In order to maintain energy, you need to consume healthy and nutritious food with sufficient calorie intake. When you eat a balanced meal, your body receives the fuel it requires to manage your energy levels.
Lunch is in the middle of the day and eating a larger and nourishing meal for lunch can help the body stay energized throughout the day. To many, lunch is the biggest meal of the day over dinner. It’s important to have a nutritious lunch because the daily food habits at noon can offer several health benefits.
To prepare health nutritious lunch, you need to include whole grains, millets, lean meats, low –dairy food products like curd, cheese, fruits and vegetables in your daily lunch.
Kambu – Health Benefits
Our ancestors claim that the secret of their good health was inclusion of millets in their daily diet. Pearl Millets are called Kambu in Tamil. There are lot of traditional recipes with Kambu or Bajra that can be prepared easily at home and which is also very tasty and healthy. Kambu is called Pearl Millet in English, Bajra in Hindi, Sajjalu in Telugu and Bajri in Gujarati. It is indeed a good substitute for rice.
There are many health benefits associated with Kambu or Pearl Millet. They are rich in minerals like phosphorus and zinc. Kambu is rich in phytic acid and niacin (essential compounds that are not commonly seen in other cereal grains). Apart from being an excellent source of protein and fibre, it also has very high starch and iron content.
Kambu Semiya for Lunch
Encourage your children to have Kambu Millet in their diet as this traditional food is full of nutrients, minerals and vitamins that keep them healthy. Around 100gms of Kambu contains around 12gm of protein, 42 mg of calcium and 8 mg of iron.
When planning lunch, try to choose Kambu Semia or Kambu Vermicelli as it is tasty, relatively simple and easy to prepare. This will ensure that the tradition continues and is no longer a chore to prepare healthy lunch.
Adding curd to your everyday lunch can be very nutritious. Curd contains probiotics, antioxidants and good fats. It is rich in essential nutrients like calcium, vitamin B-2, vitamin B-12, potassium, and magnesium and protein. It helps the brain deal with pain and emotions like stress. This makes curd not only a tasty dish but also a stress busting one.
How to make Kambu Millet Curd Semiya
Ingredients
- Kambu Millet Semiya – Half cup
- Curd – 3/4 cup
- Oil – 1 tsp
- Salt – as needed
To Temper
- Mustard seeds – 1/4 tsp
- Channa dhal- 1/2 tsp
- Urad dhal – 1/2 tsp
- Green chilli – 1 finely chopped
- Coriander leaves – few
- Curry leaves -few
- Asafoetida – a pinch
Steps to prepare Kambu Millet Curd Semiya
- Soak Kambu millet semiya in water for 5 minutes.
- Drain the water and steam this in an Idli cooker for 5-7 minutes. Leave it aside to cool.
- In a pan, heat oil, add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add Channa dhal, Urad dhal, asafoetida, curry leaves and chopped green chilli. Add salt. Let it cool.
- To this add cooked Kambu millet semiya. Mix it well in the pan.
- Then add curd and sprinkle coriander leaves. You can also add milk to this, if you wish.
- Keep it in the fridge for ten minutes and then serve chilled.
- You can add few pomegranates in the last to enhance taste.