Lockdown recipe ideas for Indians living in Abroad. When the lockdown was announced in India, I posted a collection of Simple Indian recipes. Recently I have been getting messages from my friends that they are not getting Indian grocery | vegetables in their country. Even in Hongkong, we don’t get Indian vegetables after the lockdown in India. Thankfully we are getting Indian grocery here so far without any limitations. But in many countries, people are running out of Indian grocery and surviving on local veggies.

While I was sharing lockdown recipe ideas to my friends, living abroad, I thought I will make a blog post on this which will benefit most of the Indians. Most of the time, as Indian groceries and veggies are available, we never explore the local produce. After moving to Hongkong, I started trying the local vegetables here.

Coming to the lockdown recipe ideas, many of them told they are running out of Toor dal. We usually make rasam or sambar using toor dal. You can definitely make sambar and rasam using Moong dal. Usually Moong dal we get in local supermarkets in most of the places outside India. You can make Lemon rasam and Garlic rasam using cooked moong dal water.

With some knowledge of the veggies we get in most of the countries, i am giving you all these ideas. Feel free to add your suggestion in the comment section, which may benefit others.

The common veggies we get outside India are beetroot, radish, cucumber, potato, sweet potato, onion, tomato, garlic, ginger, chow chow (choyate), Ridge gourd, pumpkin, Winter melon, Sweet corn, frozen green peas, Tofu, cabbage, capsicum, eggplant, snow peas, Edamame, Coriander leaves, Mint leaves, Spinach… Wow, a huge list right. I know surely we will miss our very own kovakkai, avarakki, fresh coconut, curry leaves, drumstick. But during these difficult times aren’t we blessed with such a huge list of veggies, let’s use them in our day to day cooking.

We can make poriyal, kootu, vathakuzhambu using beetroot. Instead of coconut, you can use the dehydrated coconut flakes available in the local supermarkets. This can be used in kootu and kari. Cabbage can be used in making kootu with moong dal. We can make pasta instead of rice, by adding lots of veggies to that. You can make Indian style pasta if you are bored with Italian spices. Tofu can be replaced with paneer and can be used in curries.

Spinach can be used in pasta, lasagna, poriyal(the same way we make murungai keerai poriyal). Cucumber, lettuce, cooked red kidney beans along with pan fried tofu can be used to make salads.

Coming to the grocery | dried items, we can make Rajma masala (using red kidney beans) and pair it with rice or quinoa too. We can make healthy patties using cooked red kidney beans and have it along with burger buns as a meal. We get rice flour in most of the local supermarkets. You can make Akki roti using that. Keep stock of chickpeas, kidney beans, green gram, red gram, and other available lentils. You can sprout them and add them these sprouts can be used in making tikkis , dosa, salads, chaat, pesarratu, and adai.

Since rice availability is limited, Quinoa, couscous, pasta, noodles can be used in cooking a few times a week. You can use whole wheat pasta in case you are worried about the wheat pasta. In many countries, we get quinoa flour, which can be used in various ways. You can make that as Ragi adai. You can make pancakes using quinoa flour as well. We can make South Indian Ammini kozhakattai Puli upma, using quinoa flour too. You can make dosa using quinoa flour by adding whole wheat flour, rice flour to it and make karacha maavu dosa.

Try making healthy wraps by stuffing your favorite veggies.

Check out some easy lockdown from Jeyashris Kitchen. Feel free to skip any ingredient if you don’t get them in your place. Try to include more veggies, fruits and whole grains in your food. I know many of them saying veggies are a bit expensive than usual, but as in this situation, we have to take care of our health by eating healthy food.

Breakfast recipes | Tiffin recipes- Some recipes can be used for Dinner too – Using Oats, Sprouts, quinoa, rice flour , bread – Click to Download PDF version of Lockdown Breakfast | Tiffin recipes

Main Course – Using Rice | Pasta |Noodles | Quinoa – This includes salad recipes, curries, and gravies too. I haven’t included Parathas in this list, assuming you don’t atta in your place. If you have access to Whole wheat flour in the local supermarkets, please check out paratha recipes from Jeyashri’s kitchen. Click to download the PDF version of Lockdown Lunch | dinner recipes

We have lots of vegetarian recipes in Jeyashri’s kitchen, which includes soups, salads and many more recipes. Do check Jeyashri’s Kitchen recipe Index

  • Puppy faced cookies
  • Eggless chocolate chips cookies( in pressure cooker)
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Thumbprint cookies

Preparation Time : 20 mins | Baking Time : 10-12 Mins | Makes: 18-20 cookies

All purpose flour | plain flour | maida 1 cup Butter 1/2 cup Vanilla essence 1/4 tsp Sugar 1/4 cup Jam 1- 2 tbslp approx

Thumbprint cookies - 2

Method:

  • Soften the butter and powder the sugar. Add both together in a bowl and mix this nicely.
  • Add vanilla essence to this.
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  • Add the flour to this now and knead this into a pliable dough. If you feel that the dough is bit dry add 1-2 tblsp of milk to this and knead well without any cracks.
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  • Make them into small lemon sized balls and slightly flatten it.
  • Microwave the jam for 45 seconds and keep it ready.
  • If you do not have a microwave you can keep the jam in a bowl of hot water.
  • I used kissan fruit jam. You can any jam of your choice.
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  • Make a dent in the center using your thumb and fill the dent with jam. Do not add too much jam, else it will over flow and spoil the appearance of the cookie when it is baked.
  • Alternatively you can use a cookie press to make shapes.
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  • Bake the cookies in an oven for 10- 12 minutes at 160 degree Celsius.
  • Allow this to completely cool. The cookies won’t change colour.
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  • Thumb print cookies are ready . Cool this completely in a wire rack and store the jam cookies in an airtight container.
Eggless cookies - 8
  1. If you feel the cookies bit soft when you take out from the oven, just allow that to cool completely and see, if it is still soft then bake for 2-3 minutes more.
  2. Do not add more jam to the dent, else it will overflow and splash all over the cookies while baking and spoil the look of the cookies.
  3. You can follow my eggless custard powder cookies recipe also to make this thumbprint cookies.
  4. Instead of jam you can add nutella too.