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• Personal Growth

August 2005

By Life Positive

Recipes: Smita Naram
Photos: Nikhil IdurkarAyurvedic recipes to help you tackle arthritis, acidity and the common cold

Arthritis
Arthritis is a vata and aama-related disease. Aama is caused by the consumption of oily, fatty, sweet foods, and heavy meat like pork and beef. Over-consumption of these foods affects digestion and produces half-digested mucus known as aama (a toxic and sticky mucus), which causes swelling. Consumption of heavy beans like chickpea, kidney beans, as well as dry fruits, nuts, salads and stale foods creates gases, which cause pain and stiffness. A clear sign of aama in the body is an indentation left behind when you press on the shinbone.

Prefer: Sweet fruits like banana, coconut, figs, dates, grapes, melon, papaya. Cooked vegetables like carrots, onion, sweet potato, gourd, ridge gourd, red and white pumpkin. Also, cooked rice, moong beans, or orange (masoor) and tur dal. Spices like black pepper, cinnamon, clove, garlic, cumin, coriander, asafoetida, honey, unrefined sugar, ghee, buttermilk, sesame and sunflower oil are also good for the condition.

Avoid: Wheat, red meat (such as pork, beef), heavy sweets, fried foods, fermented foods and heavy beans (kidney, chick peas, black-eyed peas, lima beans, split peas), raw food, salad and dried nuts.
 

Mulligatawny Soup
Ingredients:
½ cup tur dal
½ cup moong dal
3½ cups water
1 tbsp cooked rice
2 medium carrots
1 tsp sunflower oil
4 garlic cloves
2-3 cm fresh ginger
2 medium onions
10 curry leaves
2 cms cinnamon bark
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
½ cup coconut milk
Salt as per taste

Method: Wash tur dal and moong dal carefully and pressure-cook in two cups of water. Clean and dice carrots into ½ cm cubes. Pressure cook separately or use another vessel in the same pressure cooker. Cook for around 10 minutes. Clean and chop the onions. Heat a small iron saucepan and roast curry leaves, cinnamon bark, cumin and coriander seeds together until they turn light brown. Set aside. Into the same saucepan add oil and sauté the onions, garlic and ginger until onions turn lightly brown. On cooling, run the roasted spices, onion-garlic-ginger-mixture, coconut milk and cooked rice through the blender adding half a cup of water to make gravy.

Mix one cup of water into the cooked lentils. Stir well. Add the cooked carrots and the gravy. Season the soup with salt and let it simmer for some minutes.

Stuffed Padwal
Ingredients:
½ kg padwal (small)
Masala for stuffing:
½ cup moong dal
2 tbsp oil
½ tsp cumin seeds
¼ tsp ginger paste
¼ tsp garlic paste
¼ tsp green chilli paste
½ tsp chat masala
¼ tsp garam masala
2 tbsp (finely chopped) pudina
1 tbsp (finely chopped) dhaniya
Salt to taste
For gravy:
1 cup coconut milk
4 curry leaves
½ tsp whole mustard
1 pinch hing
½ tsp white pepper powder
1 tbsp oil
1 cup water
1 tbsp ginger paste
¼ teaspoon green chilli paste
Salt to taste

Method: Wash the moong dal and pressure cook with minimum water and keep aside. Heat oil in a pan, add ginger-garlic paste, cumin seeds, sauté for 2 minutes. Add green chilli paste, chat masala and garam masala. Stir well. Add pudina and dhaniya leaves and salt. Stir for three minutes. Add cooked moong dal. Stir well till the mixture is dry, ready for stuffing. Peel the padwal and deseed it. Stuff with the mixture and steam till padwal is tender. Heat one tbsp oil in a pan, add whole mustard. When they splutter, add hing, curry leaves, ginger and green chilli paste, white pepper and stir for a while. Add salt, water and coconut milk until it boils. Add stuffed padwal and let it simmer for one minute. Serve immediately with pulao, rice, or jowari chappatis. Wheat chappatis produce aama and arthritis patients should avoid wheat.

Acidity
The gastric regurgitation of excess pitta, which is acidity, is termed amlapitta in ayurveda. The intake of fried foods, oily, spicy, sour, hot, dry and starchy food, drinking alcohol, smoking, over-eating or starving and exposure to heat causes excess pitta in the body. It affects digestion and damages agni (digestive fire). Due to this, the broken and undigested food particles remain within the intestine and begin to ferment causing sourness and acidity.

Prefer: Sweet fruits like coconuts, figs, apples, sweet black grapes, melons (kharbuja), sweet oranges, pomegranates and raisins. Sweet and bitter tasting vegetables like cauliflower, French beans, peas, potatoes, all squashes and pumpkins like ridge gourd, bottle gourd, snake gourd, red and white pumpkin. Also, barley, rice and wheat, corn, white meat and egg white.

Avoid:Fermented foods like pickles, yogurt, idlis and dosas. Steer clear of sour fruits like lemons, oranges, pineapples, plums, sour grapes, papayas, grapefruits, peaches and strawberries. Be wary of pungent vegetables like brinjals, chillies, capsicums, radishes and tomatoes. Avoid millet, beef, eggs, red meat, seafood, sesame oil, black pepper, asafoetida, peanuts, cashew nuts and honey.

Pumpkin Moong dal Soup
Ingredients:
1 cup moong dal
1 cup white pumpkin cleaned and
cut into 2-3 inch cubes
4 cups water
1 tbsp ghee
1 tsp cumin
1-2 bay leaves
6 curry leaves
1 tsp coriander seeds
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp kokum concentrate from
3-4 kokum
½ teaspoon coriander-cumin powder
Salt to taste

Method: Wash the moong dal. Add the pumpkin, pressure cook in two cups of water for 10 minutes. Cool and grind in a blender and add one cup of water to it. Heat ghee in a deep saucepan. Reduce the fire to medium, add cumin, bay leaf, curry leaves and the coriander seeds. When light brown, pour in the soup, mix well and add coriander-cumin powder, ginger paste, turmeric and salt. Finally stir in the kokum concentrate and boil the soup for a few minutes.

