Healthy Kale with Yellow Lentils and Roasted Red Bell Peppers

These days everyone has become so health conscious, every other person I come across says that s/he are on a 'Diet' or have started eating healthy. Some are eating more of greens, whole grains, fruits and vegetables during the weekdays and go easy during the weekends.  Eating a healthy, balanced diet is an important part of maintaining good health, and can help you feel your best.  The key to healthy diet is to watch what you are eating, how many calories you need, how much water you are taking and how much is too much. The average man needs around 2500 cals/day and the average women needs around 2000 cals/day. 

Eating a wide range of foods ensures that you are getting a balanced diet and that your body is getting all the nutrients it needs. Base your meals on starchy foods. Starchy foods should make up around one third of the foods you eat. Starchy foods include potatoes, cereals, pasta, rice and bread. Choose wholegrain varieties when you can: they contain more fiber, and can make you feel full for longer. 

Eat lots of fruits and vegetables, Eat more fish, cut down on saturated fats and sugar. Increase your fiber intake, cut down on salt and fizzy drinks, keep well hydrated, taking 2-3 liters of water a day really helps flushing all the toxins from your system.

Coming to the main ingredient of this recipe, Kale is king!! Along with broccoli, it is one of the nutrition stand-outs among vegetables. It fights fat through its ability to mingle in a variety of roles -- in side dishes, combined in main dishes, or in salads. Kale is unusually high in fiber. This helps create the bulk you need to fill you up and to keep you full for a good amount of time. Kale is also an excellent source of nutrients, especially vitamin A and calcium. With a combination of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, kale is a dieter's dream food.

Health Benefits of Kale

Though greens in general are nutritious foods, kale stands a head above the rest. Not only is it one of your best sources of beta-carotene, one of the antioxidants believed by many nutrition experts to be a major player in the battle against cancer, heart disease, and certain age-related chronic diseases, it also provides other important nutrients. 

In addition to beta-carotene, kale posses other important carotenoids: lutein and zeaxathin. These carotenoids help keep UV rays from damaging the eyes and causing cataracts. According to recent research results, kale is an incredible source of well-absorbed calcium, which is one of the many factors that may help prevent osteoporosis. It also provides decent amounts of vitamin C, folic acid, vitamin B6, manganese, and potassium. 

The manganese in kale helps your body's own antioxidant defense system, superoxide dismutase, protecting you from damaging free radicals. Its folate and B6 team up to keep homocysteine levels down, which may help prevent heart disease, dementia, and osteoporosis bone fractures.

Image source & Information about Kale: web

Coming to this recipe using Kale greens in your diet is somewhat tricky as this is very bland vegetable and after much of trail and errors, I found this is one perfect side dish that goes well with rice as well as rotis, Indian flat bread.  

Kale with Yellow Lentils and Roasted Red Bell Peppers

Source: My Signature recipe
Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 20-30 mins
Serves:  6 servings

Ingredients
5 C of Kale greens, roughly chopped
1/2 C of yellow lentils (toor dal/kandi pappu) soaked in water for 1hr
1/2 C Roasted Red Pepper, roughly chopped
check out how to make roasted red pepper at home
1/2 C red onions, diced
1T or 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 dried red chillies (optional)
1t cumin (jeera)
1t mustard seeds (rai/aavalu)
salt as per taste
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 C water 

Method

• Firstly soak half cup of yellow lentils (toor dal/kandi pappu) in one cup of water.
• Wash your kale greens if it is not pre-washed. Chop them roughly on the cutting board make sure to chop those meaty stems.
• Meanwhile cook lentils along with water in microwave on high heat for 5 mins.
• Chop the onions and garlic and roasted red peppers.
• Take a big saute pan and heat extra virgin olive oil on medium flame. 
•  Add the cumin and mustard seeds to it, saute it for few mins till they are roasted.
• Add onions and garlic and torn red chillie pepper.  Saute till they turn little red and then add kale greens.  Stir for a min and let the color or kale gets intense. 
• Add the lentils and the water to the pan and mix everything evenly. Add salt and pepper, cover and let the kale, lentils and all the flavors marry together.  Cook till kale is cooked.
• Before turning of the stove off add the roughly chopped roasted red bell peppers, mix well check for salt and add if needed.
• Serve hot or cold with hot steamed rice, brown rice or rotis (Indian flatbread)

We had this with brown rice and it tasted healthy awesome!

