Meal Prepping

Meal Prep #1

Over the weekend, I did some meal prep tide me through the week. I chiefly cook for the following 4 reasons and then some : –

  1. for sustenance
  2. to feed (self and others)
  3. to keep traditions alive and
  4. because I simply can’t help it! (above all)

But some days even I can’t summon enough enthusiasm to cook (and it happens more often than you’d imagine and I’d like to admit) but even then, I deeply care about #1,#2 and #3. And so for those days, I usually have a ready arsenal of prepped chow in various stages on hand – ready to serve, half-way there, all chopped up and so on. And this kit, I assemble on a day when #4 is at play.

And then there are days when I’m so out of it that I simply couldn’t be bothered about #2 and #3 which automatically eliminates #4 but alas,there’s simply no escaping #1. So on those days, our chosen food is world cuisine and it usually comes right out of the freezer or from a restaurant.

A big shout out to my amazing friends and neighbors who feed us from time to time and of course, got to get in a shout out to world peace as well.

Coming back to this week’s meal prep, I’ve got some chopped bottle gourd and when the time comes I’ll cook it in a pressure cooker along with a handful of yellow moong dal/lentils, salt, turmeric and pepper, top it with grated coconut and finish it off with a swirl of mustard seeds and curry leaves tempered in coconut oil. Simple! This was part of a bunch of “Pathyam” (diet) recipes that my Paati (maternal grandmother) taught my Amma to be cooked for me after my deliveries (not the Amazon kind…Babies!!). I used to relish this then and it continues to excite me even now. Turns out that you don’t have to be a new mum to enjoy this wholesome fare.

Any day is a good day for a meal of Paneer Butter Masala and Rotis. Won’t you say so?

One fine morning, I plan to whip up a quick carrot chutney as a side for Kuzhu Kachi dosai which is a real treat. The batter is composed of rice, coconut bolstered with a little ground rice cooked to a Kuzhu (porridge) like consistency.

For that power breakfast, there’s a kadala curry base that I’ll transform into a fortifying meal of Puttu and Kadalai. On the chosen day, I’ll have to simply soak and pressure cook black channa and add it to the curry base. I can steam up a few Puttus in a jiffy. I’ve frozen another batch of the curry base. Next week I’ll pull it out of the freezer, add some green peas and serve it along with idiyappam.

The Kalan (I need a separate post to talk about its goodness and merits), beans poriyal and Cabbage molagootal are ready-to-serve meals that I’ll harness on a day when I’ve got just enough energy to pull out food from the refrigerator and serve. No plans for the chopped cabbage yet but rest assured it’ll come to me.

Besides all this, I’ve got Adai Maavu in the freezer and a small farm of spinach that I intend to turn into a scrumptious Lasagna. One day there’ll surely be Rasam and Chepankizhangu/Taro Root roast(for Meera), and I know, I definitely will be roasting some broccoli and sweet potatoes as well at some point. There’s also a batch of green chillies soaking in a mustard and salt bath that’ll need tending to in a day or so.

Finally, I plan to transform a bunch of bright and lip-puckering lemons into a lip-smacking pickle based on a recipe shared by a fellow blogger on IG. That’s it from me. I’m all prepped over and out!