Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Sprouted Seeds: "Forgotten Food,"
enhances immune system and rejuvenation
By Sol Azulay
Five thousand years ago Chinese nobles ate sprouted seeds for rejuvenation and healing. Today, research seems to be confirming that sprouts are the food of the future, as well as a food of the past.
During WWII, when the United States was concerned about a possible meat shortage, the scientific community advised the government that the consumption of germinated seeds was the best and the cheapest alternative to proteins in meat. Today, the increasing tendency to avoid eating meat means that sprouts are taking a serious place in modern culinary approach.
The value of sprouts is becoming more and more accepted among many in the scientific community today. Sprouts are found to be a complete protein. Untampered natural sprouts assist in the building of nerves, tissue, bones and blood.
Dr. Ann Wigmore, founder of the Ann Wigmore Foundation in Torreon, New Mexico, has dedicated her life to confirming the healing properties of sprouts. For the past 30 years, the foundation and four related institutes have treated people for different disorders. Sprouts were found to contribute extensively to the immune system, and were shown to be excellent detoxificants.
Studies at Washington University have shown that a shortage of metabolic enzymes can jeopardize our health. Apparently, if we get digestive enzymes from our food, more metabolic enzyme is freed to prevent disease and maintain health. Unfortunately, all processed food has been heated by one of more means, and thus, all natural enzymes have been destroyed. It seems that eating raw foods is the answer.
The work of researchers such as Dr. Edward Howell, author of the book "Enzyme Nutrition," has shown that we literally wear out our enzyme making machinery by forcing our bodies to produce such a concentrated flow of digestive enzymes all of our lives. By squandering our enzyme making capacity on digestive enzymes, our body has less capacity to create and preserve the thousands of other enzymes in other systems in our body. As a consequence, enzyme activity throughout the entire body declines rapidly and the aging process accelerates at a much faster rate than it should.
Research, such as that done by the Wigmore Foundation, has shown that there are 10 to 100 times more enzymes in sprouted seeds than in vegetables or fruits, depending on the enzyme and the seed being sprouted. Sprouted seeds are also a great source of vitamin C, carotenoid A, B vitamins, and minerals.
There are a variety of sprouted seeds which can be added to one's diet. Some of the most nutritious are rye, fenugreek, wheat, mung bean, lentils, and alfalfa. The increase of vitamins in sprouts is tremendous during the sprouting period, compared to the unsprouted seed. Studies from India and Asia show increases in carotene and vitamin A, Dr. C.W. Bailey of the University of Minnesota showed, in a study attempting to establish the importance of enzymes in the human body, that vitamin C value increased by 600 percent in sprouted wheatgrass.
All that's needed is a container of clean water and seeds from your local health food store to get a fully grown, crispy, tasty vegetable. In addition, there are some automatic sprouters available for individuals who do not have the time to soak and rinse their sprouts a few times a day. Adding sprouts to your favorite salads, soups, sandwiches, etc., will make a world of difference to your health. I believe that a few cups of sprouts daily as a supplement to your food can make a world of difference to your health.
Sol Azulay is researcher of sprout cultivating products from Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is also the president of Season Grain Technologies.

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Sunday, September 8, 2013


Cash-starved outlets spice up recipes with desi masala

, TNN | Sep 8, 2013, 02.09 AM IST
READ MORE zucchini.|vegetables|gourmet eateries|Exotic meats
NEW DELHI: Exotic meats and vegetables were the flavour of the city till just a couple of years ago. While gourmet eateries stocked foreign fare as a rule, even popular city restaurants started dishing out Norwegian salmon tikka, New Zealand lamb chops and Italian cured ham sausages, along with imported asparagus, basil, eggplant and zucchini. The hike in petroleum prices, coupled with the plummeting value of rupee against dollar, however, has pushed up food prices, and restaurateurs are looking at local farm produce and equipment to stay afloat. Salmon and basa have been replaced by trout, while Indian goat meat has supplanted exotic lamb variety and local herbs are serving as a spicy alternative to imported ingredients.

Such innovations assume significance in light of the shooting prices of raw materials. Chef Sabyasachi Gorai of Olive says earlier the focus was on tasty preparations using Parma or Spanish ham, imported cheese and exotic organic herbs, but now chefs are rustling up imaginative recipes from locally sourced chicken, lamb or ham and cheese. "Only ingredients without a substitute are being imported," he observes. An upshot of this is the edging out of ingredient-based cuisine in the city by multi-cuisine with a similar taste.