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Red Lentil Sprouts Salad with Spicy Vinaigrette

Red Lentils ~ Masoor Dal (Hindi) is much popular in Northern India than in the southern parts is not much used in everyday cooking. They are sometimes combined with toor dal (yellow dal) in cooking to avoid the muddy taste in the red lentil. A variety of lentils exist with colors that range from yellow to red-orange to green, brown and black. Red, white and yellow lentils are decorticated, i.e. they have their skins removed.

A large percentage of Indians are vegetarian and lentils have long been part of the indigenous diet as a common source of protein. Usually, lentils are boiled to a stew-like consistency with vegetables and then seasoned with a mixture of spices to make many side dishes such as sambhar, rasam and dal, which are usually served over rice and sometimes roti/flat bread. I am using red lentil sprouts in my salad to add more nutritional benefits to it. A half cup of raw lentils yields about 2 cups of lentil sprouts and double the nutritional value too.

sprouted red lentils~masoor dal

Nutritional value and benefits of lentil sprouts: Lentils are a legume, and as such are high in protein and can be hard for some people to digest. The sprouting process should make digestion easier, but they may cause a lot of gas in certain people, who should probably avoid them.

The process of photosynthesis and germination changes the chemical composition of the lentil, increasing the amounts of the following substances: Vitamin A, C, E, Thiamin, Niacin, Carotene, Iron, Phosphorous, Potassium, most B vitamins. Sprouts are rich in digestible energy, bioavailable vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins, beneficial enzymes and phytochemicals.

Exact information on the chemical changes in sprouted lentils is hard to find, but most sources agree that almost every substance naturally present in the lentil increases during germination, and that existing substances, such as starch and protein, are broken down and effectively predigested by the activated enzymes, making them easier to assimilate. If you want to learn more about Lentils and their benefits click here here and here.
Source: Wikipedia

More on how to sprout lentils read Nupur's~A Primer on Sprouting Lentils or else check this video on Sprouting Beans ~ SBT team's blog.


Red Lentil Sprouts Salad with Spicy Vinaigrette



Source: My Own
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 10 mins
Serves: 4 people
Ingredients:
1C sprouted red lentils/masoor dal
1 carrot, peeled and slices
1 plum tomato, cubes
1C/bunch of Watercress (avoid the hard stems)
handful of dried cranberries/cherries
2T toasted pine nuts
for spicy vinaigrette:
3T extra virgin olive oil
1T distilled vinegar or 1/2 lemon juice
1 clove of garlic, grated
1 shallot, finely chopped
1T fresh parsley, finely chopped
pinch of red pepper flakes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method:

1. Wash and rinse watercress and dry it in a salad spinner or over the kitchen towel and place it in a large bowl. Add carrot, tomato, sprouted red lentils, cranberries and toss well.
   
2. In a small mixing bowl add all the ingredients of vinaigrette and mix thoroughly as the oil emulsifies with the acid.
   
3. Pour the prepared vinaigrette over the salad and toss well. Top it with toasted pine nuts or any nuts of your choice.
   

Sending this entry to My Legume Love Affair event hosted by Susan of Well-Seasoned Cook.

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Baby Bok Choy Pappu ~ Lentil

Baby bok choy

Bok choy, also known as Pak choi or Peking cabbage, forms a small but elongated head (not round like European cabbage) with plump white stalks and deep green leaves. A member of the brassica family, bok choy offers nutritional assets similar to those of other cabbages: It is rich in Vitamin C and contains significant amounts of nitrogen compounds known as indoles, as well as fiber--both of which appear to lower the risk of various forms of cancer.

Bok choy is also a good source of folate (folic acid) and potassium. And with its deep green leaves, bok choy has more beta-carotene than other cabbages, and it also supplies considerably more calcium. The stalks and leaves have quite different textures, so in culinary terms, it's like getting two vegetables for the price of one.Baby bok choy has a sweeter flavor than adult varieties. For more information on varieties, availability, storage and nutritional information click here, here, and here.

Did you know...?
1 cup of cooked bok choi contains 15% of your recommended daily allowance of calcium ~ equivalent to 1/4 pint of full fat milk.

Source: Whole health MD

Baby Bok Choy Pappu ~ Dal

Baby bok choy pappu ~ dal with phulkas and fresh cucumber

I like adding baby bok choy in salads, stir fry's, soups, stir-fry noodles and fried rice and recently thought why not make some dal ~ pappu out of it. That way we can have our fiber intake as well as some folate too. Its a nice cross-over for leafy vegetable dal.

