Benefits Of Tea

Source :Money life :Tanushree Kar

Tea has many healthy properties. Tanushree Kar describes some of them

Whether cutting chai or full cup – an average Indian consumes about five cups of tea per day; so it might be a good idea to talk about the health benefits of tea. Tea is the most commonly consumed beverage in the world after water.

 Whether it is black, green, or red (oolong) tea, they all contain polyphenols which give tea its antioxidant properties. 

Antioxidants help protect our bodies from free radical damage. Indeed, tea ranks higher than many fruits and vegetables in the oxygen radical absorbance capacity score that measures antioxidant levels of foods. 

The more processing tea leaves undergo, the darker they turn. Green tea is the least processed tea – the leaves are simply steamed quickly. 

Black and red teas are partially dried, crushed and fermented. Regardless of the processing method, all teas contain polyphenols. Numerous studies have demonstrated the anti-cancer properties of polyphenols. Some studies, indeed, have suggested that tea’s polyphenols may reduce the risk of gastric, oesophageal and skin cancers, if one consumes four to six cups daily.

 Other laboratory studies have shown that tea has the capacity to lower stress hormone levels. According to a study published in the journal Psychopharmacology drinking black tea helps in recovering more quickly from life’s stresses. The study showed that 50 minutes after a high-stress event, subjects who drank four cups of black tea per day for a four-week period experienced less stress compared to people who did not drink tea at all.
 
Apart from polyphenols, tea also contains other ingredients that are beneficial to one’s health. These include (amino acid unique to tea), vitamins, minerals and methylxanthinen.

 These are components of the sources of tea’s healthy properties. They are known to help fight against mutagenic agents, delay aging, fight high blood pressure, fight against viral and bacterial infections, and improve the functions of the digestive and excretory systems. Hence, by drinking four cups of tea a day, you can reap the numerous curative and preventive benefits of tea.

There is no evidence that tea consumption is harmful to health. However, some research suggests that tea can impair the body’s ability to absorb iron from food, meaning that people at risk of anaemia should avoid drinking tea around meal times.

Tea is a healthy beverage offering many benefits if you can skip adding milk and sugar. German researchers have found that the relaxing effect of a few cups of ordinary black tea on the arteries is almost completely wiped out when milk is added to it. Healthy benefits of tea drinking are most clearly seen in East Asia, where one normally drinks tea without milk. You must learn to brew your tea for at least three to five minutes to bring out the beneficial polyphenols. Brewing brings out the aroma of tea, especially if it is of the leafy Darjeeling variety.

Some researchers also suggest that the microwave oven may destroy some of the antioxidants present in tea. Lower temperatures will draw antioxidants out from tea leaves, while high temperatures will destroy them. The temperature of boiling water is 212 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees Celsius. 

Microwaves generate much higher temperature. Boiling tea on the stove is also a bad idea. That makes high temperature last too long. The best method is to just take a ceramic tea-pot, put the tea leaves in it, pour the boiling water on the leaves, cover the pot, let it brew for three minutes, stir the contents, strain and pour it into a cup.

 The chai from pavement tea stalls in India, where the chaiwallah does his acrobatic act with the long handled spoon, ladling the tea to make an outrageously sweet, milky, frothy concoction, may possibly not have any benefits. But one cannot deny the pleasure people on the wooden bench feel when they sip from tiny clay cups or from thick glasses. One can hardly forget the immortal scene in the movie Shri 420 – the pouring rain, the black umbrella, Raj Kapoor and Nargis under it and the chaiwallah with his kettle.

Go Nuts.....

DR. PREETAISH KAUL

source :Dr Preetaish Kaul :NXg:the hindu: 7-04-2011

You are at a party and want to watch your weight and health. However when the appetisers are served you notice nothing looks healthy. The next thing you know, you go ahead and eat those decorative little morsels and blow your eating plan. Stop! You just passed up one of the healthiest foods you could eat. Those little delicious nuts in that bowl across the room are chock full of nutrition. They will improve your cardiovascular health; hold cancer prevention properties and help you lose weight. It’s hard to believe but it’s true!

Wise choices

For 24-year-old Natasha (name changed), going to parties and eating her favourite food was no more worrisome. The idea that something from nuts may actually help weight control seems a little counter-intuitive at first; bearing in mind the reputation nuts have for being both fatty and fattening. Nuts are a nutrient-packed, healthy ‘primal’ food, and something that experience shows that satisfy the appetite and prevent overeating at meal time. High in proteins, unsaturated fats may aid in weight loss and other disease-fighting properties.

