The tastiest Moong Daal recipe to try at home | 24 Mantra Organic

24 Mantra Organic
Easy Daal recipe


This is post marks a lot of first for new beginnings. A new series on Foodie Land blog will now a part, simple and quick recipes for all the food lovers. Let’s say, we will keep three things in mind while posting recipes – Easy to cook, for lazy people like ourselves and hella tasty! Let us begin with a simple and staple food for all of us Indian. The humble daal!

For our First post, we have teamed up with 24 Mantra Organics, to bring you the tastiest and easiest Moong Daal recipe! Using the organically, ethically grown produce from 24 Mantra we wanted to ensure that the recipe is not only tasty but healthy too! Expect a lot of healthy recipes in the coming days, because we are going through a big lifestyle change. But without any further ado, let’s dive in to the recipe.



Easy Pressure Cooker Moong Daal Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup 24 Mantra Moong Daal,
2 green chilies {slit},
2 small onions {roughly chopped},
1 small tomato {roughly chopped},
4-5 cloves of garlic {finely chopped},
½ Tbsp Coriander powder,  
½ Tbsp turmeric powder,  
½ Tbsp Chili powder,  
½ Tbsp garam masala powder,
1 bay leaf,
½ tsp cumin seeds,
1 dried red chili,
1 tsp mustard oil,
Salt to taste

Method:

Wash and soak the Moong dal, and toast it in dry pressure cooker. Toasting is optional, but it does bring out a nice nutty flavor.

Heat up the oil in the pressure cooker, put all the dry spices {Bay leaf, cumin seeds, red chili} when the oil is hot. Fry for 40 seconds.

Put in the onion, garlic and green chilies in and fry for 2-3 minutes, till the onions are a little brown.

Add the tomato, fry for another minute, till the tomato is soft.

Add all the powder spices {Coriander, Turmeric, Chili, Garam masala} and the salt to taste. Fry this for 2-3 minutes.

Add the soaked moong daal and mix it well with the fried spices.

Fry for a minute, add 2 cups of water and give it a good mix.

Put the flame on low and let this be for 3 whistles of the pressure cooker.

Let the steam go off and you have your super simple daal ready!

Serve this daal with rice or hot phulkas and enjoy a simple and healthy meal! Do let us know if you try this recipe out , we would love to hear your feedback.

We'll be back soon with more grub.

Till then -- Keep reading our posts & bon apetit!

Dhyaana Health Cafe

bangalore



I have been keeping a close watch on what food I am consuming these days. Not because I am trying to achieve something, but eating a lot of heavy food has taken up a toll and I sort of want to cleanse my body.
And healthy food, consciously made with the ingredients kept under close watch, is what I am gravitating towards. And at the perfect time Dhyaana Health Café, located in Indiranagar, Invited me over to try their offerings.




Dhyaana health café is designed in such a way that you would get a beautiful positive vibe from the place. Plenty of natural light, calming and cozy interior is what makes this place perfect to relax and eat. 

They are not only a café, but they are a holistic center where they host yoga classes and mindfulness workshops. But in this post I’ll tell you about the food I had there! 

Let’s start with the drinks. I had a wheat-grass shot, called “Oh she glows” and honestly, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be! Because the last time I had wheatgrass, I immediately regretted that decision! 
 
masala tea

Nirvana

"Oh she glows"

The smoothie that I had is called Nirvana. And honestly, one of the best guilt free drinks I have had. The almond and the coconut water together make it a wonderful drink!  The masala chai is also quite good here. Love the fact that they serve the sugar separately. 

They also have dosa here, served with a light coconut and tomato chutney.  I had the mixed millet dosa. Apart from being quite flavorful, it was filling, which I had not expected. Also had some momos, I actually tried all the variants they have to offer and I loved the spinach momos. They are wrapper is made of whole wheat, if you were wondering. These are served with a spicy and garlic-y tomato chutney, which by itself it a treat! 

The khichdi bowl that I had was a hearty meal, with very subtle flavors. But again it was quite filling without any compromise on the taste, which I had not expected and was happy to be surprised! 

