My next-door neighbor often complains, “We don’t eat enough greens like you guys do.” Some of my friends often complain, “We are not having enough protein in our diet.”
Usually they turn the blame on to their native culture and say that their American or Indian food doesn’t have enough of something or the other. See, for them, the fault is not with their eating habits; rather it is of the culture/cuisine. It’s always a surprise to me, when I hear that Indian food (particularly vegetarian) doesn’t have sufficient protein content. It is a big myth for me. People often have a mental picture in their minds, which shows only meat products when they think of protein. Since in our Indian food we don’t consume as much meat as our American counterparts do, we tend to think that we are not getting sufficient protein.
Different types of lentils, legumes, some fresh vegetables (like the one below) contain high quality protein and so do chicken, egg and milk. Poor cooking/eating habits or lack of nutritional information about the ingredients that we use might be the main reason for complaining I think. Though we studied about these nutritional values in our school days, we tend to forget them very easily, it seems.
As I am writing these posts in my blog, I am learning a lot more about the nutritional values of the vegetables. One very important vegetable that is rich in minerals and protein is ‘Indian Broad bean’ or ‘Chikkudu‘. This is one of the very tasty vegetables available for us, here in US and the recipe shown below is a simple and traditional way of making a stir-fry curry with it.
Indian Broad Beans, Chikkudu Kaya
Recipe:
15 to 20 Indian Broad beans – ends trimmed and cut or teared into 1 inch pieces.
1 medium sized onion – finely sliced
4 green chillies and 1 teaspoon of coconut – made into smooth paste
¼ teaspoon of turmeric
½ teaspoon of salt or to taste
For popu or tadka:
1 tsp of peanut oil
1 tsp each of – mustard seeds, cumin, minced garlic and few curry leaves
Bring a pot half filled with water to a boil. When the water is at dancing stage with bubbles and everything, add and cook the cut broad beans pieces for two minutes. That’s it, don’t overcook and drain them into a colander. If the broad beans are very tender, then you can skip this step and proceed like below.
Heat peanut oil in a sauté pan. Add and toast the popu ingredients. Add and sauté the finely chopped onion for few minutes until they soften. Stir in green chilli-coconut paste and turmeric. Sauté for another 2 minutes. Add the broad bean pieces, stir in salt. Cover and cook the curry on medium-low for about 5 minutes or until the pieces are tender. Serve hot with rice or with chapati.
Indian Broad Bean Stir-fry with Chapati ~ Our simple Meal Today
Recipe source:Amma
Indian broad beans are avialable in Indian grocery shops here in US, almost year round.
Indian broad beans in Peanut Sauce – Recipe
You are absolutely right Indira ! My husband always complain that the protein for lentils and legumes are not sufficient. He suggest his sister that she should feed his neice (1 year old ) with chicken, beef,fish more than lentils and vegetables. And as you said cooking methods matters most irrespective of meat or vegetables. I sometimes ( i guess most of the times) tend to overcook the vegetables and all the nutrients are gone by doing that. I guess steaming is best. Anyway the debate never ends …
BTW I like this kind of broadbeans curry. SImple and satisfying. And the broadbeans that you made with peanut gravy was YUM. That was totally a new recipe for me. I think most of tamil nadu cooking has dalia ( roasted and ground) for most of the curries and Andhra cooking, the gravy has more peanuts ( ground ) in them.
Comment by Priya — May 11, 2006 @ 5:45 pm
I know, a lot of my friends are also the same way. Sometimes I try to explain to them but most of the times, I usually let it go, no amount of discussion won’t change their belief, it seems.:)
Broadbeans and their plump seeds are delicious, aren’t they? Stir fry and peanut gravy are my two favorite ways to cook this vegetable.
I agree about our cooking methods, and yes, we do use lot of peanut/sesame seeds in our regional cooking.:)
Comment by Indira — May 11, 2006 @ 6:03 pm
To say that vegetarians have a diet devoid of protein is totally false.
Eventhough I am a nonvegetarian,I can say that vegetarians are having protein which was the only protein source that even nature had designed us to consume!
Comment by Sumitha — May 11, 2006 @ 6:59 pm
Agree with you abt protien content Indira…
This is how my mom makes chikkudu too.
One question for you how come your rotis and so white in color???
