My awesome lunch

I made an absolutely nutritious and delicious lunch today and I had to share the recipe because it's so simple to make. I made Kichadi and Zucchini Shak.
To translate, kichadi is a mixture of rice and split mung beans, and zucchini shak simply means zucchini curry. I made the kichadi using brown jasmine rice as a healthy alternative to white rice. Jasmine, like basmati, are considered to be high quality long grain rice. Long grain rice is lighter and fluffier and has lower starch content than short or medium grain rice. I used brown rice as this unpolished type is very high in vitamin, mineral and fiber content unlike it's polished white counterpart. Mung beans further add to this meal's nutritious value as they are not only loaded with vitamins, minerals and fiber, but they are an extremely high source of protein and are easy to digest.

For the Kichadi, I mixed together the rice and mung beans (1 cup rice;1/2 cup mung), and rinsed the mixture several times with cold water. I added the mixture along with 2 cups of water (1 cup rice: 2 cups water) to my rice cooker and added 1/2 tsp turmeric, sea salt, a pinch of asafoetida and 1/2 tbsp of olive oil. 40 minutes later, it was ready. So simple!

While the kichadi was cooking, I prepared the zucchini shak.

Ingredients:
1 medium white onion; chopped
1-2 cloves garlic; minced
1 tbsp finely chopped or grated ginger
1 hot pepper; minced (optional)
1 chopped tomato
2 tbsp tomato paste
1-2 zucchini, cut lengthwise and diced
1 tsp cumin/mustard seeds
1/2-1 tsp each cumin and coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric
Pinch of asafoetida
1/4 cup finely chopped almonds
Olive oil
Sea salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat olive oil in a large pan and add the cumin and mustard seeds. Once they've started to pop, add the onions and sautee until they're lightly browned.
2.  Next add the tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, ginger, hot pepper and the powdered spices (cumin, coriander, turmeric and asafoetida). [Optional: Add a bit of warm water if you want it to be gravy-like - and in that case you can add a bit of corn flour/starch as a thickening agent]. Reduce heat if creating gravy and/or stir and cook the mixture for a couple of minutes.
3. Add the zucchini and chopped almonds and mix thoroughly. Reduce the heat, cover and cook for about 5-7 minutes or until the zucchini is cooked and tender.

And there you have it, a mega healthy and very well-balanced lunch. Bon Appetit!