Recipe column-Avial

Vegetables needed: 9 varieties-3 greens, 3 roots, 3 juicy vegetables.
For example: Greens=All varieties of Beans, Carrot, Green peas, Capsicum, (do not use pungent or bitter tasting vegetables).
Roots=Potato, Sweet potato, yam, and No Beetroot.Juicy= Pumpkin, chow chow, snakeguord.
Cut, wash and clean 9 varieties of vegetablesinto a 2 inch cubes (a large sized with or without skin as you desire). Pressure cook vegetables.
Grind 1 portion i.e half the cocunut,12 medium sized green chilies and 2 teaspoons of cummin seeds into a smooth paste.
Add this paste to the vegetable and mix gently for 5 to 7minutes. Add salt and curry leaves.
Remove from fire and add 2 cups of smooth and thick curd.
Avial is ready to serve. You can add or reduce the amount of curd and green chilies according to the quantity of vegetables and your taste.

Recipe column-besi bele bathe

Chop 2 big onions or 250 gms of small onions skin peeled.
Green peas,Carrots,Tomatoes, Groundnuts fresh are all optional.
Roast each one seperately or one by one; equal measures of i.e 1 teaspoon of urad dal,1 teaspoon of gram dal and 1 teaspoon of corriender seeds. 1 inch piece of cinnamon, 5 pods of cardomom and 1/4 teaspoon of methi seeds to enhance the taste and flavour. Add 2 to 3 table spoon of dry coconut and roast it to light brown. Copra available in stores is also fine. Grind these to a coarse powder. you can store this in an airtight container and refrigerate for weeks.
Pressure cook 2 cups of rice and 1 cup of toor dal and keep aside.Heat oil in a kadai fry the onion and other optional vegetables. Add 2 teaspoon of tarmirind paste. if you do not like hot and sour reduce the amount of tarmirind paste. Allow it to cook for 7 minutes and add the cooked rice and dal. Add curry leaves and mix well for 2 minutes.
Add salt and the powder. Pour 2teaspoons of gingily oil and 2 teaspoons of ghee on the dish and mix well. garnish with corriender leaves. Remove from flame and serve it with chips,potato curry or papads.

Eat breakfast, avoid obesity

Although people think that skipping breakfast will save on calories, findings suggest the opposite

Those who eat breakfast every morning are more physically active than those who skip the first meal of the day, especially during adolescence. That’s the conclusion of a study in which researchers examined the link between breakfast frequency and five-year body weight change in more than 2,200 adolescents.
The results of the study indicate that breakfast eaters consumed a healthier diet and were more robust than those who skipped the meal.
Five years later, daily breakfast eaters also tended to gain less weight and had lower body mass index levels, an indicator of obesity risk, compared with skippers.
Mark Pereira, coauthor of the University of Minnesota project EAT, points out that this study extends the literature on the topic of breakfast habits and obesity risk because of its size and duration.
“The dose-response findings between breakfast frequency and obesity risk, even after taking into account physical activity and other dietary factors, suggests that eating breakfast may have important effects on overall diet and obesity risk, but experimental studies are needed to confirm these observations,” he added. Over the past two decades, rates of obesity have doubled in children and nearly tripled in adolescents.
It is estimated that between 12 and 24 per cent of children and adolescents regularly skip breakfast. This percentage of skippers, while alarming, has been found to increase with age.
Dianne Neumark-Sztainer of project EAT said researchers have found further evidence to support the importance of encouraging youth to eat breakfast regularly.
“Although adolescents may think that skipping breakfast seems like a good way to save on calories, findings suggest the opposite,” she said.

FAT TALES: Breakfast eaters tend to gain less weight

Drink tea to keep diabetes at bay

Some constituents of tea could act as an insulin substitute

Drinking black tea could help prevent diabetes, according to new findings by scientists at Dundee University. The researchers said black tea may have the potential to combat type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease.
They believe certain constituents of tea could act as an insulin substitute. In Scotland, it is believed more than 190,000 people have diabetes which develops when the body fails to make enough insulin.
In Tayside alone, latest figures show a 90 per cent increase in the incidence of diabetes in the last 9 years.
There is definitely something interesting in the way these naturally occurring components of black tea may have a beneficial effect.
The Dundee team, led by Dr Graham Rena, hopes to secure more funding to continue its investigation.
In collaboration with colleagues at the Scottish Crop Research Institute, the researchers discovered that several black tea constituents, known as theaflavins and thearubigins, mimicked insulin action.
“What we have found is that these constituents can mimic insulin action on proteins known as foxos,” Dr Rena said. “Foxos have previously been shown to underlie associations between diet and health in a wide variety of organisms including mice, worms and fruit flies. The task now is to see whether we can translate these findings into something useful for human health.”
Dr Rena stressed that further research was needed. “People shouldn’t be rushing to drink masses of black tea thinking it will cure them of diabetes,” he said. “We are still some way from this leading to new treatments or dietary advice. Our research into tea compounds is at a preclinical, experimental stage and people with diabetes should continue to take their medicines as directed by their doctor. However, there is definitely something interesting in the way these naturally occurring components of black tea may have a beneficial effect, both in terms of diabetes and our wider health.”

TEA AND ME: A girl sipping a cup of tea in a restaurant

Recipe column- Parankikai kootu

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