FOOD NEWS: FOOD

Showing posts with label FOOD. Show all posts

Friday, 27 May 2016

Top Reasons To Use Apple Cider Vinegar Every Day

An apple a day keeps the doctor away is a very famous saying. Now, you can add a new twist to this saying by replacing the apple with apple cider vinegar. A daily dose of apple cider vinegar is also very effective in keeping the doctor away. It is a quick and effective ingredient for your hair, skin, cleaning coffee makers, removing coffee and tea stains from ceramic cups, polishing armor, killing weeds, making pickles as well as used for salad dressing. Apple cider vinegar is such a useful ingredient that you cannot resist the use of this ingredient every single day. It is not just used for helping you out in the kitchen and for cleaning things, but it also has many natural benefits. It is rich in calcium, potassium, magnesium, copper, phosphorus, sodium and fluorine. It is also rich in vitamins like A, B1, B2, C, E, pectin and bioflavanoid. It is such a useful ingredient that you need to use it in your daily routine.
Apple cider vinegar is made by fermenting the apple juice to form hard apple cider. Then it undergoes a second fermentation process where it becomes apple cider vinegar.

• Using the apple cider vinegar in place of other products in your home will help you to decrease the consumption and dependence on unnatural chemicals in your homes every day.
• Regular use of apple cider vinegar will provide a healthy environment and surrounding in your home.

2. Regulates Skin pH
Apple cider vinegar is found to be an excellent ingredient that will help in removing age spots, ace scars, and warts apart from toning your skin.

Procedure:
• Use two parts of water to dilute one part of apple cider vinegar and spread this mixture all over your face with the help of a soft cotton ball.
• You can apply this at night before going to bed or even use it in the morning before applying your moisturizer.
• It will help in reducing age spots.
Warts Treatment:
• Soak a cotton ball in apple cider vinegar and then using a band aid seal this soaked cotton ball over the wart on your face.
• Leave it there for overnight and there are chances for the skin to swell when the apple cider vinegar solution reacts with the wart.
• The wart will fall off and repeat this treatment for a few more days so that wart does not reappear.

3. Use It For Shiny Hair
If you love to see your hair shiny and full, then you need to rinse your hair with apple cider vinegar after a good shampoo. It is also an excellent remedy for dandruff.

Procedure:
• Add half a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in a cup of cold water and mix it well.
• Apply this solution over your hair after a good shampooing process and leave it there for about half an hour and then rinse it off.
• Repeat this process several times a week to see quick and effective results.

By: Rohit On 02:53

Tuesday, 10 May 2016

Amazing Prunes Benefits: The Dry Fruit You've Ignored for Too Long

Not a fan of prunes? You’re not alone. In the US, a research found women of ages 25-54 to react negatively to the idea of prunes, so the California Prune Board pressured the Food and Drug Administration to change the name of prunes to the more inviting “dried plums”. And it worked!

Prunes are basically plums that have been dried naturally in the sun without undergoing any fermentation process. “Over my career, I have tested numerous fruits, including figs, dates, strawberries and raisins, and none of them come anywhere close to having the effect on bone density that dried plums or prunes have. All fruits and vegetables have a positive effect on nutrition, but in terms of bone health, this particular food is exceptional”, says researcher Bahram H. Arjmandi, Florida State University.

Meet The Dried Plum

All crinkled and wrinkly, this unassuming fruit is surprisingly packed with fiber and a powerhouse of vitamins and minerals, including potassium, iron and retinol. “Prunes are rich in vitamin K and contain beta-carotene. Each prune (approx 9.5 g) offers about 23 kcal and 0.7 g of fiber. An ounce (28g) can be added to smoothies or trail mixes to add to the fiber and antioxidant content”, says Dr. Rupali Datta, Chief Clinical Nutritionist, SmartCooky. Just one cup of prunes provides 87% of the recommended daily intake of vitamin K, more than 20% of most B vitamins, 8% of calcium and 27% of potassium.

By: Rohit On 10:58

Sunday, 8 May 2016

Silk Coating Can Keep Fruit Fresh Without Refrigeration

Your favourite strawberries and bananas can stay fresh for more than a week without refrigeration if they are coated in a thin, odourless, biocompatible silk solution, says a study.Silk's unique crystalline structure makes it one of nature's toughest materials. Fibroin, an insoluble protein found in silk, has a remarkable ability to stabilise and protect other materials while being fully biocompatible and biodegradable.For the study, the researchers dipped freshly picked strawberries in a solution of one percent silk fibroin protein.

The coating process was repeated up to four times.The silk fibroin-coated fruits were then treated for varying amounts of time with water vapour under vacuum (water annealed) to create varying percentages of crystalline beta-sheets in the coating.The strawberries were then stored at room temperature. Uncoated berries were compared over time with berries dipped in varying numbers of coats of silk that had been annealed for different periods of time.At seven days, the berries coated with the higher beta-sheet silk were still juicy and firm while the uncoated berries were dehydrated and discoloured. Tests showed that the silk coating prolonged the freshness of the fruits by slowing fruit respiration, extending fruit firmness and preventing decay."The beta-sheet content of the edible silk fibroin coatings made the strawberries less permeable to carbon dioxide and oxygen. We saw a statistically significant delay in the decay of the fruit," said senior study author Fiorenzo Omenetto, professor at Tufts University in Massachusetts, US.Similar experiments were performed on bananas, which, unlike strawberries, are able to ripen after they are harvested.The silk coating decreased the bananas' ripening rate compared with uncoated controls and added firmness to the fruit by preventing softening of the peel.The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports.Half of the world's fruit and vegetable crops are lost during the food supply chain, due mostly to premature deterioration of these perishable foods, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.