As new joints have to import kitchen equipment to compete with established eateries, the cost of setting up a restaurant has also gone up considerably even as expensive ingredients have dented profits. Restauranteur Sohrab Sitaram feel the double whammy has hit culinary business in the city. "High dollar value makes imports dearer, while rising petrol prices bring up transportation costs," he says. Sohrab observes that he could have set up a fine dining outlet with imported lighting, seating, kitchen equipment and a menu boasting gourmet fare at a price that would afford him only a budget eatery today.

A restauranteur confessed that to beat this rise, one had to look at superior local ingredients. "With such a stiff competition, passing the burden on to food lovers will spell doom for any eatery. We can't say our dish is expensive today as rupee has fallen or petrol prices have risen. We either look at local produce or keep absorbing the price rise and perish," he said.

This has spelt boom for local producers. Ayesha Grewal of The Altitude Store, which supplies ingredients to various outlets in the city, thinks it makes perfect business sense to procure goods from nearby areas. "Good quality duck, lamb, fish, asparagus to even European quiches and sausages are available within the country. As more people gravitate towards it, the quantity and quality too will improve," she feels.

While stand-alone outlets are feeling the pinch, five-star outlets too are in the doldrums. A hotel manager said fluctuating prices have impacted the cost of importing liquor. Flying in foreign chefs and sourcing exotic ingredients has made food festivals expensive. They are looking at regional Indian cuisine and Indian spirits. Chef Ashish Joshi of Jaypee Siddharth says good quality quails, ducks, fish and other meats even in the cut of their choice, along with vegetarian ingredients like broccoli, capsicum and zucchini are being supplied by local producers. These ingredients are being actively used by chefs for their regional Indian food festivals as it allows diners to experiment with a new cuisine while keeping the costs under control.
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Saturday, August 24, 2013


Lifting the lid off her passion

Swati Thakur, TNN | Aug 24, 2013, 06.16 AM IST
READ MORE Italian try-outs|healthy food|Chinese poha
LUDHIANA: For most of us, cooking is something we do because we have to. But Jyotsana Jain enjoys doing it and looks forward to opportunities that hone her culinary skills. Without her realizing, slowly yet surely, the smart chef carved her way out into this creative zone. What really makes her different from others is her ability of creating wonders from small things.

'Cooking is not just about exotic spices and expensive ingredients. A good cook is the one who knows how to effectively use those little things in your kitchen to make something that you have never tasted before,' she says. The thought is supported by the recipe book she has in her hand. 'I have maintained this diary for a very long time and every time I create something new, I write it down in there,' she adds.

Conceptualization is Jyotsana's forte and her dishes are a fine example of her creativity. 'From Chinese poha and poha kheer to Italian try-outs, I try to make ordinary healthy food into delicious cuisines,' she says. Unlike many who develop a taste towards this skill while helping out their mothers in the kitchen, Jyotsana inherited her passion for cooking from her father, who, she says, is still a pro at making cocktail drinks and jams. For someone who has such an expertise in cooking, it is easy to assume that it is a childhood passion. However, Jyotsana was inclined towards cooking only after marriage.

Married to a senior police official, Anil Prabhat Jain, Jyotsana says her husband's transferable job acted as a catalyst to discover her passion. 'When we moved to Jammu, many friends and relatives would come to visit us. As I was unfamiliar with the markets, I used to find it difficult to shop. One day when a friend visited us, I tried my hands at a new recipe with the things available at home. I haven't looked back since then.' Appreciation and compliments, she says, have helped her reach this position.

However, pride comes from the fact that her children never insist on eating out. 'I avoid ordering stuff from outside. I think the biggest challenge these days is to help your kids stick to healthy food and not get swayed by the junk available in the market', she says.
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Saturday, August 10, 2013


Global Goa: The world on a plate

Vivek Menezes, TNN | Aug 10, 2013, 01.18 AM IST
READ MORE South America|Octavio Paz
PANAJI: Try to imagine Indian food without chilies. We produce, consume and export far more than any other country — more than 30% of global supply — but the fact is chilies were unknown in the subcontinent until they first introduced from South America just over four centuries ago. Entering via Goa along with potatoes, corn, guavas, chickoos, in a stream of dozens of other plants and fruits from the "New World" of the Americas, these imports created a revolutionary and permanent shift in Indian diets and palates.

Another example: British colonialists annexed Upper Assam specifically in order to replaced its fabled old-growth forests with vast tea plantations. Up to that point, the only Indians familiar with the beverage were a few tribals in what is now Arunachal Pradesh. But it took just 100 years for chai to become our national drink, today Assam alone produces 11% of the world's tea crop.

These and myriad other examples demonstrate that whatever its attendant complications, there can be no doubt globalization has always delivered a culinary bonanza. Besides ingredients, there's also been a profound dispersal of new techniques, that led to entirely new ways of thinking about food.

