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Perfect platter
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Ensure every morsel of food adds to your health.
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IF YOU ask a woman, which is the most stressful part of the day, the answer will invariably be the morning hours! Who has not faced the frenetic anxiety of getting children ready for school or college, preparing to leave for work, at the same time making breakfast and often, lunch for those leaving home for the day? In this chaotic lifestyle of urban Indian women, there does not seem to be enough time to ensure proper nutrition for themselves and the family. It is time to take a good look at your eating habits and modify them to ensure that you are eating healthy.
Our main meals at a glance:
Breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Unfortunately, college-going girls and workingwomen tend to skip breakfast or make it a small meal. This is a mistake. Energy levels drop soon and by afternoon you will feel drained.
If the breakfast includes fibre and grain, you will be less hungry through the rest of the day. You will tend to snack less. Studies have shown clearly that a nutritious breakfast increases the ability to study and improves performance at the workplace. Oatmeal or ragi porridge, idlis, fruit and fruit juices are good breakfast choices. An egg provides an excellent source of protein. Milk is particularly important for girls and women in the childbearing years.
Lunch
Always start lunch with a salad — a few sliced tomatoes and cucumbers with a dash of lemon juice are tasty and provide you with antioxidants. Two small cups of cooked rice or two-three dry chapattis, vegetables and dal will provide a balanced meal. Meat or fish can be made in a gravy or baked, not deep-fried.
Dinner, in contrast, should be a lighter meal. This would be a good time to have two dry chapattis with dhal and a salad. Curd (yoghurt) can be made with skimmed milk if you are concerned about calories. Women tend to eat most of their calories at dinner. Unfortunately, all those calories that you have ingested at dinner have no way of being used up. When you are trying to muster the resistance you need to pass up a gulab jamun in favour of a piece of fruit, remember that as women age, their metabolism slows down, requiring them to eat fewer calories and exercise more regularly. With every decade, a woman will gain between five and ten kilos unless she makes an effort to control her weight. Say no to at least one food temptation each day, and you will soon be happier about the way you look and feel.
Savithri from Chennai wants the basic recipe for a low-fat gravy for channa or rajma.
4 onions — peeled and cut into quarters
4 ripe tomatoes, cut into quarters
3-4 green chillies
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled
4 cloves of garlic, peeled (optional)
2 cups of water
3/4 tsp turmeric powder
Cook these ingredients in a pressure cooker till the onions are soft. Cool and then grind into a gravy in a mixie. Heat a vessel. Add two tsp of Saffola oil. When the oil is heated, add the ground gravy. Add two tsp each of coriander powder and jeera powder, ½ tsp of amchur and salt to taste. Cook for five minutes till the raw smell disappears.
Add cooked rajma or channa and water if needed. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Sprinkle chopped green coriander on top before serving. Serves four.
You will have a thick gravy without deep frying in large amounts of oil. This basic recipe can be used as a base for any number of vegetarian or non-vegetarian dishes.
GITA ARJUN
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