What’s do nuts have that is heart healthy? Nuts are an intensely fatty food, with about 80 per cent of the calories they offer coming from fat. But bear in mind that the types of oils found in nuts such as almonds, cashews, walnuts is predominantly the healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated type.Researchers found that people who eat nuts regularly have lower risk of heart disease. In 1998, a study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health found that women who ate nuts less than four times a week were 40 per cent less likely to die of heart disease. Further, potential heart health benefits of nuts were also found among men. In 2002, the Physician’s Health Study found that men who consumed nuts two or more times per week had reduced risk of sudden cardiac death.

Nuts are calorically dense

Fifteen cashews, for instance, deliver 180 kcal! On top of that, it is very tough not to overeat these tasty snacks. Ideally, you should use nuts as a substitute for saturated fats, such as those found in meats, eggs and dairy products. Nuts should be consumed in moderation. Nuts served over salads or pastas will add crunch and flavour. There are many ways to consume nuts and save calories, all benefiting from them without the weight gain.

Weight loss is not the only benefit

Walnuts are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. This means that they also fight heart disease and possibly arthritis. Vitamin E is found in significant amounts in most nuts. Vitamin E helps lower LDL cholesterol, which is also beneficial to your heart. Also seeds are a fantastic source of folic acid. Despite this, many are still wary of eating nuts on account of their highly calorific nature and reputation for widening the waistline.

Eating nuts doesn’t increase weight

It seems too good to be true. You can eat something delicious that is extremely high in fat and yet not gain weight… and may even lose weight? How does that work? Nuts are not usually included in low-fat diets, but studies show that many people find it very difficult to follow a low-fat diet consistently. Allowing a moderate level of fat (as much as 35 per cent) in your diet and getting much of it through nuts may actually increase your chances of losing weight and also give you some heart-health benefits.Instead of eating unhealthy saturated fats, try substituting a handful of nuts. The best approach is to reap the health benefits of eating nuts but not add excessive calories to your daily intake. So instead of simply adding nuts to your diet, eat them in replacement of foods that are high in saturated fats and limit your intake of these tasty treats Next time you feel like indulging, go for whole, raw, unsalted nuts, and don’t feel guilty about it!

Heart-healthy

Unsaturated fats: It’s not entirely clear why, but it’s thought that the “good” fats in nuts — both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats — lower bad cholesterol levels.

Omega-3 fatty acids: Many nuts are also rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s are a healthy form of fatty acids that seem to help your heart by, among other things, preventing dangerous heart rhythms that can lead to heart attacks. Omega-3 fatty acids are also found in many kinds of fish, but nuts are one of the best plant-based sources of omega-3 fatty acids

Fibre: All nuts contain fibre, which helps lower your cholesterol. Fibre also makes you feel full, so you eat less. Fibre is also thought to play a role in preventing diabetes.

Vitamin E: Vitamin E may help stop the development of plaques in your arteries, which can narrow them. Plaque development in your arteries can lead to chest pain, coronary artery disease or a heart attack.

Plant sterols: Some nuts contain plant sterols, a substance that can help lower your cholesterol. Plant sterols are often added to products like orange juice for additional health benefits, but sterols occur naturally in nuts.

Nutty facts

• Nuts make you feel full fast. They induce a feeling of being satiated and satisfy your appetite.
• The satiety feeling of nuts consumption leads to less food ingestion in subsequent meals.
• Nutrients contained in nuts are incompletely digested and absorbed — particularly whole nuts — so many of their potential calories just pass through your body as waste.

How to make...Kothumalli thokku

Source :The Hindu : Metro Plus, Chennai,LALITHA KUMAR :18th Feb 2011 Lalitha Kumar is a home-maker who loves to spend her free-time trying out new recipes,  reading books and writing. Kothumalli thokku is a flavoursome dish, rich in nutrition. Easy-tomake, this recipe has been in our family for many generations.  It can be mixed with hot rice and a little ghee to make wholesome Kothumalli sadham. It can also be had as a sidedish with idli, dosa, chappathi and curd rice. This dish can be preserved for about a week. What you need Coriander - 1 bunch Red chillies - 4 Bengal gram - 1 tsp Black gram - 11/2 tsp Asafoetida - 1 small bit Tamarind, lemonsized ball - 1 Jaggery - 1 tsp Salt - to taste Refined oil - 1 tsp Gingelly oil - 2 tsp

Cooking instructions

Wash coriander and soak in water for half-an-hour. Make sure all the dirt is removed.

Heat refined oil in a pan and add red-chillies and roast them first. Keep the roasted chillies aside.

Then, add Bengal gram, black gram and asafoetida to the pan. Roast and keep aside.

In a mixer, grind the coriander, jaggery, tamarind, roasted chillies and salt together with one tbsp of water.

