Neer Dose / Pan polo : yet another coastal delicacy.

Rice is a rich source of carbohydrates and accumulation of it in the body results in fat deposition!!! And there lies a myth of replacing rice with broken wheat to stay slim!! Do not opt for the polished- shiny rice for your diet. Instead go with the one with slightly red stains on the cereal... This partially polished rice would contain broad range of amino acids, vitamins and minerals required for a every day diet. The fact is, the Amino acid Methionine in unpolished rice takes part in the fat metabolism happening in the liver. This brings down the building up of fat in the body. The counteraction of breaking down fat happens only with the reddish tinged rice. It can be very healthy and tasty as well. 

Follow the breakfast recipe of coastal Karnataka, very famous NEER DOSE (in Kannada) / pan polo (in Konkani). Use the unpolished rice and improve on the health benefits this cereal provides...

Nutritive dessert: Ragi manni

Ragi/ finger millet is a part of afternoon diet replacing rice in many parts of Karnataka, primarily Mandya!!! Ragi muddhe and mossap-saru (green leafy veggie curry) counters a savory ragi diet... To do with its high calcium content, a dessert would fetch you ample of all the essentials in it... Do follow the recipe and get benefited with a health crop of South Asia.

Ragi manni / ragi cake / ragi halwa can be tried at home, a simple dessert with loads of nutrition. It favors all age groups aiding healthy bone development in kids and elders too to combat osteoporosis...

POSU... a simple spoilt-milk dessert!

Health management to waste management!! Is it good to consume spoiled milk??!! The reason for spoiling matters though. We, a bunch of people from Karnataka have a habit of heating milk in the morning which will be consumed all day long along with tea & coffee... But, if you forget to reheat in the evening, it will spoil to curdle and leave whey apart in the night when you re-boil. If it was small volume you least care, but if it's liters together then manage waste with the recipe I share.

Milk might spoil for various reasons. Bacterial activity is a prime cause. If not, there might be some contaminated vessel you have used for boiling milk. Upon heating milk it doesn't spoil but spoils on re-heating later in the evening is quite safe to use in the dessert. Edible if it is white only!!

Steps to procure precipitated/coagulated edible solids/proteins from spoiled milk:

• When you observe milk spoiling upon heating, complete the heating procedure by further placing it on flame for about 5 more minutes.
• Add ice to the hot spoiled milk as you put off the flame.
• Allow it to cool for some time and pass entire content through a cloth (muslin cloth or any cotton cloth).
• Wash the milk solids collected, thoroughly under running water.
• Tie it with the same cloth and allow the water to drip completely. Squeeze out excess water and put that in a bowl and loosen softly with your fingers. It should appear like this!!

red-chilli-urad dal-papad in a side dish!!

Cooking is such an art and if you have to cook an immediate recipe, then opt for simple red chilli papad side dish. Goes well with rice-rasam/sambar/curds... Easy cooking with some health benefits sounds good too... One of my friend Priya, with the pox was wanting to eat tasty with restricted food intake... Loads of fluids will definitely help but put a hold on fried foods!! For the marks not to remain, consume what your grany says! It works anyways.

The calorific content of lentils/ urad dal/ black gram says it has proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, calcium, iron, folic acid, oxalic acid and phosphorous... It is soothing for your body and a good cooling agent. It is an aphrodisiac and nervine tonic. Excessive intake of lentils causes flatulence which can, however, be prevented by adding little asafoetida, pepper and ginger in the culinary preparations.

Here is a simple side dish, but try it n comment please.... :)

Mango rice / Mavinakayi chitranna

White pulp to Golden Yellow (such a visual feast!!), unripe to ripe mangoes are rich in nutrients that aid in normalizing body's imbalances... There was a ground breaking research in biotechnology sometime back producing GOLDEN RICE! It had a gene to produce beta carotene artificially which would combat Vitamin A deficiency. But this fruit king has "it" naturally!! Poly-phenolic antioxidants, flavonoids, minerals, vitamins and pre-biotic dietary fibers makes it an interesting fruit to be consumed by those who are dieting.. Lowers appetite as you feel fuller due to vast range of nutrients in it. If consumed before meals, you tend to eat less.. The fibers in it improves digestion and brings down fat deposition too. Mainly focusing on LDL or bad cholesterol and ultimately bringing down the related adverse effects... Though it has lots of sugars, due to low glycemic index values, wouldn't contribute much to blood sugar levels and not a bad fruit for diabetics...

Mangoes do possess small amounts of copper which acts as co-factors to most of the enzymes in our body and makes it functional. You might be knowing about the usefulness of pyridoxine (Vit B6)  in homocysteine regulation in humans required for healthy heart to avoid coronary artery diseases (CAD) and stroke. Mangoes are rich in this vitamin... Some amount of fat is definitely required for uptake of those vitamins which are only fat soluble. For instance, if you are consuming Multivitamin tablet or any Vitamin rich fruits, don't let go wasted... Pop in an almond (contains good fat) and get the benefit of complete absorption of essential vitamins :)

Let me add some fat to a very traditional mango cuisine called as Mavinakayi chitranna or simply Mango Rice made using unripe Tothapuri variant of mango.

Powerfood-Cabbage patties

Do you know about cabbage soup diet!? Cabbage is such a power-food, smart carbohydrate yields very low calories upon liters/kilos of consumption... Are you focusing on anti-aging? Do you want non-saggy skin, healthy hair and nails? Use this vegetable in your weekly diet... Wholesome food, it acts on what not!!? For all the vegetarians out there, you miss out a lot of essentials from animal sources!, but you can gain it as an alternate with this one... Enjoy the spicy cabbage patties as a side dish with rice and rasam. Simple and tasty recipe awaits your read :)

Cabbage is used in soups, stews, sandwitches and pickles either raw or cooked... Loads of fiber, sulfur, vitamins, potassium in a cup-serving will help you to lose weight, fight cancer, give immunity and lots more... In Indian cooking it is used left n right, but no one tends to like this vegetable due to sulfur-y odor! Let's bring in a recipe to start with preparation of spicy Cabbage-patties...

Bitter gourd delight is not bitter, trust me!

Bitter tasting  Bitter-gourds/melons possess ample of health benefits but stops us from eating them because of its taste. If you use some techniques to cook, it will not really taste bitter... Trust me!!!! Follow my recipe to relish on the crunchy bitter guard delight which can be used as a side dish with rice or as a partner to chapatis. 

Bitter gourd is rich in folic acid which is a type of Vitamin B, helps in producing blood (RBC) and thus accounts in treating anemia. Antioxidants are available in this vegetable possesses Vitamin C too. From ancient times, it is extensively used in treating diabetes as it has tendency to bring down glucose levels in the blood. Frequent intake will result in de-worming and has its action on gut related disorders.
There is always a room for a thought due to controversial arguments in consumption of this vegetable by pregnant woman. It would lead to healthy development of the baby as rich in folates, but might result in uterine bleeding in some cases. Don't hesitate to put this in your diet during pregnancy if you have been consuming it from ages!!