Flaxseeds
Unless you’re living under a rock you’ve probably ready enough about flax seeds and how they are a healthy source of omega 3’s for vegetarians. Consuming whole flax seeds is a bit pointless since it just passes through your body without giving you much benefit, freshly ground flax seeds is what you want to consume. Flax seed oil is good too provided it is not heated and fresh (it tends to turn rancid pretty fast).
Add flax seeds the next time you make Chutney powder (molaga podi/chutney pudi)
Sprinkle freshly ground flax seeds on your oatmeal porridge, smoothie, yogurt, raita
Karipatta/ Curry leaves
Now this ingredient is commonly used across Indian cuisine however I mostly end up picking it out of my sabzi or curry and placing it aside to be thrown later (which defeats the any nutritional purpose of adding it to the dish).
Karipatta is known to help in
-Lowering cholesterol
-Controlling blood sugar levels
-Preventing graying of hair, helps treat damaged hair
-Treating skin infections because it has anti fungal properties and has strong anti-oxidants that leave your skin looking healthier
-It’s good for digestion
-Cures diarrhea and,
-Is a great source of both iron and folate (folic acid helps your body absorb the iron in your food)
When you buy a fresh bunch of karipatta wash it and let it dry out for a day or two. it will start to look crispy as it dries out. Once it dries out remove the leaves from the stalk and pop it in a spice grinder and blitz it till it to form a powder. (how fine you grind the leaves is up to you)
Now you can bottle this powder and sprinkle it over your dals, sabzi, sambar, butter milk etc. you will consume it without having to chew through the leaves. Now you can include this wonder food in your diet and enjoy its many benefits.
Karipatta Chutney
This is my MIL’s recipe which I love but there are lots of different recipes for the same on the internet, just google it!
Ingredients:
One small bunch of karipatta
2 tsp oil
1 tbsp urad dal,
1 tsp channa dal,
4 to 5 dry red chillies
1/2 tsp whole black pepper
tsp jaggery powder
2 pieces Hing OR 1/2 tsp if using powder. (I like to use the crystal hing (brand SSP) rather than the powder for this recipe
1 small lime size ball of tamarind (can replace with amchur powder)
Salt to taste
Method:
Fry urad dal, channa dal, karipatta, red chilli, black pepper in oil till light brown.
Put all of the above ingredients in a grinder along with salt, jaggery, tamarind/amchur and grind into into a fine paste. Add water to adjust the consistency to a thick paste.
Talk to me! Do you like this post? Let me know if you have any other healthy ingredients that you are trying to add to your current diet…do you have any special karipatta or flax seed recipes? Would you like me to feature any particular food ingredient in a future post?
