Japanese pizza or pancake, marinated and roasted lotus root slices,grapes and strawberries

Japanese pancake (okonomiyaki) : This is a savory pancake - a vegetarian version closer to japanese pancake or pizza. This is clean the fridge recipe...can be made with many vegetables.

3 cups cabbage thinly cut into strings, grated carrots 1/2 cup, sliced mushrooms, 2 tablespoon while wheat flour, 1/3 cup grated raw nagaimo root [optional or potato/taro root can be used], 2 teaspoon ketchup, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, salt. Mix it all together without any water. With few drops of oil make mini pancakes on the nonstick pan. Cook from both sides.

It already has ketchup but kids can eat enormous ketchup. This is a very good picnic food...lunchbox item.

Marinated and roasted lotus root slices : lotus root slices marinated in soy sauce + salt + sesame oil + rice vinegar and roasted on the pan.

Lotus root being a starchy root doesn't have much nutritional value...its different taste makes it a fun food to eat. Fresh lotus root is available at any supermarkets. Asian stores like Uwajimaya carry it in frozen sections too.

grapes and strawberries.

Around the World: Indonesia

Indonesia -- land of tempeh! For those of you not familiar, tempeh is made by cooking and fermenting whole soybeans until they form a solid cake that can be sliced and steamed or fried; it has a nutty, mushroomy flavor and a firm texture. Nutritionally, tempeh has more bioavailable protein than tofu or plain cooked soybeans, and the fermentation process makes it easier to digest. So thank you, Indonesia, for inventing my favorite soy food and a vegan protein powerhouse!

Lunch inspired by Indonesia: (clockwise from top right) Golden Indonesian Tempeh, made with a sweet soy sauce - brown sugar caramelizing glaze and a touch of spicy chile, Indonesian Vegetable Pickles, tangerine and star fruit, and Yellow Coconut Rice. The rice is garnished with a Chile Blossom (Have I mentioned that the new book includes an entire chapter on lunch box garnishes? Indeed it does!)

The vegetable pickles include lots of shallots, a member of the onion family which might not be familiar to all of us here in the West but is used extensively in Indonesia.

Link: Vegan Lunch Box Around the World.

Around the World: Hawaii

Here's another picture that didn't make it into the book, but I'll show it to you here! This is my Hawaiian Luau Lunch Box: (starting far left) Tropical Fruit Salad (mixed tropical fruit with coconut cream), Maui Onion Dip with sugar snap peas, Huli-Huli Tofu (grilled tofu with a Hawaiian-style barbecue sauce, and Aloha Sweet Potatoes (roasted sweet potato and yam topped with yummy toasted coconut).

Okay, so maybe the fabric is a bit busy, but I still had a lot of fun making and setting up this lunch box! You can have fun when you make it, too, by including a paper umbrella to garnish the fruit salad or wrapping your lunch box in a plastic lei.

Speaking of lunch boxes, this is another Lunchsense, size medium. The website says that this is the most popular size for grade school kids, and if you get it in this bright construction-worker orange, I'm sure your kids will never lose it!

Link: Vegan Lunch Box Around the World.

Peace of Mind: A Weather Radio

For a few months now, I've been participating in the Preparedness Challenge. For my birthday, my mom and dad gave me a weather radio at the suggestion of my sister.  It's wonderful!

The weather radio set and ready to receive alerts:

advisories, watches, and warnings.

My sister has a weather radio, and has called me when there have been some serious and dangerous weather headed towards the farm.

Most recently, she called as a tornado was spotted about ten miles from here. None of the outdoor sirens worked that day in the county/town, so unless you had a weather radio you  would not have known that the tornado was headed for the town. (It was a beautiful, sunny day - not at all typical of tornado weather).

The weather radio is a plug-in model with a battery back-up. In addition to being able to listen to the current conditions for one's area, the weather radio can be programmed with up to nine different counties.

I programmed seven of the counties to the northwest, west, and southwest since this is the direction from which the storms would come.

To listen to weather conditions at any time,

the "weather" button is pressed once.

So far, the weather radio has alerted us about severe thunderstorms, flash flooding, and windstorms in excess of 80 mph (enough to topple a tree). No tornado yet...but I'm quite content not seeing and hearing that alert on the weather radio!

Vegetable Dum Biryani

Vegetable Biryani is a versatile rice dish that goes well along with any type of curry. It is great for parties or for an elaborate weekend meal. I always make biryani the easy way as a one pot meal. I just dump the spices, rice and vegetables in the pressure cooker and cook it up. But this time I wanted to make it the regular way. I cooked the rice and the vegetables separately, layered the rice and vegetables and allowed the flavors to blend in the oven. It takes time and effort to make this biryani but truly worth the effort. I adapted the recipe from Anu's place.

You could use vegetables based on availability and preference. 

Ingredients
For the Rice
Basmati Rice - 2 cups
Onion - 1 medium sized
Tomatoes - 2 small ones
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tablespoon
Green chillies - 2 slit lengthwise
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Oil/Butter - 1 tablespoon

Whole Spices
Bay Leaves - 3 to 4 leaves
Cinnamon sticks - 2
Cloves - 4
Cardamom/Elaichi - 4
Cumin seeds/Jeera - 1 teaspoon
Star Anise - 2

Vegetables
Cauliflower florets - 1/2 cup
Carrots - 2
Green beans - 1/2 cup sliced lengthwise
Potatoes - 2 medium sized ones
Green peas - 1/2 cup

For the marinade
Curd/Yogurt - 1.5 to 2 cups
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Cumin/Jeera powder - 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon
Kasoori methi leaves - 1/2 teaspoon (optional)
Salt to taste


Directions
Soak basmati rice for 30 minutes in water.

First, prepare the vegetables and marinade. Chop all the vegetables in equal sizes. To the yogurt, add all the spice powders and whisk well together.

 

Add a little water if required. Add the marinade to the vegetables. Cover and refrigerate. Allow the veggies to marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the rice. In a wide saucepan, add the oil or butter and add all the whole spices. Once the spices start giving out their aroma, add the soaked rice and give it a stir. Also add salt, chilli and turmeric powder, the required amount of water (water:rice ratio - 2:1), cover and cook until the water gets completely absorbed. Fluff the rice with the fork once it gets done.

To prepare the vegetables, in a saucepan, add a little oil. Add the onions and saute until they turn translucent. Add the ginger garlic paste and green chillies and fry for a minute. Add the tomatoes and saute them for a minute. Then add the marinated vegetables along with the yogurt. Cover and cook on low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes. take care to cook on low heat since the yogurt might curdle more and result in a sour mixture. Once the veggies get well cooked, switch off the heat.

 Now comes the assembling part. In a baking dish, add a layer of rice, almost half the rice followed by a layer of vegetables. Top off with the remaining rice and garnish with some cilantro.

Cover tightly with an aluminum foil and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes at 300F. Fluff the veggies and rice with a fork together before serving.

Serve warm with a simple raita, boiled eggs and chips. Makes a great weekend lunch!

Sending this to Bookmarked Recipes hosted by Priya.