There are tons of ways to include vegetables in our diet – through all my recipes here on the blog I try to show different variations of some common Indian traditional dishes using a unique combination of veggies and whole grains! I try to use veggies in as many ways as possible – including chutneys! Check out the Chayote Squash(Chow Chow) Chutney and Mint-Cucumber chutney recipes.
Pongal is an absolutely easy one-dish meal that can be put together really quickly, It is wholesome, healthy and  nutritious – Rice and lentils combined with really mild spices like pepper and cumin! I always look to add some whole grains in my diet – and hence I swapped the rice out for the cracked wheat! Believe me, the taste is still amazing! 🙂 Another thing I love to do is sneak in some vegetables – hence I added the cucumber. Now you might ask why cucumber? And there is no specific reason for that – I add in whatever veggies I can such as spinach, tomatoes or anything else I can get a hold of in my refrigerator. I have a quinoa-spinach pongal recipe already up on the blog! Check it out 🙂
Did you know that whole-grains and non-starchy vegetables are some of the best food choices to make to help with diabetes? Learn more about what food choices to make at this page.
Saagu is a traditional dish from south India in which vegetables are cooked in a coconut-cilantro gravy. This is a small twist of that recipe. I add moong dal or lentils while making saagu to pack in some protein and make the dish more filling. I don’t like a lot of coconut so I cut down on it. And I add some mint as it gives such a unique flavor to the cooked veggies and lentils. You can add any veggies of your choice – I generally use green beans, chayote squash (chow chow), green peas, carrots and kohlrabi (knolkol) 🙂  This is a one pot meal! I love those! They are easy to cook and also involve very little clean up! This dish works as a great side dish but if you are a veggie lover like me, then you would probably eat it like a main course stew 🙂 The only prep work that this dish requires is vegetable chopping!
I always try to include veggies in any meal I can. By include, I mean I have a large serving of vegetables. This actually helps me to keep the portion size of the rice/bread in control because I feel so full just with the sides 🙂 Apart from just serving sides with rice, you can get creative and serve it in multiple ways!
