A Ton Of Protein

The word 'Protein' written with Moong Dal in Devanagari script

My introduction to protein, the term, was first in early school years, in the lesson on nourishment in our Science book. Of course, then it was just one of the things that I had to ‘learn’ for the tests. Once I started cooking (after marriage), I tried to learn more about the body’s requirement of nutrients, amongst which also proteins, because I am a vegetarian and it is said to be easy for a vegetarian diet to lack sufficient protein.

Proteins received highest importance when I was pregnant. I and many others (basically vegetarians) were strictly warned by the gynaecologist at the pre-natal classes that we must include proteins in every meal of the day. That’s when I started reading more about this important nutrient and also started checking out more dishes with lentils and beans. I rather stuck to everyday Maharashtrian and Konkani dishes, because they could be easily included into my everyday meals. I happened to collect quite a few recipes in that quest. I was in Pune, India then and making many international dishes with not-so-easily-available ingredients was not an option really.

Through this series ‘A Ton Of Protein’, I hope to blog about (at least) one dish with lentils/beans/sprouts every week. I must mention one thing here. Protein from vegetable sources is not considered to be ‘first-class’ protein. It always needs to be accompanied by some kind of cereals to be upgraded. So, even if I forget to mention it, please make sure that you always enjoy the dishes with rice, rotis, bread or anything made of cereals (and you know that I don’t mean the breakfast cereal here).
So, come on. Let’s build our muscles with ‘A Ton Of Protein’!