Best food Amla

Amla is a well known plant for its medicinal values and used in the Ayurveda for the treatment of various health problems. This fruit is the richest source of vitamin C. Amla is also known for its anti biotic, diuretic, anti scorbutic and laxative properties. It is also used as an ingredient of many Ayurvedic medicines and tonics. It helps to remove the excessive salivation, nausea, giddiness, spermatorrhoea, internal body heat and menstrual disorders. This fruit is an excellent liver tonic and also used in the production of medical and cosmetic products.

The scientific name of Amla is Phyllanthus emblica and it is a deciduous tree from the Phyllanthaceae family. Amla is also known as Gooseberry in English. This is the most important herb in the Indian ayurveda. The health benefits of the Amla are also there in the Charaka Samhita which is the oldest Ayurvedic encyclopedia. According to Indian Mythology it is believed that when the whole earth was submerged into the water and Lord Brahma was immersed in the meditation of Lord Vishnu. He became so full of emotions that tears started dropping from his eyes and fell down on earth and the Amla tree is generated.

Amla is sour and astringent in taste and cooling in nature. It is also used in the preparation of Triphala churn and is a very important ingredient in the Chyawanprash. It is available in the market in the form of fruit, powder, juice, murrabbas and pickles. In whatever forms you take it, it provides immense health benefits.

Amla is used in the Ayurveda for the treatment of chronic health ailments like diabetes, pancreatitis, constipation, blood pressure and also prevents the infections. It fights against the inflammations and helps in the detoxification of the liver. Regular use of pain killers, antibiotics and medication, regular intake of alcohol, all cause toxin build-up in the liver.

Amla helps strengthen the liver, and to remove the toxins from the body. It thus helps purify and clean the blood. This is why Amla is good for the skin. According to Ayurveda if you eat Amla regularly it helps you to live a healthy life for 100 years.

Along with vitamin C this beneficial herb is also rich in dietary fiber, calcium, phosphorus, iron, carotene and B complex vitamins. All these nutrients are essential for the health and well being of the person and can also prevent the occurrence of many diseases.

Amla is the richest source of vitamin C which is required for the healthy skin, gums, teeth and blood vessels. Vitamin C also boosts the immunity and fights against the free radicals in the body. Deficiency of vitamin C can make a person lethargic and susceptible to infections. Vitamin C deficiency can also lead to the rheumatic pains and intestinal disorders. Low levels of the vitamin C also put a person at risk of developing gallbladder disorders and low levels of the vitamin C can also disturb the growth in children.

Amla is good for the digestive system of the body. The fiber present in the Amla is good for the regulation of bowel movements and it also removes the toxins from the body. Amla is also helpful in the weight loss; it increases the metabolism so the people who are overweight or obese due to sluggish metabolism can use it to increase the BMR which in turns helps to reduce weight.

Amla is also useful for the hair, it helps to strengthen the roots and stop the premature graying. Being a rich source of vitamin C Amla is good for skin. Regular consumption of the Amla can give the skin a glowing and clear complexi

source by http://healthtipsoftheday.blogspot.com/

Read More

Sheer Khurma Recipe

Today I will Share with you a beautiful food  Recipe ,

Name : Sheer Khurma Recipe

 Sheer Khurma is a traditional muslim dessert that was introduced to India by the Mughals . Sheer khurma is a must have dessert during the season of Ramzaan . Every Muslim household has its own recipe for this delicacy. This recipe I'm sharing with you is a little different from the traditional recipe. I omitted the use of coconut here. 

Ingredients :

• Milk - 1 ltr
• Cardamom - 4 ( Prefer green ones )
• Sugar - 50 gms ( or more for a sweet tongue )
• Khajoor / Dates  - 10 or 12
• Pistachio - wrist-full ( about 20 gms )
• Almond - wrist-full ( about 20 gms )
• Saffron - a pinch
• Vermicelli - 50 gms 

          Use the vermicelli that comes specially for the ramzaan season . Not the one that available through out the year . Its not the one that we use for payasam . The vermicelli for this dish is much more thin and delicate . Check out the pics below for the kind of  khajoor and vermicelli we need to use.  

Method :

• Soak around 5 almonds and pista for 1 hr . We will use this for garnishing later.
• Roast the vermicelli in 2 tbsp of ghee until golden brown . Keep aside .
• Grind the rest of the pistachio and almonds together to a coarse powder . Keep aside.
• Discard the seeds from the khajoor and grind to make a paste . Add some water or milk to make the paste  in honey's consistency .
• In a shallow vessel , heat milk .
• Add cardamom and the roasted vermicelli . 
• Let the milk come to boil. Once boiled , add the khajoor paste . Ensure that the consistency of the paste is that of honey . It may form lumps otherwise. Mix well and keep on low heat for two minutes while continuously stirring.  
• Add the powdered pista and almond to the milk and mix well . 
• Keep on low flame for 10 minutes. Stir in regular intervals, not allowing the powder or khajoor stick to the base of the vessel . 
• Add a pinch of saffron to 1 tbsp of milk and mix well . Add this to the sheer khurma . This will give a nice color to the dessert. ( you will not see the color in my sheer khurma . Unluckily I  could not arrange for saffron )
• Turn the fire off , take the khurma into a serving bowl and garnish with sliced flakes of the soaked pista and almond. Don't add too much of this cause we already have the flavor of pista and almond in the dessert . 

The dessert can be served hot or cold ; its lip smacking in either way.

Do share your experience in the comment box below if you tried the recipe . 

