Travel Food Recipes Ideas | South Indian Travel Lunch Menu

Last week we had a trip to Valparai near Pollachi, Tamil nadu for summer vacation in our car. We packed few rice varieties for lunch and had it during our road trip in Attakatti. Usually we make Tamarind rice/Puli sadam and Curd rice for travel. But this time, Sendhil told us to prepare some other rice varieties for a change. So my MIL made this yummy, easy, comforting and a healthy South Indian meal for our travel. 

I thought of sharing this easy travel food recipes idea with you all. It would be helpful for you to plan and prepare food for your short trip/Picnic during this Summer holidays. My MIL made Milagu jeeraga sadam/ Pepper cumin rice, Ellu sadam/ Sesame seeds rice, Lemon rice and Curd rice along with vadam/Vathal. We also carried some store bought sweets and snacks to munch during our travel. Lets see how we prepared this simple and yummy travel lunch menu.

Here is a collage of Valparai-Athirapally Pictures. Check THIS LINK for more pictures.

Travel Food Recipes Ideas

South Indian lunch menu for travel

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Travel recipes

Serves: 4

Prep time: 20 Minutes

Cook time: 30 Minutes

Total time: 50 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 cup = 250ml For rice varieties Steamed rice - 2 cups Water - 6 cups Gingely oil - 2 tsp Salt - as needed For lemon rice Lemon - 5 nos Green chilli - 6-8 nos Red chilli - 2 nos Curry leaves - few Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Urad dal - 1 tbsp Chana dal - 2 tbsp Roasted peanuts - a handful ( optional) Hing/Asafetida - 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder - 1 tsp Cooking oil - 2 tbsp Gingely oil - as needed while mixing the rice Salt - as needed For Pepper cumin rice/Milagu jeeraga sadam Ghee - 2 tbsp Pepper corns – 1.5 tbsp Cumin seeds - 2 tbsp Salt - as needed Curry leaves - few For Ellu sadam Black sesame seeds - 2 tbsp Red chilli - 2 nos Garlic cloves - 3 nos Salt - as needed Curry leaves - few For curd rice Steamed rice or raw rice - 1 cup Water - 5 cups Salt - as needed Cooking oil - 1 tbsp Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Urad dal - 1 tbsp Chana dal - 2 tbsp Green chilli - 2 nos ( finely chopped or slitted) Ginger - 2 inch piece ( finely chopped or grated) Curry leaves - few Fruits like grapes, pomegranate - to mix in the rice Coriander leaves - a fistful Koozh vadam/Vathal - as needed ( to deep fry) Mor milagai & Pickle - side dish for curd rice Lemon rice recipe Milagu Jeeraga Aval ( replace aval with rice) Curd rice/Thayir sadam Tamarind rice/Puli sadam

METHOD

On the previous day night of travel, prepare the lemon rice paste.Make sesame seeds powder by dry roasting the sesame seeds, red chilli and then powder it adding salt.Make pepper cumin seeds powder. Refrigerate the lemon rice paste alone. Keep the powders in an air tight box and store it. The next day morning as soon as u get up, wash and soak the rice in required water for 20 minutes. Use two cookers. One for curd rice and other one for rice varieties. Soak the rice separately in 2 cookers. Rice will be well soaked by the time u take bath. Pressure cook the rice for one whistle in low flame and switch off the flame. Remove the lid after the steam is released. NEVER USE YOUR HANDS FOR MIXING THE RICE. USE LADLE FOR HANDLING THE RICE. Spread the rice in a plate and add some gingely oil. Take the rice in curd rice cooker and mash it well adding salt and milk. Do not curd when the rice is hot. Add curd after the rice becomes lukewarm. Add the seasoning ingredients for curd rice. Mix well. Add curd and mix well.Check for taste. Do not make the curd rice too thick or too watery. Make it like a creamy consistency so that it won’t become too hard in the afternoon.Check for taste and add more salt if needed. By the time, u mix the curd rice, the rice spread in the plate would have become warm. Divide the rice into 2 portions. Take one portion of the rice and make lemon rice adding the lemon rice paste.Add gingely oil generously. Check for taste and add more salt & paste if needed. Take the other portion of rice and divide into 2. Use one portion for making ellu sadam and the other one for milagu jeeraga sadam. Add gingely oil for ellu sadam and ghee for milagu jeeraga sadam generously.Do not forget. NEVER USE YOUR HANDS FOR MIXING THE RICE. USE LADLE. Prepare all the rice varieties and stack in the boxes. Make Neer mor/Spiced buttermilk (Thalicha more) and store in a bottle. Deep fry Koozh Vadam/Vathal  or papad and mormilagai.Store the vadam in a polythene bag or ziplock covers after it cools down. Pack some pickle in a small container. Arrange everything for travel in a bag. Take the sweets, snacks and fruits if any for travel. Enjoy !

Note

I have shared some general point to remember while preparing food for travel. Never put your hands to mix the rice varieties, use a spoon or ladle instead. If you mix the rice with your hands, it won’t stay good for more than 2 hours in summer. Add gingely oil generously while mixing the rice. It helps to prevent the rice from drying. Make sure you don’t use raw coconut in the dishes. If you use coconut, roast it well or saute the coconut based dish in oil till all the moisture content is completely gone. If you are making curd rice, add less curd and more milk while mixing. It helps the curd rice to set well while eating.Never add curd in hot rice. Carry a bottle of spiced buttermilk or diluted curd to add in the rice while eating. Suppose if the curd rice becomes too thick, you can add buttermilk and bring it to proper consistency.In the buttermilk bottle, put some slitted green chillies, ginger and few curry leaves with mustard seeds seasoning ( make thaalicha neer mor). It helps to keep the buttermilk fresh and tastes less tangy. We packed the rice in our steel travelling set. If you don’t have a travelling set, you can pack them in use & throw silver foil packs or plastic boxes. It is better to use banana leaf for packing the food. It gives a nice flavor and a healthy choice as well.

Is it not a happy and comforting meal for your travel ?? Prepare & Enjoy it !!

 

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