Source : My own
Cuisine: Fusion
Prep time: 7 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Serves: 4 people
Ingredients:
1 cup toor dal/red gram lentil
5-6 stalks baby bok choy, trim the tough ends
1/2 red onion, sliced
3-4 green chillies, sliced
1/2 tsp turmeric powder/haldi/pasupu
1 tsp red chilli powder/cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
2 tsp tamarind pulp
for tempering/tadka/poppu:
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal/black gram lentil
2-3 dried whole red chillies
2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
few curry leaves
a pinch of hing/asafeotida
Salt as per taste
1tbsp oil
Method:

1. Chop coarsely bok choy and pressure cook them with toor dal/lentils along with turmeric powder, onions, green chillies, cumin seeds and chilli powder. Cook upto 3-4 whistles. Add tamarind pulp, salt to it and mash the contents.
2. In a deep pan heat oil, add mustard seeds, let it splutter then add urad dal/black gram lentil, curry leaves, torn red chillies, garlic and fry for a min. Add hing/asafeotida and pour the entire mashed bok choy dal and mix well. Let it simmer for 2 more mins.
3. Serve hot with plain rice or rotis /Indian flat bread.

Note: Use of salt should be limited while cooking this dal as bok choy already is little salty in nature. Thats what I found out while cooking with it.

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Peddamma's Pappu Charu (kinda lentil/dal soup)

Pappu charu is a daily staple in every Andhrite home, but many are not aware of this incredible *Charu*, or else you can say it is a diluted version of sambhar except that there is no sambhar powder used in this. In the west to be more specific it resembles the taste of a lentil soup but little sour to taste as we use tamarind pulp juice/water. There are many variations to it, you can add many different vegetables to it like okra/bendakaya/bhendi, eggplant/vankaya/ baingan or raddish/mulangi/muli etc etc and are respectively called as bendakaya pappucharu, vankaya pappucharu, mullangi pappucharu.

Toor dal/red gram lentil

I learned the art of making pappu charu from my Peddama aka mother's elder sister when I went to Vizag on my 12th std vacation. She is a great cook and has magic in her hands in cooking traditional andhra recipes and non-vegetarian recipes. Today I made the simpler version on the request of Bee from Jugalbandi with just tomatoes, onions and green chillies. You can find on pappu charu recipe at Vindu's, Mom's Kitchen, Sailu's Food, Mahanandi, and Srivalli's sorry if I miss anyone, these are random listings for the recipe, Enjoy!

Source: My Peddamma
Cuisine: South Indian, Andhra
Prep time: 7 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Makes: 6 people
Ingredients:
1 ½ cup red gram lentil/dal/toor dal
1 small red onion, sliced thinly
1 big tomato, cut and squeezed
3 green chillies, cut length wise
1 small ball size tamarind, soaked in 1 cup water
1 tsp red chilli powder (cayenne pepper)
½ tsp turmeric powder/haldi
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
2 cups of water
salt as per taste
for tempering/tadka:
1 tsp urad dal/black gram dal
1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
1 tsp mustard seeds/rai
2-3 torn dried red chillies
1 garlic clove, crushed and chopped
few curry leaves
a pinch of asafeotida/hing
1 tsp of oil

Method:

1. Wash and soak the dal for about 20 mins or so. Boil it in a pressure cooker for 3-4 whistles.
2. Meanwhile soak medium marble-size tamarind ball in 1 cup of hot water. Once the tamarind is soft, pulp it with hands and filter it. Keep the tamarind water aside and if there is more pulp in the remaining tamarind repeat the same with 1/2 cup water this time and continue so on till you have squeezed all the pulp out of the tamarind just like you do for sambhar preparation.
3. In a deep sauce pan add the red onions, chillies and squeeze in the tomato pieces. To this add the tamarind water, cooked dal, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt, mix well and if required add water if the mix is too thick. Bring it to a boil or till the onions are cooked.
4. Lastly temper it with seasoning by heating oil in a kadai/round bottom pan add the mustard, cumin seeds, urad dal/black gram dal then add the torn dried red chillies, curry leaves, and garlic. Once they are golden brown turn off the heat and add asafeotida/hing. Immediately pour this seasoning into the dal soup, Pappu charu is ready!
5. Serve hot/cold with rice and curries or pachadi's as a side dish
   

Here is step by step photo explanation of the procedure, I know which would be confusing with out this.

ingredients

cooked dal mixed with tamarind water, onions, tomatoes, chillies, turmeric, salt and chilli powder

Pappu charu boiling on medium high

tempered pappu charu

Our meal today: Rice, pappu charu, cabbage pachadi and aloo methi fry

The recipe for cabbage pachadi and aloo methi fry will follow soon...

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