Soy Chunk Upma

What do you need:
- Soya chunks (see picture below)

- half a teaspoon of Olive oil
- Salt
- Spices - mustard or jeera, turmeric and Rasam/Sambar powder/Garam masala
- Onions

- Tomatoes (Optional)

- Peas (Optional)

- Coriander (Optional)

Time needed: 15min work, 60 min soaking time

Kind: Very healthy, has a protein content of approx. 50%

How to do it:
- Soak soy chunks in hot water for at least an hour*
- Drain the water, gently squeeze the soy chunks to get the excess water out

- Use a blender or a food processor to grind the soy chunks to small pieces** (see photo - this is the one in the middle). Disclaimer: If you do not wash the mixer well later, I will not take responsibility for your apple juice smelling of soya.
- Take a pan, add olive oil and either mustard or jeera (depending on what you prefer) and allow them to splutter
- Add chopped onions and fry (I usually fry with some garam masala and turmeric too)

- Add chopped tomatoes and peas to the mixture
- Finally add the crushed soy chunks

- Add salt and sambar/rasam powder to taste

- Mix well, add a little water and allow the upma to steam

- Garnish with coriander

- Serve with anything with gravy like Rajma, Stew or even Raitha etc. (I usually eat it with anything that goes with rice like rasam, sambar, kootu, sabji, curd or just any sort of vegetable)

The last part of the photo shows my lazy version, it has only onions and nothing else, tastes good though :)

Soy upma with vegetables followed by a fruit for dessert is an ideal menu for dinner that fulfills all nutrional requirements and at a pretty low calorie content. What more can you ask for ??

If you are interested in crunchy soy nuts, you should read this.

*Soy chunks soaked in water stink, literally ! I find the smell so revolting that I actually keep the soaked soy in a different room (so you do not want to try this when you expect guests)

**Soy chunks are very often used as a replacement for meat. As a vegetarian, I find soy chunks (or commonly known as meal makers in India) unpalatable and hence the need for breaking the chunks and garnishing it with spices. If you prefer meal makers, you can simply add them to fried rice or kootu (vegetable stew) or dal (lentils) directly.

Crunchy Soya Nuts

I have been experimenting with many soya recipes recently. Soya and soya products are protein rich foods and hence are especially good for vegetarians who are not careful with their regular intakes of plant protein. There are conflicting opinions on how healthy Soya products are – Some believe they are the best while some others believe they are cancer-inducing! To me, the key is if my body gets along with Soya. It cannot really be cancer-inducing if more than a billion people in Asia use it without any issues but then again, they are used to it for generations. I think the best way is to try it out, see if one gets along with it, have no allergic reactions, no drastic changes in bowel movements, etc. In case of women, having no cycle-related issues would be a good indicator. The other thing would be to not over do it and replace all sources of protein purely with Soya for the rest of your life. Alavakku minjinal amudhamum nanju !

What do you need:
- Soya beans
- half a teaspoon of Olive oil/Butter
- Salt
- Baking oven
- Spices (Optional)

Time needed: <5min work, 35 min baking time

Kind: Very healthy, has a protein content of approx. 40%

How to do it:
- Soak soybeans in water at least for 4 hours
- Drain the water, wash the soybeans
- Grease the oven plate with olive oil/butter
- Spread the soybeans on it as a layer
- Bake them at 200 C for 30-40min (until they are dark brown)
- Add salt and spices (chilli powder or chaat masala) and mix well
- If you want to store it, do so in an air-tight container.

Result should be crunchy soya nuts that are ideal (to replace groundnuts) as 'a something to munch on' for a movie or a cricket match and will not push up your calorie intake too much :) !

Pesto...Presto !

What do you need:

- Penne or Spaghetti (I prefer Penne, is easier to eat)

- Pesto (ready made, I love the Barilla brand, its really good!) or homemade (if you are familiar with Italian cuisine)

- 2 teaspoons of Olive Oil

- 2 tomatoes

- salt and pepper

- Basil (Optional)

Time needed: 10 min

Kind: Moderately healthy (ready made pesto might have preservatives)

How to do it:

- Cook Penne in a pot of salted and boiled water. Do not took until eternity and make it a porridge, just until its soft enough to eat. Also cook only a portion that you know you can eat. Left over Penne tastes like @%$#^%^^& !

- Since the above step will take a max. of 10 min, in the meanwhile take a pan, add 2 teaspoons of olive oil

- Add chopped tomatoes and 2 scoops of Pesto (with a tea spoon) and heat the mixture until it forms a thick sauce.

- You can add pepper to the sauce (I usually add mulaga podi since I like it spicy :D)

- Add the sauce to the cooked Penne and garnish with basil

You can use Pesto to make a sandwich too. Just take a baguette, add butter or cheese to it, then add pesto, 2-3 slices of tomato, some lettuce leaves and lo! you have a sandwich that tastes much better than usual....atleast I think so, I am totally a pesto-girl !

Puliyodharai Noodles

What do you need:

- Spaghetti or Maggie noodles (I would NOT recommend tagliatelle or any other pasta that you cannot roll with a fork, the mixing will not be uniform in that case)

- MTR Puliyodarai mix (its really good!) or homemade (if you are lucky)

- 2 teaspoons of Oil

- A teaspoon of Coconut scrap (Optional)

- A spoon of Ground nuts (Optional)

- A spoon of cooked Chick peas (konda kadalai) – mostly likely leftover from the previous day (otherwise its not worth the trouble of cooking it just for this)

- Coriander (Optional)

- Curry leaves or karuveppilai (Optional)

Time needed: 10 min

Kind: Not healthy, purely for the benefit of taste buds => using it once a month is acceptable!

How to do it:

- Cook Spaghetti in a pot of boiled water. Do not took until eternity and make it a porridge, just until its soft enough to eat. Also cook only a portion that you know you can eat. Left over spaghetti tastes like @%$#^%^^& !

- Since the above step will take a max. of 10 min, in the meanwhile take a pan, add 2 teaspoons of oil

- Add MTR puliyodharai mix (quantity depends on how spicy you like it) and everything else (coconut scrap, ground nuts, chick peas, curry leaves) and fry for a few seconds. If you have homemade paste it will mostly have all the above ingredients in which case your job is just to mix it !

- Set aside and let it cool

- Finally mix spaghetti with this, garnish with coriander and eat with a fork (very tough to use one’s hands :D)

- Drinking a glass of buttermilk along side with it or afterwards is recommended (since each one of these items can push your body temperature !)

Why:

- Spaghetti has a lower calorie content than rice

- There is a limit to how much spaghetti you can eat (unlike rice :D), so you will eat far less than usual

- But you still retain the wonderful taste of puliyodharai (solrecheve enakku vayellam jollu), I have had friends laugh at me at the mention of this but afte tasting it, they all make it now! I am going to spare myself the trouble of giving disclaimers as to who can eat this food. If you don't know, I cannot help it !