I remember the first time I packed my son’s lunch box. I had packed rice with sambar, a vegetable side dish and a little bit of curd rice. A junior version of what I pack for my hubby’s lunch every(single)day.

In the evening, the lunch box came back exactly as I had packed in the morning. Even the spoon was spotlessly clean – he hadn’t even eaten a single mouthful!

‘I don’t like the smell’ he declared. Hmph..

In the next few days I found out that given a choice, he would happily go to school without taking any lunch or snacks. School was all about friends and playing, not about food, was his mantra.

Finally, a deal was made. Our breakfast now gets packed as his lunch. So Tiffin items like idly, dosa and chapati are tolerated with grace in his lunch box now. But when it comes to rice, its a war!

‘No rice, its smelly and it keeps falling down’, argues the kid. (Hmph…..! It was a ‘Hmph… time’ for about a month before he started finishing his lunch)

So finally, the recipe here is the only way rice is allowed in his lunch box. A dry mix of rice and vegetables (I skip tomatoes), packed with his favorite dip – tomato ketchup!

Now we have a happy mommy and a happy kid, like they show in the ads!

Ingredients:

• Rice                                   :             1/2 cup, cooked
• Onion                                :             1 small, chopped
• Carrot                               :             1 small, chopped or grated
• Sweet corn/peas          :             a handful
• Capsicum/Cabbage     :             1-2 handfuls, chopped
• Oil                                       :            1 tsp
• Salt and Pepper

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pan, add the onions and carrots and saute till it changes color. Add the cabbage, capsicum and cook for another 3 minutes till its soft. Add frozen sweet corn and frozen peas. Saute till everything is cooked properly.
2. Add salt and pepper, mix the rice in and take off the heat.
3. Pack in a lunch box, serve with tomato ketch up.

Linked to:

• Blogging Marathon, Lunch Box theme