By: Rohit On 03:14

Monday, 2 May 2016

Summer Special: Smashing Drinks to Quench Your Thirst

Picture this: It's blazing hot outside, you head indoors and race towards the a.c remote. While still trying to get the machine on, you make a giant leap to your next best friend - the refrigerator.

The door is open and as the cool air touches your body, you give a sigh of relief - heaven is here! The very next moment a chilled bottle of cola is spotted. You quickly reach out to it and gulp it down.How many of us are not known to have lived this moment? Summer is that time of the year when chilled beverages are probably most endearing to us. Under hot and humid conditions, our body tends to get dehydrated leading to a constant need to consume fluids. It is important to understand that while our body seeks constant hydration, its source should be healthy. Various medical and health studies conducted in the past have signaled at the ill effects of processed drinks. Not only are these drinks high in calories but are also stripped off the nutritional content and are filled purely with refined sugar. One should always be on a lookout for natural ways to stay hydrated. Apart from increasing your water intake, you can also add fruits and veggies that have high water content - some of them would include citrus fruits, melons, cucumber, etcetera. Yogurt is also an excellent way to cool down when it's hot outside.

By: Rohit On 05:53

Saturday, 30 April 2016

Japanese Food: Top Dishes from Sashimi to Yakitori Chicken

"The first rule of cooking one learns in Japan is "Sozai o Mamoru" which means to protect an ingredient; or to showcase an ingredient's flavor without masking it", says Chef Niki Nakayama of n/naka in Los Angeles, California. When you pop a sushi roll in your mouth, it is the fresh and honest flavours that woo you. And Japanese cuisine is just that - a celebration of flavours and seasonal ingredients in their pure state, and food is presented as an art.

"A basic Japanese meal, which even I have grown up eating, consists of rice known as 'gohan', miso soup, pickled vegetables and fish or meat", says Chef Takanori Fukuda, from Megu, The Leela Palace, New Delhi. Have you ever eaten a cloud before? Because that's what their rice tastes like, incredibly light on the palate and the stomach. He adds, "As an island nation, the Japanese take great pride in their seafood. A wide variety of fish, squid, octopus, eel, and shellfish appear in all kinds of dishes from sushi to tempura".

Japanese food is usually healthy, fresh and well portioned. Take the bento box for example, one of their most simple dish concepts. It is a single portion meal prepared with rice, meat or fish, and vegetables, designed to include a variety of food sources addressing multiple nutritional needs. It offers a contrast of textures and flavours, and speaks volumes about the careful balance that is applied in Japanese cuisine. The first time I tried the bento box, I marvelled at the myriad textures and flavours released with each bite, then at its rapid disappearance.

By: Rohit On 18:55

Bengali Fish Dishes Perfect For Family Or Friends

This year, for Bengali New Year, I decided to do something very intrinsic to Bengali cuisine -- explore the dimensions of cooking fish.

Shadowed by the rivers, fresh fish is essential and intrinsic to the culinary heritage of the food-obsessed Bengali community. What is most impressive is the sheer diversity of fish preparations that are different and distinct from almost any other part of India.

On the Bengali table, fish is cooked together with the assortment of regional specialties indigenous to the wet, fertile region replete with greens, citrus and coconuts. Coconuts are plentiful and a much-loved ingredient -- and for Bengali people, almost anything tastes better with some coconut.

When cooking with fish, all parts of the fish are used -- from the head to the tail. Different treatments and preparations are used for different parts, showcasing the various tastes and textures. Fastidious Bengali home cooks like to shop for fish daily, usually in the early morning, returning home proudly with the catch of the day and tales of how they managed to get it before it was all gone.

Fish can take diners from starters to the main course without any problem. A traditional meal often commences with an assortment of vegetables and small shrimp, and fish heads or tiny fish are usually added to regular vegetable dishes to add a touch of sweetness, boost the protein and transcend the ordinary into something festive or more formal.

Fish heads are a coveted part of the fish, because their rich omega-3 fatty acid content is associated with promoting intelligence. Although it’s not as popular as it once was, a true Bengali household will reserve the fish head for the children or a new son-in-law. Adding it to lentils elevates it to a celebratory dish.

Needless to say, a fish head cannot be savored without using your hands, so to this end Bengalis enjoy eating fish by gently separating the bones from the flesh.

Curries are, of course, the mainstay of the table, and these range from gentle, nigella-scented vegetable and fish stews to common fish curries enriched with pungent mustard, creamy coconut, rich yogurt and sometimes even lemon.

To showcase the diversity of cooking fish for the Bengali table, here are four traditional but simple recipes that are practical enough for everyday meals.

By: Rohit On 03:48

Thursday, 28 April 2016

Pineapple on the Grill: The Secret's in the Spice

By mid-April, when I have grown weary of winter citrus but the bounty of local berries hasn't hit the market yet, I like to turn to the tropics for some sweet, juicy variety. My luscious pineapple dessert not only is packed with island flavor, it satisfies a sweet tooth healthfully as well. Grilling the fruit caramelizes its natural sugars, brings forth its juices and gives it attractive grill marks. A sprinkling of ground allspice adds another dimension with its warm, aromatic Caribbean flair.Once the pineapple comes off the grill, it's topped off with another layer of tropical flavor in the form of coconut whipped cream. I don't use coconut milk because it is more healthful; it isn't necessarily better for you than regular whipped cream.

