The Goodness of Curry Leaves
Curry leaves are the most common ingredient in south Indian cooking. Whatever curries it may be, curry leaves are must. Its aroma and flavor is the signature of south Indian dishes. I like curry leaves the most is in buttermilk. Squeeze and add a few curry leaves and a ¼ tsp salt to a cup of buttermilk; it’s heavens on a hot sunny day.
Back home we had a small curry tree in our garden, and all our neighbors used to come for the leaves. I used to think we use curry leaves only for the taste and flavor it adds to the curry; but now I learned it has a great deal of health benefits too.
Its medicinal values make it very effective in treating indigestion. Just by smelling the leaves or drinking a mixture of curry leaves juice, lime, and honey makes you feel better from nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. Curry leaves are said to be very useful in treating non- insulin dependable diabetes. Eating 5 or 6 fresh curry leaves empty stomach in the morning helps control diabetes. Chew curry leaves and water, it acts as a herbal mouthwash.
Include few curry leaves in your daily diet, to maintain optimum weight. Curry leaves contains beta- carotene (antioxidant) which helps prevent certain cancers. And studies show that, these leaves can reduce LDL cholesterol and increase HDL cholesterol.
Curry leaves gives best results when used fresh, but it does not lose much benefits when refrigerated. So what else do we need; start adding more curry leaves into your menu.

Cracked Wheat Upma
Everybody knows the goodness of wheat. It is an inevitable part of our diet. This is a simple and healthy recipe for breakfast. It has protein calcium and dietary fiber; which makes it an ideal breakfast.
Recipe: Cracked wheat (roasted without oil) – ½ cup , ginger 1 small piece –chopped, green chili 1- chopped, urad dal (split black gram) – 1tsp, curry leaves , shallots 1 small- chopped, water – 1cup, salt -1/2 tsp, grated coconut – 1tsp.
Heat a pan, add oil urad dal and curry leaves, when the urad dal turns slight brown add ginger , green chili and onion, fry them for a minute, and add the water and salt check for salt and make sure it’s correct. When the water boils add the roasted cracked wheat, mix well and lower the heat, cover the pan and cook for 5 minutes when it’s cooked well add the grated coconut and mix well. Serve as breakfast with a banana.

Healthy Green Salad
Whenever we think of dieting, the first thing which comes to our mind is salads. I don’t agree that, we should eat salads all the time to lose weight; but we must include salads in our diet. This is a very healthy and tasty salad. I guess there is no need to explain the health benefits of the ingredients I used here. It’s rich in protein and dietary fiber. I used spring onion instead of onion, its taste goes well with the rest of the ingredients; and most of don’t know that spring onion is ideal for weight loss or in maintaining optimum health. Now, this salad can be eaten as a main course or as a snack.
So here goes my recipe(2servings): Sprouted moong (green gram) -1cup , salad cucumber (pickles) -1 diced, green apple – 1 diced, 2spring onion – chopped finely, coriander (cilantro) leaves chopped- ¼ cup, salt- ¼ tsp , lime juice – of ½ lime. Mix all the above ingredients, and it’s ready to go.
Tips: If you don’t like the raw taste of the sprouted moong (green gram), you can steam cook it with a pinch of salt, and cool it and use.
Sprouted moong (green gram): - soak the moong in cold water for 6-8 hrs, drain and put it in a wet thin cotton cloth, tie its ends and hang it (this helps to get all the moong sprouted) for another 6-8 hrs, in between if you find it very dry, sprinkle some cold water on it.

Beet Green Side Dish
Beets are often less consumed compared to all other vegetables. I personally don’t like beets much; but now I do like beet greens. Its taste reminds me of red chard which we get in India. Beet root is sweet, but the leaves don’t have that much sugar in them. Both root and leaves contains high amount of iron, so it’s known as blood builder and blood cleanser. Beets are very useful to fight anemia.
Beets can normalize blood pressure, it has high amount of beta-carotene and lutein (anti oxidants) which prevents cancer. It has vitamins A, C, B1, B2 and B6 in it. Beets, especially the leaves contain a large amount of dietary fiber and protein. And it has zero cholesterol, no saturated fat, and it’s very low in calorie.
So here is a simple and easy recipe which I found tasty.
Beet greens of 6 roots (2 bunches) - cut them with stem from around 3-4 inches above the root, wash and chop finely. Chop 2 cloves of garlic.
Heat ¼ tsp oil in a pan; add the chopped garlic and 1 red chili cut into 2-3 pieces. When the garlic turns light brown add the beet greens and a ¼ tsp salt; mix well and lower the heat. Cook for 2-3 minutes (never over cook, which destroys the nutrients). Serve with rice.