Mixed Millet dosa


Malabi
Lastly, I had a delish dessert, called malabi. It takes a bit like Phirni, but healthier version of it. The powdered rice makes this mildly sweet dessert a treat along with dry fruits and some pomegranate seeds! 

I would highly recommend that you visit this place. You can call it hip, on trend or necessary, but healthy food like this would always be a delight! 

Bon appetite!
Priyanjana

Premium Fitness Food @ 75 in a Box | Bangalore

75inabox
Grilled Chicken @ Premium Fitness Food @ 75 in a Box | Bangalore
Grilled Chicken

From the last year, we saw a sudden rise in awareness regarding health & fitness food in Bangalore and the list of people who want to eat healthy is growing each day!

Although we’ve seen very few dine-in restaurants serving such healthy food, food start-ups on the other hand are focusing on this as this field is still unexplored.

Before we begin with the main content we want to focus on the difference between health & fitness food: Health food is something which is good for health (balanced diet, high fibre etc.) & well-being in general and fitness food is for those who are targeting something in particular, such as fat reduction/muscle gain/ stamina etc. Since our bodies run with what we eat, it is significant to understand what we stuff ourselves with. It is proven that 75% of the composition of the human body is based on what we eat & this 75 is the focus in this post.

Say hello to 75 in a Box, a food-tech start up focusing on premium fitness food and helping everyone achieve their fitness goals (if they have one!).



We have tried healthy food before and it was pretty much bland & tasteless and we lost faith in it. This time around, our faith has been restored. We had a LOT of food and even after that we didn’t feel heavy at all! We tried their “try out” menu, but they want more people to subscribe to their fitness plan as that is in line with their mission.

On 75 In a Box’s website, you can fill in the relevant details: whether you want to lose weight/fat, more endurance or gain muscle weight. Appropriately they’ll prompt for body weight, height, dietary preference, no. of meals/day etc. & finally give an estimate of the cost for one month. Now, this cost might seem a lot but just imagine: that is your fitness meal plan for 24 days in a month! The rest 6 you can consider as cheat days ;)!

They advise all their customers to stick to a disciplined regime as otherwise, things don’t work out as expected. The food they serve remains nutritionally intact up to 1 reheat in a microwave. Consequently, nutritional values do not remain the same.

Time for details of the food:

We tried 8 items from them and we are thoroughly impressed to say the least. The amount of quantity they give at the pricing is unreal and they also use a lot of micro greens to top off their food.

Egg bomb @ Premium Fitness Food @ 75 in a Box | Bangalore
Egg Bomb

Couscous chicken salad @ Premium Fitness Food @ 75 in a Box | Bangalore
Couscous Chicken Salad

We tried their Egg Bomb, Couscous Chicken Salad, Grilled Chicken, Paneer Ala gremolata, Thai Curry, Chicken in Oyster Sauce, Sweet n Sour Chicken & Chicken Do Pyaza.

First up, the egg bomb was fulfilling. The concept is a boiled egg cut in half embedded on a boat made of minced chicken & herbs. The seasoning enhanced the experience. Loads of chicken involved and the combination tastes great. This is guilt free indulgence!

One of the best salads we’ve had till date, was the couscous chicken salad. It had loads of chicken topped off with cheese, almonds, couscous, raisins & apple. It was mildly sweet but extraordinary in terms of taste & balance.

The grilled chicken was perfectly done and stuffed with a delicious cheese and spinach filling. These come under the mains so they are served with sautéed veggies. The meat was tender & very flavourful. It was served with tangy penne pasta & it was a complete meal. The amount of chicken they gave at the price is really impressive.

The paneer ala gremolata is a very interesting preparation. It had baked paneer with breadcrumbs on top of a layer of sweet potato. The combination was super! The creaminess of the sweet potato & the flavour of the paneer matched brilliantly. With or without the sauce, it tasted amazing.