I use it because it has such an intense, craveable coconut flavor that it makes you see palm trees. Besides, it keeps the dish vegan-friendly.To make it, you refrigerate a can of full-fat coconut milk for several hours - long enough for the fat to separate and rise to the top of the liquid. Then you scrape off the solid fat and whip it as you would cream, with a touch of sugar. It is so rich and decadent that you need just a little for this recipe. But the rest keeps well in the refrigerator, so you can have it on hand to dollop on those berries, too, when they arrive at last.Grilled Pineapple With Coconut Whipped Cream4 servingsThe pineapple also can be cooked on an outdoor grill. (Remember to brush the grates with oil.) If you have a pineapple corer, use it to remove the core before you cut the pineapple into rings.MAKE AHEAD: The can of coconut milk needs to be refrigerated for at least 5 hours and up to 1 day in advance. You'll have whipped coconut cream left over; it can be refrigerated for at least 1 month. Ellie Krieger likes to refrigerate the beaters she uses for the coconut whipped cream; you can chill them along with the canned coconut milk.From nutritionist and cookbook author Ellie Krieger.IngredientsOne 13.5-ounce can full-fat coconut milk1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar1 fresh whole pineapple1/4 teaspoon ground allspiceCanola oil, for the grill pan2 teaspoons fresh mint leaves (whole or chopped), for garnishStepsChill the can of coconut milk in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours and up to 1 day.Remove it from the refrigerator without shaking it or moving it too much. Transfer what has congealed at the top to a mixer bowl, being careful not to include any of the liquid. The yield should be about 3/4 cup of solid coconut cream.Add the sugar to the bowl; whip with chilled beaters (optional; see headnote) on medium-high speed (stand mixer or handheld electric mixer) until the coconut cream is glossy and firm enough for a spatula to leave tracks that remain. The yield is about 1 cup.Cut off the top and bottom of the pineapple. Cut away and discard the skin and any brown spots on the fruit. Cut the pineapple flesh crosswise into eight equal slices (about 1/2 inch thick). Use a spoon or apple corer to carve out the center core of each slice to create rings. Sprinkle the allspice evenly over each pineapple ring (on one side only).Brush a large grill pan lightly with the oil and heat the pan over medium-high heat. Working in batches and adjusting the heat as needed, cook the pineapple rings for 2 to 3 minutes per side or until they are nicely browned and grill marks have appeared.To serve, place 2 pineapple rings on each serving dish. Top each with a small dollop (2 teaspoons) of the coconut whipped cream, and garnish with mint.Nutrition | Per serving: 90 calories, 0 g protein, 21 g carbohydrates, 5 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 0 mg sodium, 2 g dietary fiber, 16 g sugar.

By: Rohit On 11:34

Tuesday, 26 April 2016

Body Polishing at Home: Get a Natural Glow

Body polishing is not only good for the effects it has to soften and moisturize the skin but it also helps exfoliate and smoothen the skin. However, this concept is not really new. When you study about the beauty rituals of the Mughal queens or research about the skin practices followed by the Egyptians, you will find that cleansing grains and exfoliaters made with natural ingredients have been since days bygone.

Wheat, rice flour, semi-precious stones, roots, flowers, herbs, grains, pulses and all have been researched and used on the skin to beautify the body and make it smooth. I would propagate the use of exfoliaters on the body not just to remove dead skin but also to detox, soften and smooth the body.The magic of using an exfoliater or body polisher lies in the right mix of ingredients. You can make a body polisher for detoxing the body, removing blackheads and whiteheads, moisturizing and improving the blood circulation. Here's how to make them at home and get glowing skin naturally.

Body Polish for Improving Blood Circulation

1 cup rice powder

1 cup pounded fresh mint leaves

1 tsp camphor

1 cup oatmeal

10 drops of peppermint oil

Mix all the ingredients well and stir in some cool rose water to make a smooth paste. Apply it all over body and when it is semi-dry scrub off by patting a bit of cold milk onto the skin. Rinse with cold water and you will feel a cool tingling sensation all over.

By: Rohit On 04:32

Sunday, 24 April 2016

What We Eat has Bigger Consequences for the Planet Than We Ever Thought

A new report has added to the growing body of research suggesting that what we eat has tremendous consequences for the planet -- and the future of humanity.The paper, which was released this week by the World Resources Institute, examines the environmental effects of making certain changes to global diets, such as shifting toward vegetarianism or simply eating fewer calories, by calculating the resulting impact on agriculture-related greenhouse gas emissions and land use. And it found that ambitious shifts away from animal products could have a dramatic impact on the environment, cutting agricultural land use by about 2.5 million square miles and slashing billions of tons of carbon emissions over time.

