KUALA LUMPUR: A simple meal of rice, ikan kembung asam pedas, ulam, a cooked vegetable and bananas provides complete nutrition.

National Heart Institute (IJN) dietetics and food services senior manager Mary Easaw-John said a healthy meal could be inexpensive.

Easaw-John and her colleague Foong Pui Hing, senior dietitian at IJN, will be analysing the eating habits of the 12 families participating in the Ringgit and Sense project.

Easaw-John said in a family of four, each member would need between 1,800 and 2,200 calories a day, depending on their jobs.

Farmers and fishermen, for instance, would need more energy than someone with a desk job.

To start the project, Easaw-John prepared a three-day menu, based on the food preferences of Malay, Chinese and Indian families.

For example, a Malay family could have wholemeal bread and eggs for breakfast, fish sambal and stir-fried kangkung for lunch, and chicken curry (without santan), long beans with tofu and ulam for dinner.

A Chinese family could have fried vegetarian mee hoon for breakfast, steamed fish and stir-fried kailan for lunch and ginger chicken cooked with soy sauce, stir-fried spinach and old cucumber soup at night.

An Indian family could have tosai and tomato chutney for breakfast, fish curry, cabbage and yoghurt for lunch and for dinner, spicy fried chicken, vegetable curry, ladies' fingers and rasam.

Her recommendation includes having rice at lunch and dinner and a fruit dessert after the two meals.

It also includes biscuits and a hot beverage during tea-time.