Paneer alagremolata @ Premium Fitness Food @ 75 in a Box | Bangalore
Paneer Alagremolata

Premium Fitness Food @ 75 in a Box | Bangalore
Grilled Chicken (Top Shot)

The Thai curry had a lot of lemon grass in it. The aroma & taste were spot on! The quantity of chicken is very impressive. The curry comes separately & the rice comes in a bowl with veggies.

The same goes with the Oyster sauce preparation. The sauce was so delicious that one can actually have the whole thing with the sauce alone! We suggest add some mushrooms in it as it will further enhance the taste. Apart from that, this was our top pick. This & the next item is served with buckwheat noodles. The noodles are very light, have a different taste & we loved it!

The last 2 are meal bowls which are packed to preserve moisture content. The sweet n sour chicken stood up to its name. So, what do you think of a low calorie & healthy sweet n sour chicken? Whatever you think, this will definitely change your mind! Very high on taste & one bowl is sufficient for a good meal.

The Chicken do pyaza meal bowl is equally amazing. Non greasy Indian food is hard to believe but yes, this actually tasted pretty decent. This is served with jeera brown rice . If you consider healthy food, this is as tasty as it can get.

Sweet n sour chicken @ Premium Fitness Food @ 75 in a Box | Bangalore
Sweet n Sour Chicken Meal Bowl

Chicken Do Pyaza @ Premium Fitness Food @ 75 in a Box | Bangalore
Chicken Do Pyaza Meal Bowl

Thai curry @ Premium Fitness Food @ 75 in a Box | Bangalore
Thai Curry accompaniments (curry with chicken served separately)

Chicken in oyster sauce @ Premium Fitness Food @ 75 in a Box | Bangalore
Chicken in Oyster Sauce accompaniments (chicken & sauce served separately)

Cooking without keeping health in mind is easy & turns out tasty with ease, but the opposite is very difficult. Kudos to the team for doing a splendid job.

For people with subscriptions, the services differ and they serve a variety of items (Salmon included). All their preparations are fresh and better consumed immediately.
Their packaging deserves special mention as they use imported sugarcane plastic for packaging which is 100% bio-degradable. So, they are doing their bit for the environment as well.

We loved their food & we will definitely try it again. We might even change our diet plan to fit them in, because they are so good!

We generally don’t say this, but we highly recommend their food, if you are a fitness enthusiast (or not). We are sure that you’ll love it! The best part is, let them focus on the nutrients & you can focus on your regime.

That’s all from our side!

We’ll be back again soon with more grub info.

Till then—stay tuned, exercise & bon apetit!

Evolve | Electronic city | Bangalore

bangalore

Healthy food is not something both of us have in mind when we go out to eat, although I have been going on and on about losing some weight and getting in shape, my love for “unhealthy” food is not letting me start with it! But when we had an opportunity to try healthy food and that to in Electronic city, we were very happy! 

There is a new place in Electronic city and it is Called “Evolve” and this is the place where you can find the healthiest food in the area! Situated right beside My cousin’s place on Velankani Drive.

Their motto is providing healthy food options to the calorie conscious crowd. But of course, they have some “unhealthy” options like biriyani etc for people like Rudra and me! They have opened around 2 months back and still in the setting up phase. Let’s put the spotlight on the food we tasted now.

We tried Strawberry smoothie, Chicken Club Sandwich, Chicken burger, Tawa fish, Cheesy pasta with Chicken topping and gulab jamun.

Strawberry smoothie was a delight to have. Smoothies are something very difficult to find, especially in this part of Bangalore. With chunks of fresh strawberry and right amount of sweetness this was great to taste. This is done with milk, in case you want a yogurt smoothie, and they have that available as well.

Chicken Club Sandwich, this tasted good, but if I had to consider having egg sandwich. I didn’t get any chicken and Rudra found one or two pieces of chicken. This is accompanied with French fries. The fries were done nicely but the sandwich sadly lacked the flavour of chicken, since it is was a chicken sandwich.

Rudra On Zomato

view my food journey on zomato!

The FLB on Instagram

Priyanjana On Zomato

view my food journey on zomato!