I can never this color. Mine always go brown..
Indira replies:
Mine always go white, Santhi and I’d love to get some color to them. They do look pale, aren’t they? Though I fold them twice, I usually make them pulka style with no oil.
For the past few months, I’ve been using the Golden Temple Atta. I think it’s time to change the brands.
Comment by santhi — May 11, 2006 @ 7:22 pm
I guess as Indians (both vegetarian and non-vegetarian) protein components are taken as a side-dish, probably in much smaller portions while rice/roti form the main component. This may be a reason for most complaints. Most non-asian countries have protein as the main component (as meat, fish etc)and so their intake of protein is higher than what we eat, IMO (of course adding to fat and cholesterol, intake).
Some main dishes like adai, dal paratha, tofu chappathi etc can make our meal more protein rich.
Indira replies:
Again it all comes to our eating habits. See, my parents always adviced me to have more dal/sambhar/rasam than rice. Less rice but lot of curry and dal – that’s how I grew up eating.
The point I was trying to make here is, lentils and legumes that we use to prepare everyday dals, sambhars, rasams- they are all good quality protein food and people often forget or consider them as cheap source, when they talk about lack of protein in Indian food.
Also westerners diet of mainly eating meat, 3 times a day, is a recent phenonmenon, spurred by factory style animal farming. Their food habits have changed considerably in these past hundred years because of that, and now meat became all they eat, but they do know it’s not good for their health. And that kind of excessive protein intake everyday, from nonveg sources is also not healthy as you already mentioned.
Comment by mika — May 11, 2006 @ 7:28 pm
Your rotis look so gooooooooood.Do you use Golden temple atta. Can you post tips on how to make soft rotis. Your pictures make me drool.
Indira replies:
I’ve been using golden temple atta for the past couple of months.
They are hit and miss, sometimes they do turn out good and sometimes they don’t. I usually mix the flour with warm water and salt atleast 30 minutes before making chapatis. And sometimes I’d sprinkle little bit of oil when I am preparing the chapatis. That’s all I do, Radha.
Thanks.
Comment by radha — May 11, 2006 @ 10:27 pm
True about protein intake. I want to feed Vishrut, protein rich food, but he only wants rasam rice, though i make great effort to prepare all kind of stuffs to try..this is the only concern i have right now… not sure how i can make him eat.. I love this broad beans, never get it in my place, Your are fortunate Indira, to get all items areound. I have to go to NJ for stacking my pantry.. everytime I go, spend about $150 atleast in Indian stores, get all veggies (some goes waste out of it, but i can’t stop me getting it 🙁
Indira replies:
My sister also has a 2 year old baby girl, Haarika. For protein, she pressure cooks the toordal or moong dal with carrots and peas, make a smooth paste of them, adds little bit of ghee and feeds the baby, almost everyday. Another good source of protein is ‘edimame’ fresh soybeans. She also cooks and puree them to feed the baby. Lot of fresh fruit in-between for snacks. You might be doing all these already, just wanted to share them with you. It is a struggle to feed the babies, isn’t it? My sister also worries about Haarika’s nutrition, constantly.
I’m also in the same condition like you, Karthi. Fresh Indian vegetables are hard to come by here in this small town. Vijay went to Cleveland last week on his office work and brought these veggies from a Indian store there.
Comment by Karthi Kannan — May 11, 2006 @ 10:36 pm
Hi Indira,
I do make this fry and agree with your views.Cooking in peanut oil differs lot in taste than any another oil,Indira.
Comment by vineela krishna — May 12, 2006 @ 1:56 am
I agree it’s wrong to blame the culture for that, but cooking after a long & tiring day at the office is a challenge. For most people non-veg is a convenience food, filling, quick, easy and available. Fast paced life is robbing most of us of interest in cooking.
Vegetarian diet is rich of proteins, but caution should be taken to incorporate a mix-&-match of foods to make it a balanced meal. How many people have the patience or energy to make whole wheat chapatis and nutritious curries like you do, Indira?
I’m a vegetarian and honestly, i find it difficult to cook balanced meals in the US with the limited choices i have. But my conviction that it is God who blesses me with good health and not food, is the only thing that keeps me away from non-veg.
Comment by sandhya — May 12, 2006 @ 10:21 am
Of course! Indian diet is a well balanced diet with proteins (with all those legumes), fiber (greens) and carbohydrates. Only thing I find a little uncomfortable is we add too much oil or ghee to our dishes or we do a lot of deep frying. But I think in earlier times, when food was scarce, we needed that oil in our body. But these days, with so much food, we can cut down our oil consumption to half …no make it quarter. I really like my Oven for that. I make all the typical deep fried dishes in my oven with little oil.
I also think we drink or make dishes with milk/yogurt etc which is also protein, right? But these days with all the hormones, I am not a big fan of diary products.
(It all depends on your home cooking I guess. At home, deep frying was very rarely done and my mom uses oil sparingly. So I also try to do the same. )
Comment by L.G — May 12, 2006 @ 11:55 am
Something is wrong with your RSS/ATOM feed. It is not updating. The last post is on “dried mango pulp’. After that the feed is not updating.
Indira replies:
Hi Sowmya, because of frequent content and image theft, I’ve decided to remove RSS feed from my blog. Some people are creating parallel blogs with my content, without giving any credit to my blog. When I asked the site owners to remove, their reply is you are giving out your content free, we are not doing anything wrong etc. Dealing with this type of ‘splogs’ is becoming a big headache for me.
Sorry for the inconveniece.
Comment by Sowmya — May 12, 2006 @ 1:02 pm
It is amazing how you turn simple ingredients yummy.
Regarding nutrition trick is to cook with fresh ingredients, local Farmers Market are great. From June to late October (that is for us who live in the colder regions) but for the lucky ones living in the warm areas you will probably have it throughout the year. we can get real fresh vegetables compared to those we find in the grocery stores which do have to travel long distances to get there and it is also a way to support the local farmers. Another interesting concept is CSA.
Comment by indosungod — May 12, 2006 @ 1:17 pm
Indira, I think this goes for a debate:) Though I am a non-vegetarian, I strongly feel the vegetarian has more protein intakes and it is more of a balanced diet. The veggies has more nutrional value compared to the meat. Meat does give protien but it has more fat into it. In my opinion, parents play a big role, they influences the children in the eating habits. Today the media is talking about people changing into vegetarians or flexitarians inorder lead a healthy lifestyle. I think we all know which is good for a healthy lifestyle, it is just the matter of adapting yourself!! dont you think so?
Coming to the beans, the recipe is very interesting. Will try soon:)
Comment by Priya — May 12, 2006 @ 1:39 pm
Hai everyone,
Isn’t it weird to think about the nutritional value of foods after coming over to US when we dont even bother to know when in India. Please remember that our Indians are doing fine irrespective of being a vegeterian or a nonvegetarian.
Comment by amulya — May 12, 2006 @ 2:15 pm
You are right Indira, infact ppl eat more than the amount of reqd which leads to many problems, that is the reason they turn to vegetarianism when they get older..
And I really love this curry u have made and the other one in peanut sauce too, but I have not really found broadbeans in the stores here, any other veggie can be substituted?
Comment by CurryInAHurry — May 12, 2006 @ 3:07 pm
Hi Indira,
Your Chikkudukaya kura looks just like my moms. Though I leave in NJ, I have never seen such plumpy chikkudukayalu in the grocery store I shop in. May be I should look in other Indian store.
Thank you very much for the recipe.
Comment by Pavani — May 12, 2006 @ 4:43 pm
Hi Indira,
I posted a recipe for JFI.
Smitha
Indira replies:
Hi Smitha, send me your entry via email – the permalink of your post and photo sized at 75/75 size. I’ll include it in my roundup. Thanks.
Comment by Smitha — May 13, 2006 @ 3:41 pm
Indira:
Couldn’t help by reply to the white/brown roti comment that Santhi posted. I just recently started mixing my golden temple with equal parts of whole wheat flour from the organic store and my phulkas are now nice and brown. I really like them that way and don’t feel so guilty about eating the totally refined flour since I add the whole wheat flour to it. Just thought I’d add my 2 cents. I will post a picture of the phulkas next week on my blog.
Indira replies:
Thanks for chipping in LC. Addition of whole wheat flour to GT atta is indeed a good idea and a very neat tip, thanks for sharing.
