I ate it all in one go.

 You will need:

• Zucchini: 2
• Eggs: 2
• Celery: 3-4 sticks
• Garlic: 2 cloves
• Olive oil: 1 tablespoon
• Salt: ½ teaspoon
• Pepper: to taste
• Chili flakes: to taste (optional)

Grate the zucchini and mix well with the salt in a bowl and keep aside for 5 minutes.

Squeeze the zucchini of any excess water.

Roughly chop the celery and garlic. Add the celery, garlic, one egg and pepper to the zucchini and mix well.

In a skillet heat one tablespoon of oil and add the zucchini-egg mixture and cook for about 5-8 minutes or until the edges start to brown.

Crack the other egg over the hash and cook for another minute.

Sprinkle chili flakes on top (if using) and dig in.