PART 2 CHAPTERS 8 TO 11
DIET & LIFESTYLE FOR HEALTH AND HARMONY
CHAPER 8 GUIDELINES ON DIET & LIFESTYLE FOR HEALTH & HARMONY
8.8 PATHWAY TO HARMONY PART I - DIET
8.9 PATHWAY TO HARMONY PART II - LIFESTYLE
CHAPTER 9 FRUIT THE WONDER FOOD
CHAPTER 10
RECIPES
10.1 Sai Protein Food
10.2 Flu Rasam
10.3 Cooking without Tomatoes
10.4 Non-dairy milks, Iced-smoothies and Kulfi (Indian Ice-cream)
10.1 SAI PROTEIN FOOD
This is highly nutritious food at a very low cost. It contains a good amount of protein, calcium, iron and other nutrients. Can be used where famine strikes and whenever there is a problem of anaemia or under-nourishment- whether at home or in the slums.
Ingredients :
Whole wheat 400 gms
Mung lentils. 300 gms
Ground nuts (peanuts) 100 gms
White til (sesame seeds) 100 gms
Gur (jaggery) 200 gms
Cardamom (elaichi) few pods
Dried ginger
Optional - Pure ghee (clarified butter) for roasting wheat
Preparation :
Dry roast whole wheat (or add ghee which increases the nutritive value considerably) adding cardamon. Roast mung, ground nuts (peanuts), til (sesame) and dried ginger - separately.
Dry grind all roasted ingredients when cool. Add jaggery. Makes 12 to 15 servings of very nutritious food. This can be eaten dry or made into a porridge by adding to boiling water.
Alternatives for home use - do not add cardamom and gur (jaggery) to the mixture. Make the ground mixture into a soup adding a seasonal vegetable, sea salt and pepper to taste. Gur to be eaten after the soup as dessert!
10.2 FLU RASAM
This is a soup which tastes so good you don't have to wait to get flu to have it. During flu however it makes the patient feel really refreshed. It is easy to digest and removes kapha (mucous) from the body.
a. Ingredients for the Rasam powder :
Equal quantities (say 1 tablespoon) of each of the following :
Whole black pepper balls,
Whole coriander seeds,
Cummin seeds
Toor daal (arhar)
Preparation of the rasam powder:
Dry roast separately the above ingredients. Dry grind to a slightly rough textured powder. Store in a jar. Will keep for weeks.
b. Ingredients for the rasam (soup)
(To serve 4)
Ball of tamarind the size of a big lemon
1 tablespoon rasam powder (see recipe above)
½ tsp. turmeric
Salt to taste
2 pinches of asafoetida
1 tsp. mustasrd seeds
1 tsp. cummin seeds
Small bunch coriander leaves
Few curry leaves
1" piece ginger finely chopped
6 cups of water
1 1/2 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)
Preparation of the rasam (soup)
Soak tamarind in 1 cup of water. Extract the juice. Add this juice to the remaining water and keep to heat.
Meanwhile add to this, rasam powder, a pinch of asafoetida, turmeric, ginger, salt and half the curry leaves. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow to cook for 20 - 30 minutes (until the raw smell of the rasam powder disappears).
In a small vessel heat the ghee. Add mustard seeds. When they stop spluttering add cummin, 1 pinch asafoetida and remaining curry leaves. Turn off the heat, give the spices 10 seconds to cook in the ghee; then add to the soup. Garnish liberally with fresh green coriander leaves. (Coriander leaves are a good way to pacify Pitta dosha -in this case fever).
May be had as an appetizer or soup or eaten with softly cooked rice. Top the soup/rice mixture with 1/2 tsp ghee (good to remove the heat from the body if there is fever).
Variation when eating for taste :
Add green chillies and 1/2 cup boiled tur (arhar) dal to the the ready soup just before adding the ghee/mustard seed garnishing.
10.3 COOKING WITHOUT TOMATOES
The generation that grew up in the 50's and 60's cannot imagine cooking without tomatoes. Why must we cook without tomatoes? Tomatoes, when cooked, are very acidic. Besides, including tomatoes in the cooked food has done away with the abundantly sensible practice of using tamarind and lemon in our foods.
A lot of the water supply all over India (new regions are being discovered every few months) has too much flouride. Apart from causing the local population to have "blackened" teeth it causes the disease called flourosis which means their bodies and limbs are all twisted out of shape.
Tamarind has the unique quality of binding the excess flouride and removing it from the body. With large-scale conversion of villages from tamarind to tomatoes, flourosis has become a great menace. Tomatoes are not Indian - they were brought to India only 400 years ago by the Portuguese in Goa and other visitors from the North west.
In North Indian cooking, tamarind juice can replace tomatoes in almost all lentils and vegetables. Just add the juice during the cooking process. The juice can be thick and concentrated when cooking vegetables (to prevent over-cooking), so that 1 or 2 tablespoons are adequate to add a touch of sourness. In lentils and beans (including rajma (red kidney beans) and lobiya (black eyed beans/cow peas) the usage can be liberal and diluted. You will know with experience just how much is "tasty" for your family and how much is "too much".
