The Reflect and Cook Series: Part 2

When the pandemic is over, we will surely realise that much of what we were doing in our everyday life was indeed non-essential and wasteful.
The Reflect and Cook Series: Part 2

By the time you read this, we will be more than two weeks into the nationwide lockdown. Many of us will be understandably restless by this time. This is when it’s all the more necessary to look at the silver lining. When you peek out, you find that the sky looks so blue that it is difficult to believe that what you see is not a painting.

Incidentally, the city of Jalandhar reported sighting the splendid snow-clad peaks of the Dhauladhar mountain range after 30 years, just one week into the lockdown! With limited flights and automobiles all over the world, the air is so much cleaner. The birds are chirping happily, the bees and wasps roam freely, and the night sky brims with bright stars. All of this happens right here in the centre of the city, something not witnessed in recent times.

When the pandemic is over, we will surely realise that much of what we were doing in our everyday life was indeed non-essential and wasteful.On the cooking front, I find that this is a time when we cease to make unreasonable demands about what we want to eat. This is a good time to do some course correction with respect to our eating habits as well.

Green leafy vegetables are a good place to start, because it is a food that both children and adults have some trouble including in the daily diet. The green leafy veggies contain carotenoids (the precursors of Vitamin A), which plays a big role in preventing respiratory and gastrointestinal infections.

The traditional Indian saag is a good way to get your daily dose of these nutrients, but here’s another recipe to mix things up. The recipe is a simple one, calling for spices that boost the body’s immune system. You could also prepare a sizeable amount and store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a few days. This chutney makes for an excellent accompaniment to all kinds of meals.

Curry Leaf Chutney

Ingredients
1 cup curry leaves (removed from stem)  1cm piece of ginger, chopped  2-3 garlic cloves, chopped  1 tsp cooking oil (soy / sesame / rice bran)
1 dry red/green chilli  ½ tsp cumin seeds  1 marble-sized ball of tamarind (imli)  1 tsp crushed jaggery  Salt to taste

Method
Soak the tamarind in ¼ cup water and remove the seeds and pulp by passing through a sieve.
Heat oil in a skillet. Add chopped ginger, cumin seeds and chilli. Stir until the cumin seeds turn slightly brown. Add curry leaves, stir for a minute and remove from heat.
Add garlic cloves, salt and jaggery, and grind this mixture using the tamarind water that is ready. Stir well and serve with meals.
Note: The curry leaves, ginger and garlic play a role in supporting our immune system to fight infections.
The Vitamin A from the curry leaves is enhanced and better absorbed by the body, when it is tempered in a little oil, as in the recipe, because it is a fat soluble vitamin.

Neelanjana Singh
Nutrition Therapist &  Wellness Consultant

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