Mango is king, tips to remain cool

Spent a good part of the day commuting to and fro Pune. Attended the Mango Fiesta at TYC Pune. The dishes are intriguing and you can have your fill of great new recipes with mangoes there (it is located at Lifestyle, Koregaon Park). I love this juicy king of the fruits and also know that they are enriched with vitamin A that is good for eyesight and also improves formation of healthy epithelium so that you keep away common infections. Enjoy the ripe ones as dessert, pickle the raw ones and better still boil a few raw mangoes, dilute the pulp with aqua, add a pinch or two of roasted cumin powder and black salt and cool down with a glass of chilled panna which will give the colas a run for their money. Our health gurus say with every mango you eat, drink a glassful of milk. Mango has sugars but no protein. Milk has the latter but not the former. So why not combine them, yeah, a mango milkshake is the best, for it will give your body the best nourishment for the summer.

It is also the gourd season. It is the time to bring home the pethas, laukis and tindas. They are fresh produce with high water content and if made the right way, make lunch and dinner substantial with curd and chapatis. Throw in a few cucumbers too as they are refreshing and cooling. Have them in a sandwich for breakfast, have them cut as batons for mid-morning munchies, have them in the raita for lunch…apply some cucumber juice on your face as a natural bleach and toner, place slices of it on your eyes to provide coolness. Wow, that’s a long list.

Recipes for summer could include Manpasand Lauki, Aam ka Panna and Cucumber Koshimbir.

More updates from Singapore later in the week.

Till I write again
Sanjeev Kapoor.

Tips on hydration

The other day I heard Alyona pressing Kriti to have more water to drink. This got me thinking. So how much water is enough for you? Or better still how much is needed on a daily basis? Well, I know for sure that an average healthy individual should consume 1500 – 2500 ml of water per day for proper functioning of the body and to prevent dehydration, constipation, urinary infection etc and this requirement is based on the dietetic habits, climate and physical activities. With meals, a moderate amount will not dilute the digestive juices but do not drink copious amounts. As summer has fully embraced us hydration at the right moments becomes more and more important for an active person. If you are travelling, ensure some extra glasses of water a day before and on the day of the trip. While in flight, keep in consideration the low humidity levels, so have one glass of water for every hour in the air. Summer sears so needless to say, as the temperature outside rises, the water intake should increase! In fact, if you know you are going to be in the warm outdoors for long, spruce up with lots of water. Even summer colds and flus can lead to dehydration. Be careful because it does not help the sickness. Drink more water and fight the germs. You’ll get better sooner. And yes, the cup that cheers, that is tea and for some coffee – these liquids brighten the mood but they are sure dehydraters. For every cup of beverages like these, drink up a glass of water.

Why not also eat foods that have a high water content? Watermelon has the highest content of water (95.8%). Another good food is cabbage. Milk and fruits have around 70 % whereas solids like bread, eggs, fowl, rice, wheat range between 10 and 50 %.

Here are some recipes, clean and light, but brimming with full flavour. So enjoy and know that your body is in the process of hydration!

Mango Panna, Homestyle mixed vegetable soup, Cucumber Koshimbir

Be cool.
Sanjeev Kapoor

No onion no garlic is in demand, Hooray for salads

My team is busy with a one day awareness course on HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) – more details later as there are points in this which a home kitchen can benefit from immensely.

As a growing organization we see new faces practically every month now. All thanks to the efforts of Sabita Shekhar who has been our “HR” department for the last few months. One woman army. She leaves us today for a good purpose. Everything in the recent past has had her stamp of working style. Sabi, your contribution to the organisation is immense and we all acknowledge it.

I have been swamped with rah rahs for salads! It’s great that many of you have written in appreciating the greatness of a salad for lunch. In fact I would love to share some lesser known secrets of a good salad that I have come across. Did you know that some place a saucer upside down in the bottom of the salad bowl before filling with salad? Excess moisture will run underneath the saucer and this will help keep the salad crisp and fresh. Here’s another one – to give a subtle garlic flavour to salad, cut a flake of garlic and rub the inside of the salad bowl with the cut surface. If beetroot is to be used in any salad, toss it in just before serving the salad or its colour will run into other ingredients. If all these sound familiar read this from an enterprising young lady – try using ice cream cones to serve salads and cut fruits, etc. to your food finicky toddler.

Another great demand is for food without onions and garlic. Giving you three delicious dishes here.

Thank God It’s Saturday, but well, thank God it’s summer too because it gives you a chance to try out delicious cooling drinks that many a parched throat would welcome…try khus syrup with lemon juice, or kairi panna or the good old sweet lassi! Make it differently with a drop of lemon and sweetened with honey instead of sugar. Nice and nutritious! Any of these in lieu of your late afternoon cup of tea is a wonderful idea. For munchies, a bhel or a soft salad sandwich would be ideal. Once you refill yourself at five then a light dinner around eight or so will wind up the day. I will develop some summer dinner ideas over the week end.

Till then, try Jain Dal Makhni, Jain Punjabi Chole, Jain Paneer Makhni. All are yum!

Sanjeev Kapoor.