On Tuesday night when PM Narendra Modi addressed the nation and announced the 21-day lockdown, many rushed to stockpile on essential supplies. Panicked over home confinement days coming ahead, they stripped stores of staples ranging from bread, milk and vegetables. And the biggest challenge that most of us are facing right now is to manage decent food with the limited available ingredients. So a limited supply of fresh veggies and other ingredients is causing a lot of panic right now.
However, instead of constantly worrying and stepping out to buy your stock, staying at home is the need of the hour. Along with staying indoors, what you also need to do is, rework your daily menus and brainstorm healthy food recipes that can be made even with limited ingredients.
So here are some fool-proof recipes for all of you struggling with all the cooking and “boring food” woes right now. From fancy-looking food like falafel tikkis to an easy-to-make mug cake, here’s something for you all.
P.S: You can make gourmet food with everyday ingredients also. Don’t believe us? Read on:
Basic Burrito Rice Bowl
The basic burrito rice has been my go-to recipe for days when I feel lazy and yet want to eat something flavourful. Fortunately, it also happens to be one of those few dishes that require minimal cooking. Additionally, the dish can be easily adjusted as per your individual preferences and according to the availability of ingredients at your home. While you can make it as fancy as you desire, a simple burrito bowl with the most commonplace ingredients works equally well. And that’s where the charm of these recipe lies.
Ingredients
Rice (cooked)- 2 Bowls
Chickpeas/kidney beans/sprouts (boiled) -1.5 Bowl
Tomatoes -2 medium-sized
Onions (finely chopped) -1/4 Bowl
Capsicum -1 medium-sized
Green Corriander (Finely Chopped) -2 tbsp or more (as per your taste)
Lemon -2 (medium-sized)
Ghee -1 tbsp
Salt -As per your taste
Red pepper -As per your taste
Method
- Take tomatoes and capsicums and roast them on direct flame. Finely chop them ones the veggies cool down.
- Start by taking the rice in a bowl. Now, here’s the key. Your rice has to be lukewarm for the perfect dish. Add rice to the dish, followed by your proteins i.e. the kidney beans (or whatever you are using). Now add all the chopped veggies and then top it with red pepper and salt as per your taste. Thoroughly mix the ingredients.
- Once mixed, add lemon juice to the mix and give it a nice mix yet again.
- Top it with a drizzle of hot ghee right before serving.
Desi Falafal Tikkis
Did quarantine get you craving for something fancy? The Indianised Falafel Tikki is sure to take care of your taste buds and before you are put off by the anticipation of all the complexities and cooking coming your way, take this from me: this too is a basic deal made with the most basic of the ingredients. Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients
Chickpeas (boiled) -2 Bowls
Potatoes (boiled) -4
Bread crumbs or plain flour (whichever is available) -1/2 bowl
Onions (finely chopped) -1/2 bowl
Garlic (crushed & finely chopped) -2 tbsp
Corriander (finely chopped)- 1/4 bowl
Green chilly (finely chopped)- 1
Salt- as per your taste
Red chilly- as per your taste
Turmeric- 1 tbsp
Cumin powder- 1 tbsp
Oil- for shallow frying
P.S: You can exclude any of these ingredients except salt as per availability
Method
- Process the boiled chickpeas in a grinder until nicely ground.
- Now use your hands to mash the potatoes. Once done, add the ground chickpeas, bread crumbs (or plain flour), onions, coriander, garlic, and all the spices to a bowl. Mix the ingredients and keep kneading till you achieve a dough-like consistency (Remember that it will course because of all the ingredients)
- Now make balls out of the dough, flatten them with your hand and shallow fry the tikkis on a non-stick pan till golden brown from both sides.
- Serve piping hot with ketchup or chutney.
Aloo Tikka
Missing all the mid-work snacks that you’d keep ordering from work? Well, here’s a snack that’s not only easy to make but would also kick the other snacks’ ass. I have been literally making Aloo Tikka since school and this one has never failed me. Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients
Potatoes (partially boiled)- 7 to 8 medium-sized
Hung Curd- 1/2 bowl
Ginger-garlic paste- 1 tbsp
Turmeric- 1/2 tbsp
Red Chilli- as per your taste
Salt- as per your taste
Amchoor- 1/2 tbsp
Garam Masala- 1/2 tbsp
Mustard Oil- 1 tbsp
Olive oil- to grease the oven sheet
Method
- Take the boiled potatoes and roughly dice them into tikka sized cubes. Keep aside.
- Take a bowl and mix yogurt, ginger-garlic paste, all the spices, and oil for the marinade.
- Now transfer the boiled potatoes to the marinade bowl and cover them with your hands.
- Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C for 10 minutes in grill/broil mode. Now, place a foil sheet in a baking tray and grease it with oil.
- Place the marinated potatoes over the foil and grill for 10 minutes. After ten minutes, toss them a little and grill for another ten minutes.
- Serve Piping hot.
Oreo Mug Cake
Now, what’s the joy of cooking sans any dessert? Now here’s some news: this is perhaps the simplest dessert recipe ever, requires only four ingredients and tastes bomb AF! Game for some dessert? Read on:
Ingredients
Oreos 7 to 10
Milk- 1/2 cup
Sugar- 1 tbsp (or skip if you don’t like it too sweet)
Baking Powder- 1/2 tbsp
Butter- for greasing
Method
- Crush the Oreo cookies roughly without removing the cream. Use a rolling pin or a food processor, whatever works for you.
- Transfer the cookies to a bowl, add the baking powder and mix well.
- Now add milk to the mix and keep mixing till it gets perfectly incorporated.
- Now, grease a microwave-safe bowl with some butter, pour the batter into the cake and cook for two minutes in the microwave mode.
- Well, that’s it!
So folks, all set for some gourmet cooking?
Also Read: Lohri food recipes
Also Read: Mushroom Recipe
Featured Image: Tosshub
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