Tips: Beet root and leaves together can be prepared using the same recipe.

Drink Black Tea and Stay Healthy
Tea is one of the most commonly consumed beverages all over the world. Most of us drink tea with cream and sugar; but to get the real benefits of tea it has to be consumed without cream and sugar. I know it’s a little tough, because of its bitter taste. But if you try having it, starting with just a few sips a day you will acquire the taste for it. Another way to make it a little inviting is to squeeze in a few drops of lime to it. Two cups of black tea a day adds a lot to our well being.

When I was little, my mother used to give me lime tea for fever or diarrhea, I used to wonder how it works for both, but it really does, studies show that tea helps prevent diarrhea and helps prevent pneumonia
Tea has a great amount of anti oxidant in it, which helps prevent aging, by giving a healthy younger looking skin. Anti oxidants prevent certain forms of cancers.

Black tea helps weight lose; by increasing the metabolism of fat; now that sure is good news. It also helps prevent heart attack and stroke, it lowers LDL cholesterol.

I used to think that, drinking tea damages my teeth, but it actually helps prevent tooth decay, and it kills the virus which creates bad breath. And the amount of caffeine in a cup of tea is far too less than in a cup of coffee. Most of us drink more coffee than tea, coffee may give you the sudden refreshing feeling, but tea can improve your health along with the refreshment. So next time you go to that coffee machine at work, think again, why not a cup of black tea.

Vegetable Soup
This is a simple and easy recipe. Usually soup is an appetizer, but I prefer to call it the other way around; to take the edge off hunger. Having a bowl of soup just before dinner; makes us eat less at dinner. I have made this soup 100% fat free and with fresh vegetables. One bowl of this soup gives just 50 cal and it contains a good amount of fiber.
Recipe (2servings): 1 carrot cut into small cubes, green cabbage chopped thin- small piece, 5green beans- chopped, 1 celery stalk- chopped, and 4-5 cloves of garlic mashed. Heat a nonstick cooking pan, spray it with fat free cooking spray and add all the above ingredients and a pinch of salt, sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add fat free chicken or vegetable broth and tomato puree of 1small tomato (keep the tomato in boiling water for a minute, peel off the skin and make puree) let it boil for a minute or two. Add salt and a pinch of black pepper powder, garnish with spring onion. Serve hot.

Mango Pickle
Pickle is an inevitable part of Indian meals. And mango is the most common ingredient for it. A pickle is not considered to be healthy; but it’s a weakness for most of us. My husband love to eat pickle, and so do I. So instead of buying the oil flooded pickle from the store, I thought of making it by myself. This is pretty simple to do, and the oil usage is far too less than the ones we buy. I used just 2 tspns of oil for 5 bottles of pickle; I know it sounds too good to be true, but it’s the truth. So let’s check out the recipe.
Here it goes; 4 big Mango(raw) wash, wipe off the water and cut into small pieces, ginger( 4 inch long & 4 inch thick piece) chopped finely, 5 or 6 big cloves of garlic mashed, 20 green chilies chopped, salt -6tspns, vinegar 4tspns( if the mango is too sour add only 2tspn). Mix all the above ingredients together in a dry bowl cover it, and keep it refrigerated for 1day. The next day, fry 2tspn methi (fenugreek) seeds, 2tspn mustard seeds and 20 red chilies (preferably Kashmiri chilies) in 1 tspn gingelly (sesame) oil. Fry them in medium heat until the mustards are spluttered and the methi turns reddish. Let them cool down; meanwhile boil 2 cups of water with 1tspn turmeric powder and cool it. Then grind the fried stuff using the turmeric water, into a fine paste. Add the paste to the refrigerated mango pieces and mix well. Fry 1 tspn mustard seeds, few curry leaves and few pieces of red chilies in 1 tspn gingelly(sesame) oil, once the mustards are spluttered add a pinch of asafetida and pour it into the pickle and mix well. Keep them in room temperature for 2 days for the pickle to blend together; and then it’s ready to go.
Tips: 1. All the ingredients must be wiped before cutting, and wipe your knife and cutting board too.

2. Keep the pickle refrigerated, and always use a dry spoon to serve them.
3. You can make lime pickle using the same recipe, just take 1tspn methi seeds instead of 2; and keep the lime in boiling water for 1 minute, and then cut them.