Turn over a new leaf

Lemongrass and basil leaves are packed with nutritional qualities and flavours. So take out your pots and pans to try these dishes

Padma Venkatesh, Nutrition and Wellness coach, shares four appetizing dishes made using these herbs with Metrolife.

Lemongrass veg soup

Ingredients

10 lemongrass

1-inch ginger

4 clove garlic

1/2 cup cabbage

1 carrot

4 pieces broccoli

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/4 teaspoon pepper powder

1 teaspoon cornflour

Salt to taste

Method

Cut 10 lemongrass into pieces.

Make a paste of the grass using water, ginger, and garlic.

Take a pan and add olive oil to it.

Shallow fry carrot, broccoli, and cabbage in the pan.

Add the previously cooked paste to the fried mixture with the help of 1 cup of water.

Leave the entire mixture to boil.

Make a liquid paste using 1 teaspoon of cornflour and water, and add this to the boiled mixture.

Finally, add pepper and salt according to the taste to the semi-liquid soup.

Hot and spicy lemongrass veg soup is ready to taste.

Basil dal

Ingredients

1/2 cup Toor dal or moong dal

3 cup water

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoon olive oil

2 green chillies

50 grams finely chopped basil leaves

Ingredients for tadka (seasoning)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon jeera

2 tablespoon finely
chopped onion

1 tablespoon ginger
and garlic

5 curry leaves

1 red chilli

Method

Wash and pressure cook toor or moong dal by adding turmeric powder for 20 minutes.

Switch off the stove and allow it to cool down.

Take a pan and add 1 teaspoon olive oil, boiled dal, 50 grams basil leaves, 2 green chillies, and
salt to it.

Add water and cook to the above mixture till basil leaves soften.

Take a small kadai and add 1 tablespoon olive oil, jeera, chopped onion, red chilli, ginger garlic till the mixture turns golden brown.

Switch off the flame and pour
this combination into the prepared dal. Basil dal is ready to be served with dosa, roti, or rice.

Spicy Thai basil fried rice

Ingredients

4 cups cooked rice

1/2 medium-size chopped onion

3 spring onions

1 carrot

1 cup red, yellow, green capsicum

1/2 cup basil leaves

3 green chillies

4 cloves of garlic

1 inch chopped ginger

1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder

1 tablespoon soya sauce

4 teaspoon tomato sauce

Salt and olive oil

Method

Add olive oil to the pan and heat.

Add ginger-garlic paste and cook till it turns golden brown.

Fry onion and green chillies till the onion softens.

Add carrot, capsicum, basil leaves and cook for 5 minutes.

Lower the flame and add soya sauce, tomato sauce, pepper powder, and salt. Mix the above ingredients thoroughly. Pour the cooked rice into the above mixture and stir them well. This is ready to serve.

Lemongrass tea

Ingredients

5 lemongrass with stalks

250ml water

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon ginger juice

Method

Boil 250 ml of water.

Add pieces of lemongrass into the water and leave it to boil for 10 minutes.

Once the extract of the grass is obtained, add ginger juice to it and switch off the flame.

Pour this liquid into a cup and add 1 teaspoon of honey.

Healthy lemon grass tea is ready to serve.