The role of food in a sustainable future is an issue that's growing as a global priority, with the world's population expected to exceed 9 billion by the year 2050. Currently, the United Nations estimates that 70 percent more food (as measured in calories) will be needed by that point to feed everyone. Meeting this "food gap" in sustainable and climate-friendly ways, however, will be very difficult.In this context, the new study analyzes three broad types of diet shifts: reducing the overall over-consumption of calories; reducing the amount of protein consumed from animal-based foods as a whole; and simply reducing the amount of beef consumed. Within each of these shifts, the authors proposed two or three specific scenarios representing more or less ambitious goals.For example, in the shift that proposed reducing over-consumption, the researchers proposed two alternate scenarios. The first was to cut calorie consumption in such a way that obesity would be totally eliminated and the number of overweight people would be halved (the more ambitious scenario). The second, more modest proposal, was to halve both the number of obese and overweight people.More and less modest scenarios were proposed for the other two diet shifts as well. The researchers relied on a global biophysical model called the GlobAgri model to calculate the environmental impacts of each scenario. The model takes into account the carbon footprint associated with agricultural production -- emissions produced by farm equipment or belched by farm animals -- as well as emissions associated with land-use change, such as the deforestation that can accompany agricultural expansion.Overall, the study found that each shift came with its own set of environmental benefits. The greatest of these came from reducing the overall consumption of animal-based protein.The most ambitious of these scenarios proposed reducing animal-based protein consumption in all parts of the world where consumption (from any food source) exceeded 60 grams of protein and 2,500 calories daily -- targeting 1.9 billion people worldwide in total. The proposed shift would bring these populations' protein consumption down to exactly 60 grams daily by reducing only animal-based protein in the diet.The results of this scenario included a 13 percent reduction in total agricultural land use and a 10 percent reduction in agriculture-related greenhouse gas emissions.The report's authors have acknowledged that reducing all animal consumption would likely be much more difficult than just cutting down on beef, which is what was proposed in the third major diet shift. This shift also came with substantial environmental benefits -- about a 6 percent reduction in both agricultural land use and emissions in the most ambitious scenario.The authors didn't choose beef for this specific scenario at random. Out of all the animal products consumed across the world, a reduction in beef is likely to make the biggest single impact. The report points out that total emissions associated with cattle raising are greater than those produced by most countries -- and nearly half the land used for all meat and dairy production in the world is associated with beef production.Still, warned Janet Ranganathan, WRI's vice president for science and research and one of the paper's authors, the report is not intended to encourage total vegetarianism worldwide. And even the most ambitious shifts for beef and other animal product reductions don't call for a global zero-meat policy."We're trying to advocate for small shifts that can have a significant impact on people's environmental footprint," she said.The focus on land use is an aspect of the report that hasn't appeared in many other studies of diet shifts, said Marco Springmann, a researcher in Oxford University's Future of Food program who was not involved with the new report. Springmann recently published his own study on the environmental impacts of a shift away from meat-based diets, research he said focused more on health and climate change benefits, but not so much on land-related issues.He cautioned, however, that land use can be a tricky thing to focus on."Most of the time, we imagine that changes in future food production will be met by both the use of new land, but also by more intensive use of existing land," he said, noting that predictions about which of these solutions will be applied to an increase in the production of any given food source are difficult to make. But while he noted that these difficulties may mean the report's estimates on land use changes are a bit extreme, he said it was overall a good inclusion.To help encourage dietary shifts, the report also includes a tool called the "shift wheel," which provides tactics the food industry can use to influence consumer purchasing. Broadly, these tactics include advertising and selling products in ways that maximize their benefits and minimize their disruption to the consumer's normal lifestyle or buying habits.The report's proposed tactics are meant to target barriers to the consumer at the point of sale by helping companies within the food industry directly encourage different choices.This approach has also not often been used by other studies on diet shifts, said Springmann, the Oxford researcher. "In a lot of other papers, they appeal more to policymakers and tough regulations, so it's nice that there is also a paper that speaks more to industries that want to market their product," he said.How feasible any of the proposed shifts are, on the other hand, remains to be seen. Ranganathan emphasized that the report was meant to explore the impacts of small shifts, which could be made palatable to large groups of people -- and Springmann agreed that this type of approach may be best in the future.

By: Rohit On 01:41

Wednesday, 20 April 2016

How Yogurt (Curd) Can Help You Keep Cool this Summer

"Did you notice that the dahi (Indian curd) in chaat is always sweet," said Manjit Gill, corporate chef of the ITC Hotels group, while we enjoyed some Delhi papdi chaat, aloo tikkiand gol gappe at the unlikely location of a 5-star resort in Manesar, far removed from the crowded lanes of old Delhi.

According to Chef Gill,chaats, the popular street food of North India, were allegedly invented about 400 years ago in old Delhi when the Mughal rulers wanted to come up with a dish that helped counter water-borne diseases. The sweetness in dahi is because adding salt to yogurt leads to acidity, explained Gill, and hence salt in dahi is a no no. Today, we go to stores and buy probiotic curd as it is said to be good for digestion. However, Indian cooking traditions always knew that curd was good for health, this is nothing new to us.

I was in Delhi for the weekend recently and it was really (really) hot and dry there. Curd came to the rescue again, as I politely refused the wine and beer offered with meals and went for the lassi instead. Lassi is Punjab's flagship drink, made with curd and water churned together as the base. After hearing Gill out, I asked for the sweet lassi and not a salted one. What I noticed about the lassi at Delhi in places such as the United Coffee House at Connaught Place and the legendary Bukhara, as well as the lassis I have had in farmhouses outside Amritsar and at dhaabas such as Kesar Dhaba, is that they tend to be lighter and frothier and less sweeter than the lassisone gets in Mumbai. And they are a lot more refreshing too.

By: Rohit On 01:58

Thursday, 14 April 2016

Songkran Festival 2016: Celebrate with these Top 10 Thai Foods

The Songkran festival is celebrated every year in Thailand from 13th to 15th April, and this year it falls on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. This festival marks the traditional New Year's Day. On the day of Songkran, people often visit local temples and offer food to the Buddhist monks. Did you know that the iconic ritual for this holiday is actually pouring water over Buddha statues? It apparently represents the washing away of all sins and bad omens. Younger people also engage in water fights for fun, and pour water over the palms of elders’ hands as a sign of respect.

Just like Deborah Cater had rightly put, “You have to taste a culture to understand it”. Presenting: Our top 10 Thai foods for you to celebrate Songkran Festival 2016. Ever wondered what makes Thai cuisine so special? It’s perhaps the rich curries or the explosion of flavours that make it such a rage across the globe. Home-Chef Malini Sawhney says, “Thai cuisine is all about balancing bold flavours - a unique mix of hot, sour, sweet and bitter tastes. And my personal favourite ingredient? Coconut milk. It works brilliantly to accentuate the piquancy of Thai food”. Exotic notes are brought about in each dish by blending aromatic lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and galangal. Thai food is like a celebration of the fresh and fragrant.

Without further ado, we bring you our 10 best Thai recipes. From a scrumptiously simple Som Tum Salad to a heavenly Massaman Curry, every dish is indeed a gastronomic delight. Start cooking, stop drooling!

