Veggie power!

Be it a young person or an old person it’s surprising that not everyone likes eating vegetables. However, vegetables are a must as they are packed with nutrients that boost our immunity. About 50 per cent of our plate should be vegetables. Let’s think of ways to include vegetables in every single meal – breakfast, lunch and dinner without making it a chore and adding fun to it. 

Raita, Dips and Purees: Instead of having a bowl of simple curd, chop up some onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots, mix it with curd and season with red chilli powder, salt or cumin seeds to make a delicious raita. You can puree vegetables of your choice or chop them up and mix them in your dip to give that extra crunch. As dippers, opt for carrot and cucumber sticks instead of nachos and fried potato wafers.

Sandwich: A go-to snack, when used with multigrain bread, and heaped with cut vegetables can fill your stomach right up. Instead of having simple bread butter, chop up some of your favourite veggies and place them on the one slice of bread to make an open sandwich. You could also smear on some green chutney on the bread.

Pulao: A pulao is made from adding spices like turmeric, red chilli, tamarind into plain rice along with vegetables like boiled potato, cauliflower, capsicum, tomato and carrots. So add some colour to your plate and eat pulao as it is filled with colourful vegetables and yellow rice. This delicacy is a meal in itself.

Pizza: We eat this at least once in a while, so why not ensure we have our vegetables with it? Pizza can have toppings as basic as onion, tomato, green, red and yellow peppers and as fancy as brinjal, spinach leaves and avocado! It is not only the toppings but also the base can be made from cauliflower and the sauce can be pesto too! The combinations are never ending. 

Pav bhaaji: Pav bhaaji is one of my easiest and tastiest way to incorporate veggies into my food. You can add in any vegetable that you want from bottle gourd to capsicum and you cannot go wrong! One doesn’t even need to have it with bread as eating the bhaaji plain will fill you right up.

Paratha: If you are bored of the standard roti sabzi then add on your vegetables inside your paratha! Grate some cauliflower, cabbage, carrot, capsicum and add it in the dough of your paratha. Once cooked, you can have it with mixed pickle or sweet pickle. You can even do a Mexican paratha which is like a quesadilla.

Hummus: One of my favourite dishes from the Middle East is hummus. Have it plain or mix in vegetables like spinach, beetroot, brinjal or pumpkin to make it delectable. You can eat hummus plain or with lavash or sticks of carrots and cucumbers.

Uttappam: This plate sized dish made from rice batter is thick like a pancake. This thickness allows you to sprinkle it with as many veggies as you want. You can also season it with cumin seeds, chilli powder or gun powder. 

Sambhar and daals: When you’re having a dosa or idli, don’t forget to have the sambhar. It has drumsticks, pumpkin, onion and the gourd family like bottle guard in it. You can cleverly sneak in spinach, onions, tomatoes into your daals too. 

Bakes: Instead of having a plain macaroni and cheese pasta, include some vegetables like spinach, broccoli, peppers, onions and tomatoes to your dish.