Weekend Cooking Spree

On Saturdays, I try to cook food for the entire week. Sometimes enough food to last us through two weeks..  Last weekend, while Seejo was in his class, I decided to spend the time productively by finishing the cooking. I thought I’ll show you the final output of my cooking spree.

Now here are the challenges I face when I cook for two weeks:

1. Variety.  We cannot eat similar food for a week , let alone for two. There should be variety in taste, texture, color, cuisine style, food type—in short this is the biggest challenge to overcome. What this means, is I cannot make rice & daal to satisfy us for a week 🙂
2. Whatever produce is present in the refrigerator MUST be used up. This is critical as I’d not be cooking for the next two weeks and so the vegetables tend to go bad if I do not use them all up.
3. Given challenge # 1 and challenge #2 , this means, I have to use the same vegetables in two or three different curries IN an innovative fashion so that a) I finish the vegetable and b) I satisfy the variety requirement by making a different type of dish
4. Each dish should be cooked with minimum of actual stove top time. My cooking style is completely the fill it, shut it and forget it type.

Carrot Methi Sabji

Dahiwale Baingan

I have linked the images to the recipes, I found on the internet for these curries. But given my pathological inability to follow a recipe from A to Z, I guarantee that all the dishes that I prepared will vary significantly from the original recipe. Sometimes, this is due to lack of ingredients, sometimes it is due to the fact that I want to finish up leftover ingredients, and sometimes it is because I just want to make the recipe healthier or faster but mostly it is just due to a whim.

Beetroot Upperi

Beetroot Raita

Two beetroots (one large and one small) quickly transformed into these different preparations.

Lauki Masoor Dal

Stuffed Lauki

Following the same theme of two different types of dishes from the same ingredient, I split the lauki I had into two vertical halves and made dal from one half (deviating from the original recipe by adding some left over raw mango slices I had in the freezer & substituting masoor dal for the chana dal) and a Stuffed Lauki (deviating from the recipe:I baked it instead of frying the stuffed lauki)

Paneer Bhurjee

Potato-Spinach

Using the left over paneer from the stuffed lauki, I made some quick paneer bhurjee. I also made some dry potato spinach curry. These are great for quick lunches and make perfect fillings for sandwiches, wraps , crepes or even salad toppings.

Sauteed Vegetables

Cut Vegetables

To make the workday lunch preparation easier, I sautéed all the left over vegetables (carrots, capsicum & onions), cut the lettuce and radish so I have quick fillers for the above mentioned sandwiches or salads.

Rhubarb Chutney

One of the vegetables that I have discovered in US and fallen in love with is the rhubarb. In the raw state, it looks like a pink celery stalk but when it is cooked it has a tart taste almost like a sweeter version of raw mango. I haven’t been able to decide how I like rhubarb best: in pie or a sauce or simply rhubarb chutney. Here is my version of the chutney. Yum!

Baked Fish Flounder with Garlic

Thai Fish Curry

We got some flounder from our local Korean store and I ended up preparing it as both as a Thai fish curry and baked garlic fish.

Coorg Chicken Curry

Baked Chicken breasts in Mango-peanut sauce

I also cooked the two chicken breasts that I had into both a Coorg Masala chicken curry and some baked chicken in peanut mango sauce. Along with the rhubarb chutney, it will provide some good filling for my sandwiches & wraps.

Spinach Rice

Whole wheat spaghetti with lemon and parsley

Bulghur wheat with sundried tomatoes and sauteed onions

Let me end with the carbohydrates part of the meal: Spinach Rice , Whole wheat spaghetti , Bulghur wheat couscous and Ready made rotis & wheat bread (not shown).

Whew!!! I am all set for the week. Total cooking time: 4 hours and 45 minutes.