By: Rohit On 01:39

Wednesday, 13 April 2016

EU Safety Experts Say Cherry Insecticide Could Carry Health Risk

Dimethoate, an insecticide widely used to protect crops such as cherries, could be harmful to humans, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which advises EU policymakers.The report follows a request from France, which is calling for a Europe-wide ban of the substance made by companies including Germany's BASF and Cheminova, part of FMC. Neither firm had immediate comment.

The substance is found in products used on a range of fruit and vegetables, but France raised particular concerns about cherries for which it is used to combat fruit fly. According to EFSA, there is a lack of information, but it said it could not exclude "a potential long-term consumer health risk resulting from residues".

It cited concerns about toxicity for human health and some U.S. scientific research has found a cancer risk. France in February banned on its soil a dimethoate-based pesticide used to treat cherries, prompting an outcry from French farmers who say there is no viable alternative.

In a statement on Monday, French Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll called for emergency EU-wide measures to prevent the use of products containing dimethoate and the marketing of cherries grown using them. A European Commission spokesman said the Commission would analyse the report and it would be debated at a closed-door meeting of experts representing the 28 EU member states.

By: Rohit On 03:08

Monday, 11 April 2016

Best Restaurants in Gurgaon

Over the last few years, the food scene in Gurgaon has literally transformed itself. Blink, and there's a new restaurant on the block; but what is most exciting are the evolving trends across cuisines that make the dining experience even more memorable. While some culinary experts are trying to reinvent and bring in the new, others take a step back and decide to celebrate something familiar. We've shortlisted the 10 best restaurants in Gurgaon, which have created a space in the hearts of diners, and stood the test of time.

1. Di Ghent Café
Cost for two: Rs. 1250 (exclusive of taxes)

Enter Di Ghent Cafe and you’re blown away with the whiff of freshly baked bread wafting through the air, the vibrant energy and the sound of the chatter. It’s a lovely restaurant space, with huge glass windows, and morphs effortlessly from mid-morning to lunch and from there to afternoon coffee and onto dinner; by accident or by design. And that’s more than you can for most restaurants in the vicinity. Di Ghent Cafe has an excellent breakfast menu featuring a wide variety of Eggs, Bagels, Croissants, Pancakes and Waffles with toppings galore. I highly recommend their Creamy Carbonara Pasta, Bacon Wrapped Chicken spruced up with a splash of red wine, and their Guislain Panini bursting with flavours of pesto and sundried tomatoes. Your raison d’etre for visiting this cafe? Their waffles, hands down. You can also just walk in for a great cup of coffee (easily the best in Gurgaon), with some freshly baked muffins or cinnamon rolls on the side.

By: Rohit On 00:11

Thursday, 7 April 2016

Eating in Front of the TV? Here's Why You Should Pay Attention to Your Food

Similarly, kale and goji berries may be fashionable but instead of paying those huge mark-ups to food marketers, why should we not choose local, seasonal strawberries that are also packed with phytochemicals, and simple palak, spinach greens to be part of our daily diets? Traditional practices of cooking with only seasonal ingredients in Indian kitchens or consuming only seasonal fruit ensured a balanced and nutritious diet round the year. Eating guavas and oranges in winter, melons and mangoes in summer, singhada in the monsoon are all instances of mindful eating that we need to get back to.

Local gastronomy is a big trend in the world of gourmet dining. But what the champions of “Californian” style food, or Noma tourists tend to forget is that all these “high cuisines” are based on front-footing local ingredients. Having arctic ants and foraged foods on fancy plates may be utterly chic. But the chic-ness is firmly rooted in a philosophy of food that takes pride in the local context: instead of importing lemon from southern Italy, use arctic ants to give the same flavour!

Cooking fresh food in the kitchen instead of relying on processed foods is also a healthy traditional practice that we need to go back to. Cooking up MasterChef inspired dishes may be a new fad in metropolitan India and if you are an inventive cook, you may want to rustle up some of those dishes for your parties. But simple, home-style dishes have their own virtues. The spices that we used with particular vegetables, the many cooking oils of each region flavourful and nutritious in different ways, slow cooking techniques… all the ways in which our families cooked before the globalisation of the palate began changing our ways of eating were particularly attuned to our bodies and minds. To be cognizant of these is mindful eating too. And healthy.

By: Rohit On 23:21

World Health Day 2016: How to Tackle Diabetes Before it Happens

An initiative of the World Health Organisation, World Health Day is celebrated on 7th April to spread awareness about global health issues. It is observed by all member states of the World Health Organization (WHO). Each year it rolls out a new campaign and engages people all across the world. Last year, the focus was on food safety. The goal of World Health Day 2016 is to scale up diabetes prevention, strengthen care, and enhance surveillance.
The Alarming Incidence of Diabetes in India