In Bengal, the Portuguese first horrified locals by splitting milk to make cottage cheese (there called 'chhana'). But what was first considered an abomination immediately became the central ingredient of a whole range of sweets, including sandesh and rossogulla. Today, these are the very epitome of Bengali culinary identity. The process works in both directions equally effectively: the brilliant Mexican Nobel Prize winner, Octavio Paz has recounted how a nun from India wound up inventing one of Mexico's most iconic dishes, Mole Poblano.

Even more than other places, Goan food has greatly benefited from our homeland's historic role as a melting pot of cultures. After all, we experienced one of the earliest crucibles of what is now touted as globalization.

So it is impossible to imagine our most cherished dishes without the influence of the outside world, even while remembering the great Goan artist and gourmand, Francis Newton Souza's constant refrain - "our versions are always better than the originals!"

Thus, our sorpotel is a much more soulful, fiery version of the Portuguese original. Our bebinca is a considerably more sophisticated confection than the South East Asian sweet it is based on. And no Brazilian has ever distilled anything nearly as fine as feni from the cashew, despite the plant being native to that country (the word 'caju' is itself an import from an Amazonian language).

Despite attendant pressures and anxieties, we must note that Goa still remains one of India's most profound cultural crossroads. We now host tens of thousands of permanently resident neo-Goans from across the world, as well as unending numbers of Indian migrants. Many of our villages are every bit as multinational as Bangalore, with even small schools often including dozens of nationalities in their student bodies.

This 21st century churn has just as much foodie excitement as centuries past. Goa might be a fraction of the size of its neighbours, our population laughably tiny when compared the cities sprawling within an hour or two's flying distance. But very few places feature such an extraordinary variety of food available in our markets and restaurants, globalized demand has delivered the world onto our plates.

It is notable that much of the best "international food" available in Goa is made from local ingredients, right here in-state. Italians are making mozzarella, Frenchmen bake baguettes and croissants. The famous British butcher of Arpora turns out hundreds of kilos of what food guru Karen Anand (herself a Goan) describes as the "best bangers in India".

Today, the village of Anjuna by itself produces yummy Mexican corn chips, silken Russian-style sour cream, and truly superb French Dijon mustard, among a huge range of other artisanal produce. You can expect these fine proucts to go nationwide in short order, you simply can't beat the quality anywhere in India.

Goa's burgeoning food revolution has nothing to do with government efforts. In fact, mamy entrepreneurs and chefs who contribute efforts in this sector report harassment and extortion. And like everyone else in the state, they suffer from astronomical inflation, and an extraordinarily poor supply chain.

But make no mistake, huge changes to what we eat in Goa are underway again, just as in the 16th and 17th centuries. The results may be unpredictable, but I am certain they will be delicious.
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Saturday, August 3, 2013


Macaroons edge cupcakes out of the plate

, TNN | Aug 4, 2013, 06.20 AM IST
READ MORE YES|Monkey|champagne|cake|wispy confectionary
Dainty, crispy, delicate, elegant - these are just some of the adjectives used to describe macarons. And these fragile bits of wispy confectionary are edging out another faddy dessert that was responsible for floating a thousand home-bakers' careers - the cupcake.

Yes, the with-it turn up their noses at cupcakes these days while taking tiny bites out of this biscuit-like product that belongs to the meringue family. A macaron (also spelt as 'macaroon' ) is a crisp meringue shell made essentially with three things: almond flour, egg white and icing sugar. Usually, two macaron shells are sandwiched together with a filling, which can range from the humble buttercream to exotic concoctions such as wasabi-and-white chocolate.

"The meringue does lend itself to a lot of experimentation with the fillings. We are even creating some savoury macarons that will be more salty than sweet," says chef Tanmoy Savardekar of The Winking Macaron on Mosque Road. Savardekar used to be pastry chef at Olive Beach and Monkey Bar before he quit to start his own patisserie, and his macarons have created quite a buzz. Savardekar does macarons with several exciting fillings such as dark chocolate and star anise, peanut butter, vanilla caviar and salted caramel. The Winking Macaron also serves up other desserts but the macarons are the go-to option for most customers. The patisserie sells around 150 macarons every day.

Chef Girish Nayak, the current pastry chef at Olive Beach, is quite sure that macarons are poised to become the latest sweet craze. "At Olive, we have been doing macarons for four to five years and the demand is definitely growing. It is a versatile confection that can be consumed by itself, with a variety of fillings, with plated desserts as a substitute for biscuits, or with ice-cream," says Nayak. He has experimented with savoury macarons as well, filling them with foie gras and creating an especially la-di-dah one with a vanilla and champagne filling.

