As it often happens, a recipe, an idea, a thought, an inspiration - call it what you may - takes root in your brain and refuses to move out till you try it out. I had a similar experience with this recipe - I had read about a chef sauteing a medley of vegetables in olive oil and oregano in Vir Sanghvi's fantastic foodielogue 'Rude Food', and for years, this recipe would prick my consciousness at random times. Finally, I got around to trying my own version of it, and it was so simple, so quick, and so tasty (added bonus :also healthy - yes, sometimes a too-good-to-be-true thing IS true) that I HAD to document it, despite the original idea not being mine.
So here's the perfect office lunch, whipped up in the 10 minutes that are all you can spare on chaotic Monday mornings:
Ingredients:
Carrots, diced roughly - 1 medium carrot, or roughly, a tea-cup full of dice
Capsicum (green bell pepper), diced roughly - 1 large
American corn - half a tea-cup full of kernels
Garlic - 2 cloves
Oregano, chilli flakes, salt, pepper - to taste
Olive oil - 1 - 1.5 teaspoons
Method:
Dice the carrots and put in a large saucepan with the corn. Cover with water and place on high heat, to par-cook them
While the carrots and corn is cooking, dice the capsicum, and peel, bruise and chop the garlic
In a wok, heat the olive oil, and add the crushed garlic
Stir for 10 seconds, add the capsicum dice
Stir for 30 seconds
Drain the corn and carrot (check if they are soft but with a slight bite to them) and add to the wok
Stir well, and let it cook for a minute
Add salt, pepper, oregano and chilli flakes and give the veggies another good stir
Leave it on the stove for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. The idea is to let the flavours blend, and the oregano-chilli-garlic-pepper-scented oil to coat the veggies
Adjust the seasoning, and take off the heat
Serve with lightly toasted brown bread
You can add any vegetables that you like (zucchini, babycorn, mushrooms etc - the more, the merrier) The generous amount of high-fibre vegetables, and low amount of oil makes this a light but delicious lunch. You can replace the bread with wholewheat roti/tortilla, or simultaneously cook some wholewheat pasta and toss it through the vegetables at the end, if you want to cut down on the calories. You can even skip the carbs entirely, the veggies are delicious on their own.
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