Lunch / Dinner Menu 4 – South Indian Vegetarian Lunch Menu

Description:

Today’s lunch menu is in vegetarian style.  It has been rainy for the past couple of days and I was no mood for grocery or vegetable shopping.  All I had was few basic veggies like onion, tomato and potato…….and I had to come up with something decent for lunch. Luckily found some fresh fenugreek leaves showing up in my garden and thought it would be a good idea to use them before the squirrels break all my garden pots playing hide & seek.   Ofcourse our vegetarian meal always include some kind of crispy fried item on the side, atleast an appalam should be there to munch!  A quick scavenging expedition  rescued few Tindoras from my refrigerator, made bhajis which was the only way to get them to picky eaters at home ahahaaa… Finished with yogurt and fresh ripe mexican marathon mangoes for desert!

Lunch Idea / Vegetarian Lunch Menu / Lunch Dinner Menu 4 – South Indian Vegetarian Lunch Menu / Easy Lunch Ideas / Simple lunch Ideas 

Please check these recipes by clicking on the link given below

Methi Dal

Rasam

Chettinad Potato Fry– From Priya’s blog

Crispy Tindora Bhajis / Kovakkai Bhajji – Onion Bhajji

Method:

Soak little tamarind for rasam, if using Toor dal then try soaking them too. (atleast 30 minutes)   I’ve used Masoor dal today, which doesn’t require a lot of soaking.  This is one instant type lentil which cooks super fast and if you are in a hurry … this will definitely dance to your tunes!

Cut few sambar onions for dal,  chop some small tomatoes,  mince garlic, chop tindoora into small rounds , cube the potatoes and soak them in cold water to avoid discoloration.  Chop some cilantro and keep your curry leaves and other masala powders ready.

For quick rasam mix- In a bowl crush some tomatoes, add tamarind pulp, turmeric, crushed black pepper, asafoetida powder, crushed garlic , coriander leaves, curry leaves with salt and rasam powder. Keep this aside.

Pressure cook masoor dal with little turmeric powder in one burner and cook for upto 3 whistles. They also cook fast over stove -top in a covered pan. (about 15 minutes)

Lets work on rasam now in the other burner….. get the talimpu/ thalippu /tempering and then add the rasam mix which you already prepared. When it starts to boil, switch off and garnish with some more coriander leaves and finish the rasam.

Now lets work on the potato fry in one burner, get it started and let the potato cook over low flame. Meanwhile temper for dal with few fenugreek leaves and add the cooked dal to it and finish. By this time your potatoes must have cooked fully, just saute to make it lightly crispy and finish that too.

For tindora bhajjis- I used ready made bhaji mix, to which you just add water. Dip the veggie and deep fry whenever you are ready to eat! Throw in few curry leaves to make it attractive!

Wash rice and get that going in the rice cooker or in a regular pressure cooker while you do all the kitchen clean-up.

Finally set the table and serve.  Enjoy your meal!