India leads the diabetes epidemic in the world with an estimated 66.5 million people living with diabetes. Studies have shown that not only is a significant proportion of our population IS predisposed to diabetes, on an average diabetes in Indians sets in at least 10-15 years prior compared to individuals of most other countries. The treatment for diabetes is lifelong, so it is best to adopt preventive measures earlier and save yourself the hassle of taking medication later. Through simple lifestyle changes, you can reduce the risk of developing diabetes and can even reverse it in the early stages.With the rising income levels among urban Indians, there is a corresponding decline in health. Factors such as urbanization, increment in wealth, higher anxiety levels, inactive lifestyles, no or little exercise, excessive consumption of calorie-rich foods and inadequate nourishment, are the main reasons for high incidence of diabetes cases in India. Together, these variables lead to obesity and excessive weight gain. While majority of the diabetes patients in India are middle-aged, the onset of the disease begins at a much younger age.What puts us at risk?Being overweight causes insulin resistance and makes it difficult for the body to maintain appropriate blood glucose levels. As obesity and diabetes are interlinked, health experts have created the term "Diabesity". Several studies indicate that obese individuals are up to 80 times more prone to get Type 2 diabetes than those whose body mass index (BMI) is under 22.Other than obesity, genetic pre-disposition is another major factor that increases the risk of developing diabetes. There is a 15 per cent possibility of getting diabetes if either of the parents is diabetic and this probability increases to an alarming 75 per cent if both parents are diabetic.Keep a check on the common symptomsA surprisingly large number of people are unaware that they are diabetic. A lot of them do not know of the common symptoms and as a result do not get diagnosed on time. Watch out for the common warning signs of diabetes such as frequent urination, increased hunger and thirst, unexplained weight loss and blurred vision. Delayed detection of diabetes can lead to serious complications such as kidney damage, nerve damage and cardiovascular diseases.Controlling diabetes before it sets inPre-diabetes is a condition when glucose levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to fall in the diabetes range. Pre-diabetes can be detected through a simple blood test and if your glucose levels indicate you are borderline diabetic, it should serve as a red flag that you need to take immediate action to avoid the condition from progressing.Begin by making the following simple lifestyle changes -1. Well-balanced diet: Stay away totally from highly processed foods, sugar laden beverages and trans fats. Limit intake of red and prepared meats and include whole grains and vegetables into your diet. Limit fats and cook in less oil or use blends. Also, it is necessary to consciously include proteins in your diet. Sources of protein include dal, soya, pulses, low fat milk products like yogurt, milk and paneer. Limiting the portion sizes is the key to maintain good blood sugars.2. Regular exercise is required for keeping your glucose levels under control. Muscle movement results in the utilization of insulin. Thirty minutes of walk every day will cut your risk of diabetes by one- third3. Drop excessive kilos: For those who are overweight, dropping only 5- 10 per cent of your weight can cut the danger of Type 2 diabetes to half. Work with your doctor to manage your weight and if necessary consult a dietician.4. No smoking or avoiding tobacco - Studies have shown that there is a direct link between smoking and developing cardio-vascular diseasesMy prevention mantra is to "Eat less, Eat on time, Eat right, Walk more, Sleep well and Sleep on time."Diabetes management and treatmentWith the development of newer and more advanced medications, diabetes can be managed effectively. Blood glucose (sugar) levels are regulated by two hormones - insulin that lowers blood glucose levels and glucagon that increases blood glucose levels. Since Type 2 diabetes causes sugar levels to rise higher than normal, treatment involves medications that lower blood glucose levels.For diabetes management, there are medicines that allow the pancreas to release more insulin after meals, medicines that lower blood glucose levels by obstructing the breakdown of starches, those that diminish the amount of glucose discharged from the liver called bile acid sequestrates (binding agents); and medicines that make the body more sensitive to the effects of insulin. A recent development is the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which fortifies the discharge of insulin and represses glucagon emission. These options offer the benefit of beginning treatment early so that the problem doesn't escalate to full-blown diabetes.It is never too late to take charge of your health and strengthen your defense against diabesity. Start preventive efforts early by adopting a healthy lifestyle, going for regular checkups and opting for pre-emptive therapies that delay the onset of lifestyle conditions such as diabetes and CVD. Parents should reflect on their own lifestyles and set an example at home for their children to break the vicious cycle of inter- generational conditions.

By: Rohit On 00:23

Sunday, 3 April 2016

Can Eating 'Healthy' Food Make You Put On Weight?

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Eating too much is typically considered as one of the prime reasons for obesity but when people eat what they consider to be healthy, they eat more than the recommended serving size because they associate "healthy" with less filling, say researchers, including one of Indian-origin.

The findings suggest that the recent increase of healthy food labels may be ironically contributing to the obesity epidemic rather than reducing it. Raj Raghunathan from University of Texas at Austin, and his colleagues utilized a multi-method approach to investigate the "healthy equal to less filling" intuition.

The first study was conducted with 50 undergraduate students at a large public university and employed the well-established Implicit Association Test to provide evidence for an inverse relationship between the concepts of healthy and filling. The second study was a field study conducted with 40 graduate students and measured participants' hunger levels after consuming a cookie that is either portrayed as healthy or unhealthy to test the effect of health portrayals on experienced hunger levels.

The third study was conducted with 72 undergraduate students in a realistic scenario to measure the impact of health portrayals on the amount of food ordered before watching a short film and the actual amount of food consumed during the film.

The set of three studies converges on the idea that consumers hold an implicit belief that healthy foods are less filling than unhealthy foods. The team demonstrated that portraying a food as healthy as opposed to unhealthy using a front-of-package nutritional scale impacts consumer judgment and behaviour. Surprisingly, even consumers who said they disagree with the idea that healthy foods are less filling than unhealthy foods are subject to the same biases.

By: Rohit On 23:19

Turning Bread Into Beer; Toast Ale Finishes The Meal

Toast Ale is a liquid message in a bottle: a beer brewed in the UK with fresh, surplus bread that would otherwise be thrown away, it highlights the problem of global food waste, starting with our daily loaf.It tastes good, too.Newly launched and brewed in London, Toast Ale recently won Best New Beverage Concept at the FoodBev awards, and has been lauded on British television by celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver. There has already been so much interest from people in the U.S. that Toast Ale has plans to launch in New York.