Venkatesh Raghu and Prasanth Shadakshari are so convinced of the macaron's imminent superstardom in the world of desserts that they have set up a factory to churn them out in large numbers in Basavangudi. Their venture, Amande Patisserie, is a year old and the two are set to open their first retail outlet at Hypercity in Brookefield, though they have been supplying macarons and other desserts to restaurants and bakeries. Why macarons? "My co-owner Prasanth is a Le Cordon Blue-trained chef and we were flatmates in Sydney. When we decided start our own venture in Bangalore, the macaron craze was just taking off in the West and we thought we would make it our primary product as well," says Venkatesh, who fell in love with macarons during his honeymoon in Paris. Amande also plans to introduce Bangalore to other delicate French confections such as profiteroles and millefeuilles, which are mainly available at fivestar cake shops today.
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Sunday, July 28, 2013


5 delicacies bangalore is feasting on

TNN | Jul 28, 2013, 03.18 AM IST
READ MORE samosa|ramzan|basmati rice
THEETHAR: Bird meat marinated in ginger-garlic paste and curd, and fried in refined oil. A big hit among city foodies. Following the big demand, theethar (partridge) are raised in farms. Theethar, at Rs 80 a piece, cost less than chicken. A couple of food joints on the Bangalore-Mysore road draw big crowds which dig into roasted and fried theethar.

Pathar Gosht: Shredded mutton fried on a big stone slab placed on top of coal fire. The process is time-consuming, taking into account the big slab takes more than two hours to heat and the coal fire needs to burn from evening to late night. Made only during Ramzan. Mughlai cuisine perfected by Pathani cooks. Must on the list of all communities.

Bangalore Biryani: Dum Biryani cooked with basmati rice and tender meat, steamed in spices. This delicacy is only cooked with young goat meat. Bangalore Biryani has no potatoes and sheep meat is a strict no-no. Mutton biryani costs Rs 160, while chicken biryani is sold at Rs 120.

Kheema-Anda Roti: A fast-food type snack favoured by Muslims breaking their fast. Wheat roti laced with beaten egg and stuffed with spicy mince meat. Nominally priced at Rs 12, demand is next only to samosas. More than 100 Kheema-Anda Roti stalls are put up in Shivajinagar and City Market as Ramzan draws to a close.

Samosa: More than 5 lakh samosas are sold each day during Ramzan. The onion samosa, nominally priced at Rs 6, and the kheema samosa at Rs 8, are favourites among school and college students. While a couple of stalls cook their own samosas, most source it from Muslim families in the samosa trade.

Paya: Lamb legs first roasted and cooked with a lot of spices for more than four hours. Paya is served with Semiyan. Tops the list both at Sehri and Iftaar.

Kadi Gosht: A stick pierced through Breast chicken pasted with spicy masala and deep fried.

Coconut Nan: A speciality of the Bangalore bakers. Made only in Bangalore with coconut, sugar, cashew and plums. The mixture is roasted and fried before stuffing into the nan made out of Maida. Albert bakery is the hot spot for Cocunut nan.

Semiyan: Made from rice flour much like the steamed Idli. Semiyan and Paya and Semiyan and Pathar Gosht are the crowd favourites.

Handi Kheer: A sweet dish made from Soji and milk and served with dry fruit toppings.
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Thursday, July 25, 2013


Burger with lab-grown meat is ready to eat

, TNN | Jul 26, 2013, 05.07 AM IST
READ MORE London|laboratory-grown hamburger|bovine muscle stem cells
LONDON: The first laboratory-grown hamburger developed using bovine muscle stem cells would be unveiled in London next week. Professor Mark Post of Maastricht University in Netherlands has utilized existing technology for growing muscle cells and used 3,000 cell strands to create enough meat for a single hamburger.

Scientists say cultured beef will greatly reduced need for livestock and address the increasing global demand for food.

"The project could also be the answer that feeds the world, saves the environment and spares the lives of millions of animals. It will lead the way to environmentally friendly meat production, sustainable meat sources and cruelty-free meat production ,'' the scientists involved in the project said in a statement. It said meat and other staple foods are likely to become luxury items thanks to the increased demand for crops for meat production unless a sustainable alternative is found.

Post said current livestock meat production is not sustainable from an ecological point of view or in terms of volume. "Right now we are using more than 50% of all our agricultural land for livestock. It's simple maths. We have to come up with alternatives. If we don't do anything meat will become a luxury food and be very, very expensive."

Experts say cultured beef will allow scientists to eradicate human disease contracted from livestock and control the level of fat content of meat products. It would also be ecofriendly as keeping livestock for food produces 39% of all emitted methane and 5% of carbon dioxide.

Further, pigs and cows transform only 15% of vegetable proteins into edible animal proteins, but occupy more than 70% of all arable land. Currently to produce 1 kg of beef requires up to 15,000 litres of water, according to UN figures.
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