TN Noon Meal gets spicy

Thirteen varieties of rice(include sambar rice, curry rice, coriander rice, green curry leaves rice, lemon rice and dal rice) and four types of egg ‘masala’ will soon enrich the plates of students benefiting under the nutritious noon-meal scheme of the State government, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa told the Assembly on Friday Nov 02,2012.

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said the purpose was to break the monotony in the menu under the scheme introduced by former Chief Minister M.G. Ramchandran 30 years ago and to make them palatable.

There would be one set of menu for the first and third weeks of a month and another set for the second and fourth week.

The students would be served vegetable ‘biriyani’ and pepper powder egg on first and third Mondays; ‘channa-pulav’ and tomato ‘masala’ on Tuesdays; tomato rice and pepper egg on Wednesdays; rice, sambar and boiled egg on Thursdays and curry leaf rice or green (keerai) rice, egg masala and roasted potato on Fridays.

The menu of second and fourth Mondays would be ‘sambar’ rice, onion and tomato egg ‘masala’; mealmaker and vegetable mixed rice and pepper egg on Tuesdays; tamarind rice and tomato egg ‘masala’ on Wednesdays; lemon rice, tomato egg ‘masala’ and ‘sundal’ on Thursdays and rice, sambar, boiled egg and roasted potato on Fridays.

The government consulted well-known chefs and nutrition experts on this issue and ‘channa biriyanai’ and pepper egg were served on an experimental basis in a school in Saidapet and the Andhanallur panchayat union school in Chief Minister’s Srirangam constituency. 

The students liked it and the chefs demonstrated 13 varieties of rice and four types of egg ‘masala.’

The Chief Minister said the new scheme would be introduced in one taluk in every district and depending on the feedback, this would be extended to other areas gradually.