But this is a here-today, gone-tomorrow type of beer, and if the man behind this ephemeral brew has his way, production will eventually dry up -- and there will be plenty to celebrate.The founder's strange dream"We hope to put ourselves out of business. The day there's no waste bread is the day Toast Ale can no longer exist," said Tristram Stuart, Toast Ale founder, food waste activist, and author of "Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal," a book nominated for a James Beard Foundation award in 2010.Global food waste not only involves hunger, but greenhouse gas emissions and water waste. A 2013 UN FAO report estimated "that each year, approximately one third of all food produced for human consumption in the world is lost or wasted." Uneaten bread is one of the most shocking examples. According to Toast Ale, around 44% of bread in the UK, alone, is thrown away, including 24 million slices a year in UK homes.Stuart discovered a passion to fight food waste when he was teenager raising pigs at his home in Sussex, selling off the pork locally to earn extra pocket money. He fed them unwanted food he collected from his local baker, greengrocer, and his school cafeteria. One morning, he noticed a particularly appetizing loaf with sundried tomatoes, which he ate for breakfast as he was feeding his pigs -- proof that much of the food destined for the garbage is perfectly good to eat.Toast Ale is brewed in London by Hackney Brewery, which uses 100% green energy that comes from windmills, and gives spent grain to local farmers to use for animal feed. Toasted bread used to brew Toast Ale adds caramel notes that balance the bitter hops, giving a malty taste similar to amber ales and wheat beers. Jon Swain from Hackney Brewery said, "The important thing for us, as brewers, was to create a beer that tasted good and stood up against other craft beers."Putting excess bread to good useToast Ale uses all kinds of unwanted bread -- white and brown -- collected from many sources, from artisanal bakeries to commercial sandwich makers, who typically waste bread by discarding the "heels" of the loaf. "We were pleasantly surprised that the taste of the finished beer wasn't too different -- therefore we could use all types of bread," said Andrew Schein of Toast Ale.Although Toast Ale gives new shelf life to surplus bread, its mission is to encourage everyone to find creative ways to stop wasting bread in the first place. (Note to commercial sandwich makers: My husband adores bread heels -- I'm sure he's not alone -- so I challenge you to make a virtue of them by creating a range of "Well-Heeled" sandwiches. How about a pulled pork sandwich called "Pigs in High Heels"?)All proceeds from Toast Ale go to Stuart's charity, Feedback, an umbrella organization for his three main food waste campaigns:-Feeding the 5000: Free public feasts, using food that would otherwise be wasted, held in cities all over the world.-The Gleaning Network UK: Volunteers harvest surplus farm produce that would be left to rot and redistribute it to UK charities.-The Pig Idea: Seeks to change laws that restrict food waste being used to feed pigs.The inspiration and recipe for Toast Ale came from the bread beer, Babylone, brewed by the innovative Brussels Beer Project brewery, in Belgium. Brewing beer with bread is as old as beer making itself. According to the article, Brewing: A legacy of ancient times by David M. Kiefer, published in 2001 in the American Chemical Society's magazine, Today's Chemist at Work, "Frequently, the dried malt was formed into small, lightly baked loaves. When a batch of fresh beer was to be brewed, these beer breads would be crumbled, mixed with cereals, and soaked in water."Bread is a beloved, ancient staple that is often taken for granted. In the Biblical story of the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, the disciples collected 12 baskets of scraps after the outdoor feast. It's not clear what they did with them. People have traditionally transformed unwanted bread into French Toast and bread pudding, or croutons and breadcrumbs.Now home brewers can make their own bread beer -- the Toast Ale recipe has just been published on its website.

By: Rohit On 12:04

Thursday, 31 March 2016

Incredible Anjeer Benefits: From Weight Management to Boosting Heart Health

While the fresh fruit may score high on natural flavour, the dried anjeer matches us for being an easy anytime healthy snack. It has higher concentration of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, is easily available, and can also be used to make mithais, halwas, jams and other preserves. Apart from the numerous ways that it can be used to spruce up your palate, here are some of its health benefiting properties –

1. Weight management

Since figs are a good source of fiber, research has found that they could aid in weight management as high-fiber foods have a positive impact. Fiber forms an essential part of our daily diet. Not only is fiber good for our digestive system, it has also been linked to the reduced risk of cancer and type 2 diabetes. Health experts will tell you that foods with high fiber makes one feel full and satiated for long which is why they easily fit in your weight-loss strategies.

According to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a fiber-rich diet can help in shedding those extra kilos. But since dried figs are also high in calories, ensure that you consume little quantities of it on a regular basis. Ancient practises also consider dried figs as a good source for gaining weight in a healthy way. Again, portion control is the key.

2. Lowers Blood Pressure

Anjeer is a good source of potassium. Potassium is an important mineral, which is required for the body and its regular intake is said to help in maintaining blood pressure because it tends to negate the harmful effects of sodium. Since we live in a world where we constantly rely on processed foods, which have high sodium content, a diet rich in potassium is essential. Doing so could also aid in blood circulation and digestive disorders. According to a study done by Shiga University of Medical Science in Japan, it states that for individuals with diabetes, having a diet rich in potassium may help you protect against heart and kidney ailments.

By: Rohit On 21:29

Best Pasta Salad Recipes

Summer is almost here, and it’s that time of the year to ditch those rich curries and heavy meals to make way for light and simple dishes. But does that mean giving up on delicious treats or compromising on taste? Not at all! Yes, you heard it right. Light meals can actually be immensely satisfying when a variety of veggies, fruits, herbs, nuts, sauces, meats and other flavouring agents are put together to create smashing recipes.

We guarantee that you will not miss those calorie high dishes once you master the tricks of dishing out light meals in minutes.

That one ingredient which works best when it comes to tossing up summer meals at home is pasta. There is no dearth to the variety of pastas that is available on the supermarket shelves. Penne, macaroni, spaghetti, fusilli, tagliatelle, farfalle – you name it. In fact, you can toss them with a variety of vegetables and meats to make interesting salads everyday!

