Lunch box recipes for office goers

Potato capsicum rice | aloo capsicum recipe

Take finely chopped onions, tomatoes chopped in small pieces , cooked potatoes , chopped green chillies , cashew nuts ( optional )

A masala is to be prepared for mixing with the potato capsicum rice.
For this we need two table spoons coriander seeds or dhania , one table spoon gram dhal, red chillies
We can add cinnamon and cloves also and that is optional. They give a good flavour to the dish.

All these are to be dry ground in a mixer after dry roasting ( with little oil ) in a vessel.
This can be stored in an air tight container and used for many mixed rice recipes.

Take oil in a vessel , when the oil is hot saute with mustard, urad dhal and curry leaves added in that order.

Add onions and fry them. It is preferable to use excess oil because the vegetables are to be mixed with cooked rice. They will mix and blend easily if there is more oil

Then add turmeric powder , say one tea spoon
Then add the chopped tomatoes and then capsicum and stir well.

Add the already cooked potatoes to the vegetables , We can added mashed potatoes also.
At this point I add cashew nuts , it is optional only
Then add salt as required . We have to add salt when we mix with rice , so salt addition may be planned accordingly

Add the ground masala and mix well

Rice is already kept ready spread on a plate for cooling. Adding a little oil to rice while cooling makes the grains separate or discrete.
Add the vegetable masala and mix well.

Potato capsicum mixed rice is ready. Use onion raitha as a side dish.

Traditional lemon rice for lunch box

This is a very simple and easy recipe idea. The only problem it is usually dry and we need some suitable side dish particularly if we are taking it for lunch.Take cooked rice and spread on a plate so that it cools. Spread oil on the rice with a teaspoon this will ensure that it the grains do not stick

Add salt as per your requirement

Take one teaspoon urad dal , gram dhal, mustard , asafoetida (perungayam ) to oil to saute

Add peanuts or groundnuts to the previously added ingredients. Some add grated carrots and onion sliced into small pieces also.

Add chopped green chillies now. Green chillies are required to ensure that the recipe does not have a bland taste.

Next add turmeric powder . Apart from the health benefits of turmeric that are under research ( you may refer to authentic sources that can offer more information on this subject ) adding turmeric powder gives a fine flavour and colour to the lemon rice.

Finally add curry leaves and complete the process

Add the fried ingredients to the cooled rice and mix well.
The next important step is of course adding lemon juice. For 200 gram of rice two medium sized lemons should suffice. Cut the lemons and squeeze them on the rice and then mix well with a ladle.
The traditional method for mixing is of course using the hand!

A simple and quick lunch box recipe is ready. This is quite a common and easy lunch recipe. However there were many requests for the video on my YouTube channel , so I thought of adding this recipe here in the blog also. Home made lemon rice or elumicchai sadham in Tamil is ready to be packed in the lunch box

Masala poori or spicy poori

A popular recipe in Maharastra also called thikat poori by my Nagpur sister , she prepares it particularly when she travels by train . The recipe does not become stale and so is a perfect travel recipe. Since we can eat it without side dish or with just sauce or pickle it should be a quick and easy lunch box recipe also.

The ingredients to be added to wheat flour are

one teaspoon white sesame , quarter teaspoon ajwain , half tea spoon chilly powder , quarter teaspoon turmeric powder , salt and ginger garlic paste ( it is optional )