I know I should add some kind of whole wheat flour to make them wholesome, but you know how it is…Iam in a rut and my chapati making style is a routine process, it could use some new improvements. 🙂
The only new thing I am doing nowadays is adding avocado to chapati flour, that too only once a week. I’ve plans to add tofu, flaxseed and whole wheat flour, but Iam not doing any of that. I should jazz up my chapatis.
Comment by Luv2cook — May 13, 2006 @ 4:46 pm
Dear Indira,
Special Thanks to you and all other blogging friends, for inspiring me to share my cooking and thoughts as well, by introducing me to the blogging world.
Indira replies:
Welcome to the blogging world and best wishes, Aparna.
Thanks.
Comment by Aparna — May 13, 2006 @ 5:16 pm
Hi Indira,
I am german and I actually turned to indian food because I consider it Health Food: mainly plant protein(pulses+nuts), lots of fiber, plenty of veggies and there are millions of recipes to prepare this delicious food!I just substitute the paneer with doufu, which I like very much. BTW most humans belive that they lack protein- kind of a myth though… We don’t need much, like between 60-80 gr per day. Too much protein produces a kind of acid, which sometimes leads to disease.
Anyway: great food- great blog, it’s really an inspiration!
Ulrike
Indira replies:
Hi Ulrike, I agree with you about Indian food. It is one of the wholesome, healthy type of cuisines out there.
Thanks for your nice comment and thanks for sharing the information about protein with us here. I greatly appreciate that.
Comment by Ulrike — May 14, 2006 @ 9:28 pm
This reminds me – My uncle is a teacher in a government school in a remote village and most times he comes home with a few kilos of these chikkudu or chinta chiguru (tender baby tamarind leaves) instead of fees! Simple rich life, eh?
Sadly, one thing I was never able to find was chikkudukaya. Not even frozen ones. I gave up!
I had found Goru CHikkudukaya and menthi, though frozen. Something is better!
Also, it is very sad but not surprising to hear that your wonderful content is getting plagiarised. The copyright text on your images explains it all. Iam sure you never wanted to do that willingly, but…
Indira replies:
Simple rich life, Indeed.
May I ask where do you live?
Here, we’d get two types of chikkudu but they are not like what we get in Andhra. Mature ones with plump seeds are rare. and protein power is all in the seeds.:)
It’s becoming a big headache and all these things are sucking the fun out of blogging for me. I hate to deal with this type of stuff. I wish for simpler times.:)
Thanks VTP.
Comment by Vidyanath Tirumala Penugonda — May 15, 2006 @ 2:12 pm
hi,
i love all your recepies i saw your methi plant i was surprised can u tell how to plant mint & coriander
Comment by brindacs — May 16, 2006 @ 1:56 pm
Indira, Iam in Phoenix. Not far from california, but still the Indian vegetable supplies are just ok.
Comment by Vidyanath Tirumala Penugonda — May 16, 2006 @ 2:41 pm
It really annoys me when people tell me that I can’t get enough protein as a vegetarian. The nutrients that you can’t get from meat at all are far more numerous than the nutrients that you might have trouble getting from vegetables. Spinach dal and brown rice is just as good as beef…and in fact, far more nutritious and not loaded with steroids and cholesterol. You can’t get any healthier than traditional Indian vegetarian food.
Comment by Amy — May 25, 2006 @ 10:00 pm
[…] Usually i cook them in tomato sauce seasoned with chilli powder, turmeric powder, fennel seeds and onions for rotis or add them in fried rice & pulaos. I planned to try something different with them today. Googled but dint find any stir fried/poriyal kind of recipes. I had made Indira’s stir-fried broad beans once and liked it a lot. Thought the same method and ingredients would be good with these beans too and i was not wrong. They tasted great with rice and rasam. Here’s the recipe … […]
Pingback by Sugar And Spice » Lima Beans Poriyal — July 20, 2006 @ 10:17 pm
very tasty and simple
Comment by anamika — July 31, 2006 @ 3:25 am
I am a yoga teacher from India. I would like to know the Hindi name for broadbeans. Actually broadbeans’ leaves, flowers and shoots contain a substance called L-dopa which is converted into Dopmaine in our body. Therefore broadbeans are very useful for Dopamine deficiency diseases like Parkinson’s. I would like to recommend broadbeans to my clients who have Parkinson’s. So can anyone tell me the Hindi name for the same? Thanks
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