a colourful diet

We've been encouraged to add colours to our diet. Websites, healthy living magazines... TV programmes... So I decided to make a salad (salads are healthy.. right?) and include the colours red, green, yellow and white. Let's look at each of the colours.

Red: fruits and veggies that are red have lycopenes (think tomatoes) or acanthocyanins. Lycopenes are thought to protect against several types of cancer, especially prostate cancer. Acanthocyanins on the other hand are found in red berries are powerful antioxidants. Beetroot, another beautifully red vegetable has a pigment called betanin which is a betalain pigment, which may also exhibit anticancer activity.

Yellow (and orange) fruits and vegetables are often coloured by natural pigments called carotenoids. Beta carotene in carrots, sweet potatoes and pumpkins are converted to Vitamin A by the body which is good for the eyes and the heart. Citrus fruits (although yellow or orange) are not a good source of Vitamin C but have plenty of Vitamin C, which is good for the immune system and if you eat the pulp, then, fibre as well.

Yellow / Green leafy vegetables are coloured by chlorophyll. They also contain lutein, which is good for prevention of macular degeneration in the eye as well as reducing the risk of cataracts. Good examples are spinach, green peas, mustard greens, avocado.

Dark Green - vegetables such as brocolli, cabbage, kale - cruciferous veges contain the chemicals sulforaphane and isocyanate and they also contain indoles, all of which help ward off cancer by inhibiting carcinogens.

White / Green : leeks, onions, garlic, chives. The onion family contains allicin, which has antitumour properties, other members contain antioxidants such as quercetin.

Now, that's quite a mouthful of information. But most importantly, is to make this all palatable. (which is pretty easy), so here's a colourful tasty salad to perk anyone up during wet days that are Winter trying to become Spring.

Beetroot, Couscous and Feta Salad
Ingredients:
1 medium - large beetroot, boiled in its skin
1 cup couscous, rehydrated with hot water / vege stock and fluffed up
1 small lemon
1 cup feta cheese, cut into 1cm cubes
bunch of greens (we used miner's lettuce from our garden), rocket does very well
generous bunch coriander - roughly chopped
1-2 cloves garlic finely chopped salt pepper
1/2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and ground drizzle of olive oil

Method:
1. peel and cut the cooked beetroot into small 1 cm cubes, keep warm
2. lemon: cut half into thin slivers and juice the remaining half - mix with beetroot
3. toss all ingredients together in large bowl - you can add as much olive oil / lemon juice as you like (I use less oil, just to reduce the calories)

Serve with toasted crusty bread, such as sourdough.

Rava Rave

Visited Mustafa's again recently (it's still mango season...) and dropped by Anandha Bhavan for dinner - as I promised a while ago, I'm putting up a post about Rava Mysore Masala Thosai (or Dosa).

I thoroughly enjoyed this sinful meal - spicy, crispy on the outside, soft and delicious inside, a visual treat as well - lacy South Indian crepe smeared on the inside with a red chutney, served with 2 more chutneys - coconut, onion as well as a tangy rasam. The heat kinda creeps up on you. With the first bite one raves over the crispy edges of a dosa fried in ghee and what seems to be a mildly spicy potato and onion filling. With each succesive mouthful the heat builds up to a intense, constant burn. Phew! A bit different than the sharp spike of heat that one usually associates with chilli padi (bird's eye chilli) which may much hotter but dissipates more readily.
What made this dosa so different? What is Rava anyway?

I went home and did a bit of research.

Normal dosa batters are made from rice and split urad dal, blended with water and left to ferment overnight. Rava dosas on the other hand are made from semolina flour, does not need fermentation and it is the characteristic of semolina that gives this version its distinct crispy texture.

Aha! now I know.

And now I know several other food items made from semolina that I really love to eat - pasta , couscous and suji cake. the common denominator is semolina. By the way, semolina has many aliases (is there such a word?) - in North India it goes by the name suji and in the South, rava. In North Africa, people know it as couscous and in Turkey, bulgar.

Semolina is the endosperm or heart of the durum wheat (a hard wheat) with very high gluten content and a high protein to carb ratio. Good quality dried commercial pasta is made from durum wheat as opposed to regular soft wheat flour that is good for making cakes and equally delicious fresh egg pasta)