It is all about playing around with different ingredients and having some fun in the kitchen. In terms of the dressing too, you can whip up quick ones like vinaigrettes, and top off with different cheese. Then use fresh herbs like basil, parsley, mint and coriander to add some zing to the flavours. And for some crunch, toss in walnuts, pine nuts, cashews and even nutrition packed seeds like sunflower, chia, melon, etc. For the sweet lovers, how about adding in some prunes and other dehydrated fruits?
Here are our 10 best pasta salad recipes to get you started -

By: Rohit On 11:17

Wednesday, 30 March 2016

For a Better Caesar, Get Kale Into the Mix

The Caesar, done right, is a multiplatform salad. Beyond the taste of the thing — which is spectacular — it is experienced across all the senses, a riot of contrasts, cold and crunch.

First, cool watery leaves against thick, savory dressing. The hard crunch of croutons against the soft crunch of salad greens. Then sharp mustard against rich cheese; salty anchovies against bright lemon; and biting garlic against soothing egg.

Sadly, it’s rare to find a Caesar on the open market that gets even a couple of those elements right. So many atrocities are presented under that name: baby greens suffocated under an avalanche of fake cheese; wilting spinach leaves drowned in milk-bland dressing; innocent romaine crammed into plastic containers with unspeakable proteins.

That’s why a perfect Caesar is the one you make at home. And our favorite modern version is one with more greens going for it than romaine. Romaine has become the standard choice, and it’s a fine one, but the original formula called for strong, bitter leaves to stand up to the rich, salty dressing.

In a 1947 report about the flaring popularity of Caesar salad in California, The New York Times’ Los Angeles bureau chief, Gladwin Hill, wrote to the newspaper’s food editor, Jane Nickerson, in New York. “The fundamentals are one or more flavorsome greens like romaine, endive, or escarole,” he wrote. “Bland lettuce is not permitted.”

So don’t worry that piling raw kale into a Caesar salad is painfully trendy. It’s practically a conservative choice. And another great benefit of using sturdy greens: The salad can be dressed and seasoned hours before serving and returned to the refrigerator, with no fear of the Total Salad Breakdown that would happen if you tried the same shortcut with most green salads.

But even the staunchest lovers of strong greens can find an all-kale salad too bitter. (This is why so many kale salads are garnished with rich avocado, sweet dried cranberries, toasted almonds and the like.)

Our preferred solution is to balance the kale with other greens, making the salad juicier and brighter. The combination of forest-green lacinato kale and mint-green romaine gives great visual contrast. Pale yellow hearts of escarole tossed with kelly-green curly kale would be beautiful on another day.

At Acme, the recently rebooted bistro in NoHo, chef Brian Loiacono goes full brassica in his Caesar salad, combining coins of Tuscan kale with shaved-to-order brussels sprouts. “Once you have a good strong dressing, you can use greens you wouldn’t think about for salad,” he said. Letting the salad sit after tossing, he said, even for a few minutes, helps soften and season the leaves.

Any kind of kale will work; it’s only a question of how small to cut it. Tougher, bumpy-leaved types, like lacinato kale (also known as dinosaur or Tuscan kale), should be about the size of a postage stamp. Curly kale can be as big as a business card.

There is no need to “massage” the kale to tenderize it; the lemon in the dressing and time in the refrigerator will take care of that.

This recipe will certainly work without kale, but it won’t work with, say, Bibb lettuce or mesclun. Tender salad greens like those will sink under the weight of Caesar dressing, but kale gives back as good as it gets.

If using romaine, leave all but the biggest, floppiest leaves whole. Whole leaves and spears give the salad the most crunch. (Caesar salad should always be served with a knife and fork.)

Once you have your greens picked out, swish them clean in a giant bowl or a sink full of very cold water. A few ice cubes aren’t a bad idea; the cold water helps stiffen any greens thinking of wilting. This is best done several hours or a day ahead to give the leaves the chance to dry completely.

Loiacono washes them the night before in ice water, and lays each leaf on a towel-lined tray before refrigerating overnight. (Access to giant refrigerators is one of the tricks that help chefs seem like better cooks than the rest of us.)

I dry them in tea towels, then put them in a deep bowl, with a bag of ice in the bottom and another one lying on top, to get the leaves really cold.

For the dressing, as long as the fundamental ingredients are all present — garlic, Parmesan, lemon, Worcestershire sauce or anchovies, olive oil, black pepper and mustard (not part of the original recipe, but helpful for flavor and emulsification) — the proportions should be adjusted to your liking. Taste as you go: The original Caesar salad, like steak tartare and guacamole, was mixed tableside to the customer’s taste.

There is one stipulation: In the end, your dressing should be salty, creamy, tart and spicy — an element that often gets lost in restaurants, where Caesars are ever more timid. In the classic dressing, the mustard is eye-wateringly spicy; the raw garlic is mouth-scouringly spicy; the freshly ground black pepper is sneeze-inducingly spicy. It is not a straightforward chile heat, but a layered one, assaulting all the senses.

And all that heat is balanced with lashings of rich oil, cheese and egg, giving the salad its distinctive mouthfeel and flavor.

Caesar Cardini, the glamorous Italian-American restaurateur who popularized the salad from his Prohibition-era outpost in Tijuana, Mexico, could not have known it, but much of the appeal of his namesake salad comes from umami. The “fifth taste,” umami, is the mouthfilling, savory flavor first identified by Japanese scientists in the early 20th century, then quickly synthesized into the additive monosodium glutamate.

Long before any chef in the Western Hemisphere had considered umami, Cardini’s salad was a powerful, natural delivery system for it, via Parmesan, Worcestershire sauce and garlic.

Even without that knowledge, the Caesar catapulted to fame in the 1930s, talked up by salad-mad Californians who traveled to Tijuana to score a gin martini and a Caesar — to this day, one of the world’s great pairings. And by 1947, Hill reported, the Caesar was being extolled in Los Angeles as “possibly the greatest advance in salad fabrication in centuries.”

By: Rohit On 03:15

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