Vegetables can be varied by adding lemon juice after the cooking is over.
Note : Tamarind and Lemon juice are ANTACIDS. Tomatoes are Acidic.
10.4 NON-DAIRY MILKS
A variety of milks and milk shakes can be made from nuts, seeds and wheat which are nutritious, rich in calcium and protein and - delicious.
Coconut milk - Grate a coconut; add 5 cups of water (this can vary depending on the size of the coconut). Leave for 30 minutes. Blend in a blender. Strain. Add some more water to the pulp; blend again; strain. Add honey to sweeten or a seasonal fruit like mangoes, papaya, chikoos, or even pitted dates (add the fruit after straining, blend again but don't strain). If you are using dried dates, please soak over night and remove the seed before blending.
This milk can be varied by adding sprouted almonds (12 hours soaking time and 24 hours sprouting time), sprouted sesame (til) seeds (same as almonds), sweet melon seeds (with shells on), sprouted or unsprouted sunflower seeds.
You can use any of these seeds together in any combination - not necessarily with coconut milk.
Wheat milk - Wash and soak 1 cup whole wheat for 12 hours. Drain off water - allow to sprout in a closed container for 24 to 36 hours. Add 4 cups water; blend thoroughly. Strain. Sweeten with honey or dates. Vary as for coconut milk but DO NOT ADD FRUITS. (Fruits and grains do not combine well together for digestion - see separate note on "Fruits - the wonder food").
If the person for whom it is intended, has a Vata disorder, please heat the milk lightly adding cardommon and/or saffron.
Note : do not discard the strained out pulp. You can use it as a base to make a very nutritious soup adding vegetables which have been sauteed in a ghee, cummin and ginger base. If you tire of this, use the pulp as a natural fertilizer - add it back to the soil. (Even if you do not have a garden of your own, enrich the Municipality soil - Mother Earth will be most grateful!)
Soya milk - Soak 1 cup soya beans overnight. (If you allow the beans to sprout for another 10 hours, the nutritive value is greatly enhanced. But this is optional). When the beans are ready, put 6 cups of water in a large stainless steel pot to boil and another 2 1/2 cups in a smaller steel vessel to boil. Blend the soaked/sprouted soya beans with 3 cups of cold water. You may have to do this in two rounds if your blender is small.
Add this liquefied mass to the large pot of boiling water. When it comes to the boil again and begins to rise, turn off the heat. Strain through a clean cloth. Add this pulp to the smaller vessel of boiling water and repeat the process of straining. Put both the strained "milks" into one pot and bring to the boil again. Turn the heat to "low" and allow it to boil for 5 - 7 minutes.
It is essential to follow this procedure for soya beans other wise the milk is very difficult to digest.
Note : do not throw away the pulp. Use it as a filling for parathas (add onions and suitable spices to taste).
or
Add to the pulp 1/2 cup Rejuvelac (see recipe in Wheatgrass section) and/or lemon, sea salt, pepper, (if you do not have Rejuvelac ready add 1/2 cup water with lemon juice added). Blend again. Cover and keep to ferment for 24 hours. You have a reasonable cheese spread to which you can add cucumber pieces or green coriander - mint chutney and sprouts to make delicious sandwiches with whole wheat bread
Iced smoothies
Use seasonal fruits like melons, mangoes, chikoos, bananas, apples, pears, oranges/ orange juice, pineapple/pineapple juice, fresh figs, papaya, peaches, grapes in any combination.
Blend together and chill for smoothies and freeze for iced lollies - healthful iced lollies! Add honey if the fruit is not sweet enough (before chilling or freezing).
Kulfi (Indian Ice-cream)
Yes it's possible to make kulfi the healthful way!
Make 2 - 3 cups milk from seeds (of melon, sunflower etc.), almonds, wheat. See method given above. Strain. To the strained milk, you can add roasted peanuts, pistachio nuts, cashew nuts (whichever flavour you fancy!). In a small vessel boil 1 cup of water adding to it crushed cardammom (elaichi) and saffron (kesar). Allow the water to boil down to 1/2 cup. Let cool. Add to above mixture. To this add one cup bread crumbs made from fresh brown bread. Add honey to taste. (If it is a once in a blue-moon indulgence you can use sugar). Blend this whole mixture. Taste it to see that sweet and elaichi flavour are adequate.
Freeze in kulfi cups. (You can use an ice tray too). Once frozen, remove from the container and cut into slices. Splash on rose water or kewra water. Garnish with crushed almonds or pistachios. Delicious!
Note : If you are using seed or nut milk (not wheat milk) - you can combine seasonal fruits to make flavoured ice-cream. In that case, leave out the cardammon, saffron and bread crumbs.
More recipes will follow in our Newsletter. Make sure you are receiving a copy.
"Let the petty wishes for which you now approach God be realised or not, let the plans for promotion and progress which you place before God, be fulfilled or not; they are not so important after all. The primary aim should be to become Masters of yourselves, to hold intimate and constant communion with the Divine that is in you as well as in the Universe of which you are a part. Welcome disappointments, for they toughen you and test your fortitude."
- Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