Then add the roasted mixture of Bengal gram, black gram and asafoetida to the paste and grind together.

Heat gingelly oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When it crackles

add the ground mixture and fry till the mixture thickens and oil separates

Flygande Jacob or Flying Jacob is a Swedish casserole

Source :The Hindu Metro Plus,Chennai,18th Feb2011

Flygande Jacob or Flying Jacob is a Swedish casserole

 based on chicken with bananas, peanuts and bacon

 and cooked in the oven. 

The dish was invented by Ove Jacobsson who worked

 in the air freight industry, hence the name. 

The recipe was first published in Allt om mat in 1976.

A taste of nostalgia

SPICED RIGHT The menu focuses on food that 
Malayalees are passionate about


Source ; SHONALI MUTHALALY :The Hindu Metro Plus ,Chennai,18th Feb 2011


EATING OUT Kudumbam's cuisine is reminiscent of everything
 flavourful from God's own country

We smell Kudumbam before we see it. It's the scent of coconut oil: lush, intense and unapologetically powerful. For every other part of India, coconut oil might symbolise head massages and banana chips. For a Malayalee, it's a far more primeval scent. It conjures up languid lunches featuring puffy pappadums teamed with red rice and warm avial fragrant with coconut oil.

I stand on the road taking deep breaths like a tourist at a mountain resort. I'm even more at home when I spot Kudumbam's verandah. With its gleaming planter's chair supporting an antique walking stick, it provides an authentic Kerala-setting. The theme continues inside, with beautifully recreated interiors. 

There's a traditional nalukettu, a staple of the old Kerala tharavadu, featuring an open courtyard that floods the room with natural light. A sturdy cupboard bursts with pickles and jams, all made in Kottayam. On top of the cupboard balances a line of glass jars filled with tea-shop snacks: sweet rose cookies, sesame-speckled kuzhalappams and crisp churoti dusty with powdered sugar.

Calling itself Kerala's first boutique restaurant, Kudumbam has been painstakingly put together, with rich details and thoughtful touches. As the resident flautist plays, we wander through and are finally seated at a table upstairs, one of the many quiet nooks in the restaurant which has been intelligently divided into sections to maximise privacy. 

Unfortunately the acoustics let them down — loud voices tend to echo here — so it can feel rather chaotic when packed.

Our waiter's friendly but vague. He seems perpetually preoccupied with more important matters. World peace, perhaps. He hands us our menus, knocks over my water, apologises profusely and wanders away. 

For the next half-an-hour we see him at odd intervals, waving shyly from a distance. When he finally turns up we order in a rush before he can canter away. The menu focuses on food that Malayalees are passionate about, from the well-known Syrian beef fry to lesser known items such as sun-dried beef that's then crushed and stir-fried. There's fish, of course. All the local favourites: Kalanchi, Neymeen, Karimeen and Ayoli. Also prawns and squid, besides Kerala's fast food — Trivandrum fried chicken, laced with red pepper and roasted coconut. And, of course, duck roast, a staple at festive lunches and dinners.

 I pick a Kerala meal, which arrives in ten minutes, grandly presented on a leaf-shaped plate. Strangely the rice is lukewarm and every other accompaniment is cold. As a result the food is rather lacklustre. 

The avial, a tumble of bright vegetables generously showered with shredded coconut, redeems the meal. It helps that our waiter's now become part of the family and hovers around endearingly, offering to bring bowls of dal which he insists we spike with generous dollops of golden ghee.

We also order squid fry and okra, but both turn out rather disappointing since they're cloaked in an inexplicable bhaji-style batter. 

Our Kerala parathas are appropriately flaky and go well with the prawn-mango curry, which is tasty if over-embellished with acres of onions. There's a deftly-spiced koottu curry, featuring the ubiquitous Kerala kadala — which are like black chickpeas — along with juicy brinjal. It goes beautifully with red rice. 

There are payasams to end the meal — ada, semiya, broken wheat, split gram — besides carrots, jackfruit and beetroot halwa.

 If you get here at tea time they also offer a wide range of snacks, including the addictive ethaka appam, ripe golden Kerala bananas encased in a crisp batter. Perfect with a cup of scalding, 

thick, sweet Kerala chai.

Kudumbam is at 156, Kodambakkam High Road. Call 28212821 or 28212822 for more details or reservations

Food for the soul

PHOTO: MURALI KUMAR K.

 The food is served on a thala-bati, small katoris arrayed around a mound of rice
Source :The Hindu :Metro Plus Bangalore

Techies from Bengal, Orissa, Manipur and Bihar living in Koramangala needn't feel homesick anymore, thanks to technocrat-turned-floriculturist and former Rotarian S.K. Ghosh who has started a new branch of his restaurant Bangliana near the IIM on Bannerghatta Road. "These young professionals yearn for wholesome meals," Ghosh explains. "How long can they live on junk food? At first, I brought a Bengali cook over and set up a mess. It was a roaring success. I later set up Bangaliana on August 1, 2004," says Ghosh.

