Five Top things to make for 'Dabba'

'Dabba' -Afternoon Lunch ,Tiffin Box ,Lunch Box whatever you want to call...

Being away from 'Sweet Home' is one great thing, and above that, cooking your own food daily without fail is one more great achievement. All the guys who are onsite would definitely agree with me, may not be true with people who are staying with their families !!!

"What to make for dabba tomorrow/today?", "Nothing is there at home to prepare, no Vegetables, no Groceries!!". Did you ever come across with this question in your mind ?

Alarm rings, you put it to snooze and Zzzzzzzz, then it rings again and again you press the snooze button and finally you get up at the third ring. Getting up early in the morning is quite a difficult task and then to cook is even more difficult unless you have some idea as what to cook !

As long as you are not too fussy about the food you eat, maybe you can a have a little peep into my list of 5 Top things for Dabba !!

1. Mosaru Anna/Curd Rice -The easiest thing to make. Take Curds, mix it a little bit of Chopped Onions and Green Chilies, add salt to taste and mix the rice. In a frying pan keep a little bit of oil, add mustard seeds and Cumin seeds, once they start to jump out, switch off the gas and add this to the curd rice, this will be a little bit of garnishing to the curd rice. You can add pomegranate seeds, dried grapes etc, etc to your taste and convenience.

2. Pulliogare/Tamarind Rice -A big Thanks to MTR without which all the Bachelors going onsite would have to go for cookery orientation class before they leave for onsite projects.
Pour a little bit of oil, drop a couple of spoons of Pulliogare Powder, fry it, add rice and Pulliogare is ready !!!
You can also customize the Pulliogare by adding Chopped Onions or some other Vegetables which you like, fry these vegetables and add it to the Pulliogare !!

3. Upamma/Kara baath /'Concrete' - I never used to like this at home, but now its okay since this is easy to make. Tip :Always Keep Frozen Vegetables Packet in your freezer.
Fry the Rava and keep it in a container for easy use. Pour a little bit of oil in the frying pan, a bit of mustard seeds, chillies, cumin seeds, chopped onions, some frozen vegetables, fry them a bit, add the Rava and then add the water. Let it boil for sometime until the water evaporates.
Tip :Keeping the hot water ready will make things easier.

4. Dosa /Thosai- Little background work is required other than that, it can be used for 2-3 days !!
Soak rice and Urad Daal (Split White Lentils) in 4:1 proportion overnight, grind it to a fine batter not too watery, leave it to ferment for 6-7 hours. And then Dosa Batter is ready. You can have lot of variations to this, you can add a little bit of Chopped Onions, Tomatoes and Coriander Leaves, once you put it on frying pan and you have utthapam. You can make Tomato chutney to go along with it !!

5. Sambar Rice -Fry a little bit of frozen vegetables in little oil, add Yesterday's left over Rasam/Daal into the Frying pan and mix rice .Saambar Rice is ready !!!
(This process is called as a 'Patch'. 'Old is gold' :)

Here are Some of the other 5 Top things for 'Dabba' from my friends

Murali's List

1. Rice sambar prepared on the previous day.
2. Tomato, onion, and rice mix - 'Tomato Baath'
3. Rice & Dal .. fried in oil - 'Fried Rice'
4. Rice & Coconut mix -'Coconut Rice'
5. Finally, Dosa & tomato chutney.

Manju's List

1. Pulliogare.
2. Chappathi.
3. Chitranna (I call it as 'Art Rice', 'Chitra' means Art).
4. Vaangibath (Lot of Brinjals/Capsicum in this).
5. Sambar Rice.
There is a 6th one in this List
6th. Avalakki (Avalakki is 'Flattened Rice')

Thanky's List

1. Chicken Curry with Rice- boil chicken and put all the masalas.
2. Fish Curry with Rice- boil fish, put chilly powder, ginger garlic paste, tomato
3. Moru Curry with Rice- curd mix with turmeric powder.....oil, onions.....
4. Salad with Rice - tomoto,onions and vinegar
5. Sambar with Rice- Ask the Servant to help making the sambar ,mix it with Rice

Its not necessary to go by the traditional way ,Cook the way you want but keep in mind 'It should be edible! ' and then give it a fancy big name like Shahi Fired Rice ,Onsite Dosa Experiment ,Vidya's Special etc ,etc!!!
There are no rules for cooking .Kitchen is like a R & D Lab (Research and Development Laboratory ) ,keep experimenting !!

Have fun in the Kitchen !!!!