Spicy Noodle Stir-Fry with Vegetables — Super Healthy and Easy Weeknight Meal

Featured on Babble's 20 vegan meals you can make in 20 minutes or less

I grew up on Top Ramen instant noodles.

A dish of steaming hot noodles with scrambled eggs and carrots was pure joy. Particularly on a weekend. Almost mostly I was in charge of prepping noodles for my siblings. So many Sunday breakfasts and beautiful moments with my sister and two brothers chitchatting around the table over many cups of chai, ah.

Those are some of my most treasured memories. Especially since I lost my kid brother in an accident a few summers back, and I know we cannot have a foursome again. Never again.

Warm, Aromatic Broccoli Salad — Broccoli Upperi

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It’s Thursday! Simple pleasures, ah.

I’ve been so busy this week, I didn’t realize that the weekend is here.

My husband’s brother and family are visiting from Canada and we’ve been full of activities. In fact, we have a couple of things lined up for this weekend too and I can’t wait for the fun to begin. So I’ll go to the recipe quickly and save the chitchat for later.

Hard-boiled Egg Whites with Veggies — Mutta Thoran

With the Easter egg frenzy visible in every food magazine, I decided to try and share something new with this egg-ceptional food. Right in time for celebration.

Eggs are central to many cuisines and one of the most versatile of all ingredients in the kitchen, as it's used to bind, thicken or lighten a dish, as well as for glazing. Many recipes, sweet and savory, call for the extensive use of eggs—cakes, macaroons, cookies, custards, pancakes, waffles, fritters, French toast, soufflé, frittata—and it can be quite tricky for anyone following a vegan diet, or allergic to eggs, to avoid dishes prepared with this food.

Cabbage Stir-fry — Cabbage Upperi

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Pick your cabbage – purple, white or green – eat them raw with a dressing, or stir-fry them for a delicious vitamin-packed 5-a-day. Cabbages are so quick and easy to use and very economic too. Yes, cabbages are a good choice for your weekly meal plans. These superimposed leafy veggies are rich in antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and cancer protecting substances – who would want to miss such wonderful healing properties?  

Chickpeas Stir-fry — Spicy Kabuli Chana — Vella Kadala Upperi

It’s a sunny day. A Sunday. Weekday in Qatar, weekend for most of the world. There’s nothing like a sunny day and good food to chase away the winter blues, don’t you agree? But the thing is I don’t feel like much activity today. I just want to have some quite time, go back to bed, pull up the sheets, and rest my eyes and my thoughts. Ah, a lazy Sunday.

Koorka Mezhukkupuratti — Spiced, Sautéed Chinese Potato

I cook vegetables almost daily. Mostly a stir-fry. Sometimes I add them to dal, or make a mixed vegetable curry. Whenever I plan ahead and think of what to make there’s this one dish I’m always excited about. It’s a simple stir-fry made from a root vegetable called koorka in Malayalam. Koorka has a very distinct, highly addictive flavor. I don’t know its English translation. Usually when I’m stuck with the names of Indian native vegetables or food ingredients, I refer to Wikipedia’s multilingual list and I’m never disappointed. This time, however, there’s no mention of this particular tuber. Why’s that I wonder. It’s mostly found small and round with a dark brown skin, and cream flesh. Have a look at this picture.

Tindora (Ivy Gourd) Stir-fry — Kovakka Upperi

Finally, it’s the weekend. In fact, the first weekend in the New Year. I just wanna lean back and chill out.

Here’s a quick-fix recipe with tindora or ivy gourd. This veg is also known as baby watermelon!

Sauteed carrots and capsicum — Carrot upperi

I'm always looking for new ideas to prepare vegetable sides for lunch. Especially new combinations for the traditional upperi's (sauteed vegetables).

Here, the crunchiness of the delightful carrots and capsicum offer you a good bite and adds colour to your table.

Chena mezhukkupuratti — Spiced, sauteed elephant yam

Vegetables are an integral part of a healthy diet the world over. A good number of Indians are pure vegetarians, especially those practicing Hinduism, and consequently Indian cuisine offers a lot of vegetarian alternatives. The elephant yam is an edible tuber found in the tropics. In India it is known by many local names like suran, chena, kham aloo, deshi alu, chenai kizhangu and so on. Elephant yam is a good source of nutrients like proteins, Omega 3 fatty acid, fibre, vitamin B6, carbohydrates and certain essential minerals. What's more, it's used for treating piles and constipation, and good for people suffering from hypertension. Yam is a popular dish in Kerala. This recipe is a quick, dry preparation, best served with rice.