The ambience at Bangaliana is the informal chaos of most homes. The furniture is quasi-office. The walls teem with drawings by Sukumar Ray, accompanied by his brilliant Bangla nonsense verse. The day's specials are chalked up on a white board. A portrait of Swami Vivekananda is set by the cash counter manned by Ghosh or his wife.

"Our USP is fish. Different fish curries, at least five or seven each day," says Ghosh. "We fly in fish from Kolkata at least twice or thrice a week. Over the weekends, we have special dishes. And when it rains, we have khichuri and maach bhaja or begun bhaja, just as you would at home."

Functioning as a home delivery cum catering service, a takeaway and restaurant, from noon to 3 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. to 10.30 p.m., the standees outside its door testify to Bangaliana's culinary claims. Every meal with a non-veg dish can be had for between Rs. 40 to Rs. 95 per head. Isn't that a steal?

The food is served on a thala-bati, small katoris arrayed around a mound of white rice on a plate accompanied by the day's choice of dal and vegetables. The musurir dal (masoor) is delicately flavoured with turmeric and red chilli, tempered with just randhuni (ajwain). It goes perfectly with the farm-fresh shukto at room temperature with each bite of bittergourd, drumstick or plantain yielding ginger-mustard notes, hinting at panch phoron (the traditional mix of whole seeds). The alu-piaj koli is irresistible with the crunchy spring onion blending into the cooked potato and it is very lightly spiced. For zest, we demolish some straw-fried potatoes that whet our appetite.

Now for the fish. We try each with a little rice. The chingri jhal is exquisite, its light gravy of ginger and kala jeera helping the juicy prawns come into their own. The rui kalia is richer, each chunk of succulent rohu done to an exacting tenderness. Next comes pabpa shorse, a whole pink-bellied Indian butterfish, the subtle mustard curry enhancing its flakiness. But our pick of the day was doi pona, a generous slice of plump fish perfectly at home in its sweetish yoghurt gravy.

As a diversion, we sample the mangshor jhol (chunks of mutton and potato redolent of ginger, dhania and jeera). To top off our feast, we lick at digestive, sweet-sour aam chutney (diced mango afloat in syrup).

Ghosh babu will not allow us to leave without sampling his "outsourced sweets", no matter how replete we are. So, we dip into mishti doi, much lighter and less sweet than the usual product. As for the tender, plump rossogolla, it is less cloying and sugary than most.

Bangaliana is located at 355, 1st B Main, 7th Block, Koramangala, opp. HDFC Bank or one could call 25711058/ 98453-66458 to get to know more of this lovely eat-out.

ADITI DE

Vegetarian president brings own cooks to China

Source :Beijing,Indo-Asian News Service, May 29, 2010, 12:32 IST
   
   
       

President Pratibha Patil, a vegetarian, has flown in her own cooks for her six-day China visit, fully aware that she would be visiting a nation known for a cuisine that is primarily non-vegetarian and where gourmet dishes are whipped out of many animal, bird and fish species.

In fact, the president, who attended a sumptuous state banquet on Thursday, given by her Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of People, bypassed the non-vegetarian dishes and tucked into a meal which included a special dish of white gourd.

Officials said Patil, who is staying in the majestic Hotel Raffles in Beijing, has a huge suite which has a big kitchen, with separate entry for staff members. Patil is in China on a six-day visit that is taking her to Beijing, Luoyang and Shanghai.

"She is a simple eater. And likes her dal, rice and one vegetable. Her chef knows her liking," an official told IANS, not wishing to be identified as he was not supposed to talk to the media.

The chefs, Laxman Rai and Dheeraj Mani Bhatt, are not only taking care of the president's needs, but also of those of her husband Devisingh Ramsingh Shekhawat, son-in-law Jayesh Rathore and grandson Dhruvesh Rathor, who are accompanying her in the visit.

As Chinese dining etiquettes demand that guests do not decline any food that is served to them, Chinese authorities were informed about the president's preferences in advance. "She was not offered any non-vegetarian fare (at the state banquet)," said the official.

A huge steel box labelled with bold letters "grocery" was flown to China. In fact, it was one of the few things that were loaded first in the special aircraft Air India One in which the president and her entourage travelled.

"We are carrying everything for the journey. We know her choices so we have packed everything. We wanted to be fully prepared," the official told IANS. Chinese banquets typically serve about ten courses that include food cooked from animal, fish or bird anatomy.