Mixed Vegetable
Ingredients:
2 cups white pumpkin,
cleaned and sliced
1½ cups potatoes, cleaned and sliced
1 cup yellow pumpkin, cleaned and sliced
½ cup green peas
½ cup grated coconut
1 tbsp sunflower oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp ginger paste from 2-3 cm fresh
ginger
1 tsp cumin-coriander powder
¼ tsp fennel powder
Salt to taste

Method: Wash and clean all vegetables and cut into 1.5 cm sized cubes. Boil with sufficient water and salt until tender. After cooking, drain the water. Keep it aside. Grind the coconut into a paste and keep aside. Heat the oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, and ginger paste. Stir for 1 minute. Add the cumin-coriander powder, fennel powder, and turmeric powder. Add coconut paste, stir for 2-3 minutes, and add the cooked vegetables. Stir well and add the vegetable water. Cook until gravy thickens and serve.

Black Grape Granita
Ingredients:
1 cup munnaka (black grapes with seeds) deseeded and soaked
1 banana finely chopped
2 tbsp powdered sugar
(mishri preferable)
½ tsp roasted cumin seed powder
¼ tsp black salt (sanchal)

Method: Blend the black grapes and bananas to a fine puree in a food processor. Add the sugar, cumin seed powder, black salt and ¼ cup of water and mix well. Freeze in a shallow container till set. Transfer to a blender and liquidise till it is slushy. Serve scoops of the mixture in 4 individual bowls or long-stemmed glasses immediately. You can also serve it as a chilled smoothie without freezing it.

This recipe can immediately cool down burning sensations.

Cough and Cold
Breathing is governed by pranavata (vital air). Prana flows through the pranavaha strotas (respiratory canal). Prana moves upward from the diaphragm and is pushed out through the throat and nasal cavity. It goes back rapidly towards the diaphragm, taking along with it atmospheric air into the lungs. Any obstruction in the pathway of prana leads to respiratory disorders like asthma, eosinophilia, and allergies. When excess vata enters the pranavaha strotas it dries up the canal causing breathlessness. When excess mucus blocks the respiratory canal the result is cough and cold.

Prefer: Fruits like apples, apricots, dry figs, dates, mangoes, peaches, pears, and raisins. Pungent and bitter vegetables like beetroots, carrots, celery, leafy greens, onions, garlic, ginger, peas, radish, spinach, sprouts. Also, barley, corn, millet, rice, oats, chicken or turkey, boiled eggs, moong beans, yellow dal, lentils, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, jaggery, and honey. All spices and herbs especially ginger, garlic, black pepper, garam masala and asafoetida. Ghee and milk diluted with equal parts of water and seasoned with ginger and cardamom is a good cure.

Avoid: Sweet and sour fruits like bananas, coconuts, fresh figs, grapefruit, melons, oranges, sweet limes, chikoos, papayas, pineapples, sweet and juicy vegetables, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, squashes, rice and wheat, red meat like lamb, beef, pork and seafood. Heavy beans like kidney beans, soya beans, black lentils. All nuts, especially cashew nuts and peanuts, sugar, yoghurt, milk, cheese, butter, coconut oil, olive oil, cold drinks, ice-creams and chilled water.

Moong Dal with Soya Milk
Ingredients:
½ cup moong dal
1½ cup water to cook the dal
½ cup unsweetened plain soya milk
1 medium-sized onion
1 tbsp sunflower oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp garlic paste
½ tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp lemon juice
1 pinch hing
¼ tsp chilli paste
Salt to taste

Method: Wash the dal and pressure cook for 10 minutes using requisite amount of water.

Heat the oil in a deep saucepan and add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds pop, add hing, stir in onions, garlic, and ginger. Cook until onions turn glassy, stir occasionally. Then add garam masala and turmeric. Mix well. Pour in cooked dal and soya milk. Season with sugar, salt and lemon juice. Simmer for some minutes. Serve with jeera fried rice.

Tofu with Spinach
Ingredients
1¼ cup plain tofu
1 large bunch fresh spinach
1 cup water
1 tomato
1 onion
12 cloves garlic
2-3 cm fresh ginger
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp garam masala powder
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander powder
¼ tsp green chilli paste
½ tsp garlic paste
Salt to taste

Method: De-stem the spinach, wash the leaves and boil for around 5 minutes. Drain and set aside. Chop the tomato and onion roughly as well as the garlic and ginger. Grind in a blender with a little water. Fill in a bowl and set aside. Put the spinach in a blender, add the water and prepare gravy. Cut the tofu into 1 cm cubes. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add cumin. When the cumin is lightly brown, add the tomato-onion-garlic-ginger gravy and stir well. Add the remaining spices. Let it boil over medium heat for around 5 minutes. Stir in tofu cubes and let it simmer for 3-4 minutes. Stir in the spinach gravy, mix well. Cover and cook over low heat for around 5-10 minutes. Serve this vegetable with bajra, jowar or makai roti.

Herbal Tea
Ingredients:
½ tsp fresh ginger paste
10 tulsi leaves crushed
3 crushed peppercorns
2 crushed cardamoms
1½ cups of water
1 tsp honey

Method: Boil everything together except honey for 2 – 3 minutes. Switch off the gas and leave it covered for 2 – 3 minutes. Filter, add honey. You can also add tea leaves and soya milk to make masala tea. As milk produces mucus, it should be replaced by soya milk. Drinking this warm immediately burns away mucus and stimulates digestion.