Matki Salad

Matki or moth beans, a small, brown colored, oblong-shaped bean, is commonly found in every Indian household, especially in Maharashtra. You can get matki sprouts easily in the market, or best get it done at home.

Sprouted matki is best suited for this dish owing to a sweet taste it adds to the dish enhancing the flavor.

Let’s see how to make healthy matki salad quickly using simple ingredients.

Ingredients:

Matki sprouts: 2 cups boiled

Oil: 1 tbsp

Jeera (cumin seeds): 1/2 tbsp

Hing (asafoetida): 1/4^th tsp

Turmeric powder: 1/4^th tsp

Onion: 1 medium

Tomato: 1 medium

Green chilies: 1 or 2

Bundi: 1 cup

Coriander: for garnishing

Lemon juice: 1 tbsp/as per liking

Salt: as per liking

Method

• Boil matki with salt.
• Add finely cut onion and tomato.
• Pour some fresh lemon juice on top.
• Prepare tempering with jeera, mustard seeds, hing, turmeric powder, and chilies. Let the tempering cool and pour this on the matki and mix it nicely.
• Add bundi on top.
• Garnish with finely cut coriander and serve.

Total time: Total time 30 mins.

Nutrition: Don’t count calories, count nutrition!!

This dish is rich in dietary fiber, protein, folate, phosphorous, vitamin C & K, iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese.

Tip: You can also add cucumber to this salad for that extra crunch.

Sweet corn is a result of recessive mutation that occurs in the genes that control the conversion of sugar to starch. It is a native of North America and has high sugar content.

I have particularly mentioned sweet corn, as the flint corn (Indian corn variant), won’t taste good for this recipe.

Let’s see how to make lip-smacking sweet corn bhel quickly using simple ingredients.

Ingredients:

Oil/ghee: 1 tbsp

Jeera (cumin seeds): 1/2 tbsp

Hing (asafoetida): 1/4^th tsp

Turmeric powder: 1/4^th tsp

Onion: 1 medium

Tomato: 1 medium

Chili powder: 1 tsp

Chat masala: as per liking

Farsan: as per liking

Sweet corn: 2 cups boiled

Coriander: for garnishing

Lemon juice: 1 tbsp/as per liking

Salt: as per liking

Preparation

Boil sweet corn for 3 to 4 whistles.

Method

• Boil sweet corn with salt.
• Prepare tempering by adding jeera, hing, turmeric, and chili powder to oil/ghee.
• Fry the boiled corn in this masala
• Take the fried corn on a plate.
• Add finely cut onion and tomato, chat masala, and farsan.
• Pour some fresh lemon juice on top.
• Garnish with finely cut fresh coriander.

Total time: Total time 30 mins.

Nutrition: Don’t count calories, count nutrition!!

This dish is rich in dietary fiber, ferulic acid, potassium, vitamin C, iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese.

Tip: Add salt while frying onion in oil. This way the onion cooks faster and also becomes a bit crispy.

Soybean nuggets or soya chunks can be found in almost every foodstuff we know today, be it a sandwich, pulav, or a sabji. These chunks are textured or texturized vegetable protein (TVP), also known as soy meat, textured soy protein. Considered as one of the best forms of protein, it is a by-product of soybean obtained at the end of oil extraction. Mainly served as a meat analog, especially to vegetarians, soy nuggets are highly nutritious and tasty.

Let’s see how to make soybean masala using simple ingredients quickly.

Ingredients:

Oil: 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds: 1/4^th tsp

Asafoetida/hing: 1/4^th tsp

Turmeric powder: 1/4^th tsp

Onion (1 medium)

Tomato (1 medium)

Chili powder: 1 tsp

Maggie masala: 1 sachet

Soybean chunks: 2 cups soaked

Coriander: as per liking for garnishing

Salt: as per liking

Preparation

Soak soybean chunks in warm water for 15-20 mins.

Method

• Prepare the tempering using oil, mustard seeds, and asafoetida. 

• Then add turmeric and onion (Sauté until the onion turns translucent).

• Add tomato and fry till it becomes mushy.

• You may proceed with the addition of chili powder and Maggie masala.

• After the masala is ready, add soaked soybean to the mixture.

• Cover the vessel with a plate. Keep some water on the plate so that the chunks get cooked quickly.

• Keep on adding hot water from the plate till you get gravy of the right consistency.

• Add salt as per taste.

• Garnish with finely cut coriander.

Total time: 20 minutes for preparation and 25 minutes to cook.

Total time 45 mins.

Nutrition: Don’t count calories, count nutrition!!

The dish is highly nutritious due to the presence of potassium, zinc, magnesium, phosphorous, coumarin, curcumin, dietary fiber, vitamins (C, B6, A, iron), folate, thiamin, antioxidants, and last but not the least proteins.

Tip: Always add hot water while increasing the quantity of the dish. Hot water enhaces taste.

This is the first post on my blog. Thought why not start my blogging journey on the topic I love the most, i.e. Food (bold and caps!!)😍.

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
— J.R.R. Tolkien

What comes to your mind when you hear the word food? Biryani? Dabeli? Pav bhaji? Oh come on guys! Chuck that aside for some time, and join me for a discussion on this topic. Then you can continue gorging on your food.

What do you think food is? A mere nutritious substance that keeps people hale and hearty? Do you think we should limit food only to this? Dictionary too explains food in a very plain and tasteless manner.

To make you understand what food does to each and every one, let’s dig deeper in this realm and know food beyond its nutrition.

• Binding people: This is one of the most important aspects of food. Food is the only thing that keeps people of different faiths and beliefs together (followed by music). People who are loggerheads with each other can come together only for the love of food (at least I do).

• Meditation: Is sitting in a quiet place with your eyes closed the only meaning of meditation? No other act can be considered as meditation? Then you are highly mistaken. Cooking food, according to me, is one of the best forms of meditation. Ask why. Because the waft of delicacies prepared by you helps release all the stress built due to a hard day. The smell of tadka (tempering) or piping hot tea, etc. activates all your pressure points and relieves the stress. Forget cooking, remember the feeling you experience by the food bought from that favorite food joint of yours? Heaven right? Food satiates the taste buds and feeds your soul.  
• Culture: How can we not discuss this? Food and culture go hand in hand. Nobody can deny this. Why do we relate puran poli to a Marathi, rasgulla to a Bengali, sarso da saag to a Punjabi only? Traditional delicacies are passed down from generation to generation. All these foodstuffs identity the culture we are born and brought up in. The mention of our favourite food tugs at heartstrings and evokes feeling of warmth and love letting us relieve the cozy moments again. Don’t your heart fills with pride when a friend of yours, from a different cultural background, praises the food prepared by you that symbolizes your culture? Ya Ya right, I was talking about that fuzzy feeling😊 you are getting while reading this.

These are some of the many benefits of food I can think of as of now, apart its nutritional benefits. Have more suggestions on this topic? Do mention them in the comments below. Your suggestions are always welcome. Hope to see you again. Till then signing off. Can’t keep my coffee waiting.😁

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton