The festival of lights has been a great excuse to indulge in delicious and rich food.
But with that comes an array of problems, digestion for one.
So this week, we bring you recipes that help in digestion, but are also extremely delicious.
Who said healthy food can’t be tasty?
Ginger chutney
Ingredients
50 gm ginger, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp urad dal
2½ tbsp oil
A bunch of curry leaves
A pinch of asafoetida powder
2 red chillies
10 gm jaggery
Salt to taste
Method
Warm oil in a pan, sauté ginger, set aside. Warm oil, sauté urad dal, add red chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida, keep aside. Blend the ginger and urad dal mixture along with jaggery in a food processor, add little water if required, add salt to taste. You can have the chutney as it is or with curd rice at the end of a meal.
Mint and ginger cooler
Ingredients
180 ml tender coconut water
30 ml honey
1 peeled fresh ginger
6 mint leaves
10 ml lemon juice
2 tbsp crushed ice
Method
Muddle the fresh ginger, mint leaves and lemon juice. In a tall glass, add crushed ice, top with muddled mixture. Top with honey and tender coconut water. Stir gently and serve.
Sol Kadhi
Ingredients
4-5 kokum
1 to 1½ cups water
200 ml of coconut milk
Salt to taste
1 clove of garlic
1 green chilli (added for extra heat, optional)
For the tempering
1 tbsp oil
¼ tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 dried red chillies, broken into pieces
Method
Soak the dried kokum in ½ cup of warm water. After about 30 minutes, squish the reconstituted fruit and extract the essence. Strain it and set the clear liquid aside. Pound the garlic, green chilli and salt together. The quantity of salt depends on whether the dried kokum was salted or not. Mix half of the clear extract with the coconut milk. Mix the garlic-salt mixture with it. Add water until the soup begins to start tasting pleasant and sweet. Add the remaining extract if required. For the tempering, heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds. Once they crackle, add cumin and red chilli pieces. Turn off the heat. Let it rest for a minute. Drizzle the oil over the soup in serving bowls.
Jeera cooler
Ingredients
50 gm roasted jeera
A bunch of mint leaves
½ tsp black salt
1 tsp of sugar
Ice cubes
A jug of water
1 split green chilli (optional)
Method
Crush the roasted jeera. Then blend mint leaves and jeera together. Once done, add water to the mixture. Add the ice and blend roughly. Strain the juice and then add black salt and a little sugar. Stir gently. If you like it spicy, you can blend in a split green chilli as well. Serve chilled.