Reference : http://chatpat-indian-recipes.blogspot.com/

Visite Our another blog : Android Azharmusic

Read More

How to Make Veggie Blending

It is quite difficult to get all the servings of fruit, vegetables, Omega 3, antioxidants and all the other good things that doctors recommend - blends definitely help. And I mean blends - not juices; in blends, the fiber gets consumed and not thrown away.

I still find that many people believe that orange juice is healthy. Of course, you are getting a good amount of vitamin C from it, but the amount of sugar that you get from just a glass of juice (typically >20g) is crazy! Drinking orange juice is almost as bad a drinking soda. Same applies to cranberry, apple, grape and other juices. It is better to eat the actual fruit, as you are going to consume less sugar (more than one orange is needed for a glass of orange juice) and get the fiber that will keep you full for much longer, saving you from sudden crashes.

Back to blending. Some of my tips:
Combine vegetable ingredients with fruit (fresh of frozen) to make drinks both nutritional and yummy. 
Don't forget that frozen fruit and vegetables are often picked at their nutritional peak and frozen right away, so it is great to have those handy in your freezer at all times.
If you have bananas that are getting very ripe, cut them up and freeze them to use in smoothies later.
Use plain (Greek) yogurt or Kefirs as a base (calcium/friendly lactobacteria) for fruit blends; use water for veggie blends.
Add chia/flex or other seeds (Omega 3).

I'm planning to experiment a lot and post some pictures, but here are some combinations I like:
Carrot/apple/celery
Beat/orange
Persimmon/orange/carrots/ginger
Kale/beets/apples/ginger/lemon


This post was very much inspired by this blog entry I found through pinterest. It suggests a great way to store fresh spinach to use for smoothies, but I think you can do just the same with many other greens. What a great idea! Go to the farmers market, get whatever greens are in season eat some and freeze some in the form of ice cubes for the smoothies - brilliant! Read the above entry for more guidance. 

Sources : http://health-nat.blogspot.com/

Read More

Send Off Summer Right (Part 3): 27 Labor Day Desserts to Save Room For

Like a lot of people, I tend not to give too much thought to dessert when I'm throwing a cookout. Savory dishes are more my style, and if I've got the grill going, I'm probably cooking up more than enough meaty main dishes and hearty sides to fill up on.

Then again, I have friends who seem to reserve a special internal storage compartment for dessert at a barbecue. You know the types—the ones who'll eat just two-thirds of a burger and peck lightly at their pasta salad, but are the first to start hovering over the icebox pie or cheesecake once it appears, holding out only as long as politeness demands before they dive in. And at this time of year—when we're staring down the end of berry season, peach season, watermelon season, and, arguably, ice cream season—can you really blame them? Think of the ideal end to your Labor Day barbecue: leaning back in your camp chair or Adirondack while the sunset glows, the noise from your remaining guests dropping to a murmur, cicadas buzzing, maybe some fireflies winking here and there in the twilight. The only thing that could possibly be missing from this scene is the moment when you dip into a rich homemade ice cream or a chocolaty, campfire-style grilled banana boat —something to bring out your inner child, just like summer itself does. Here are 27 recipes for sweet treats (including 10 different ice cream flavors!) to cap off your perfect end-of-summer celebration.

Source by :http://www.seriouseats.com/

Read More

How to make your tomatoes taste better

A study has found that dunking supermarket tomatoes in hot water before they ripen could make them taste better.

Dr Jinhe Bai, a chemist at the United States Department of Agriculture wondered if the chilling process used to transport tomatoes was to blame for the bland taste of supermarket tomatoes.

Dr Bai and his colleagues found heating the tomatoes before they are chilled improved their flavour, in a study published in LWT-Food Science Technology.

The Florida-grown green tomatoes were placed in water heated to 51.6°C for five minutes, then cooled to room temperature before being chilled to the temperatures normally used for shipping.

They were then rated for flavour by 21 volunteers, based on aromas released: 14 panellists reported that the heated tomatoes had more a greater tomato aroma.

However, the method doesn’t help with purchased tomatoes that have already ripened - “just heating tomatoes doesn’t seem to help,” Dr Bai says – as heating or chilling ripened tomatoes can suppress the flavour beyond repair.

Instead, the researchers say heating then chilling increases the un-ripened tomato’s resistance to the internal chilling injury that causes the loss of the aroma compounds.

Dr Bai said: “There’s no negative effect from the hot water treatment and it will help to kill fungi or bacteria on the surface of the fruit that cause postharvest diseases, and it should be an easy practice to adopt.”

Collect by :http://www.independent.co.uk/

Read More

How to Eat Dorchester: A One-Day Tour of Boston's Best Vietnamese Food

"So we only have 14 ways of beef to go?"

We're on stop nine of a 13-restaurant crawl through the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester, which since the 1970s has been home to an active and entrepreneurial Vietnamese community. Though you can find good pho in Chinatown and some other neighborhoods, Dorchester, just down the Red Line, beats them all on density of restaurants and depth of options within them. And if you're in Boston and have at least a passing interest in local fare beyond lobster rolls and chowder, a trip to Dorchester belongs at the top of your list.

Though that thought doesn't help ease the pain as we settle into our tenth full meal of the afternoon.

With about a dozen Vietnamese restaurants and bakeries along a mile-long stretch of Dorchester Avenue, you can indeed visit them all in a day, though after doing so I can't exactly recommend it. With all its fresh herbs and vinegary condiments, Vietnamese food can sure seem light, but after slurping 10 bowls of pho, my blood was diluted to 30% beef broth and I was burping star anise for days.

Which is why I've assembled an abbreviated guide to the neighborhood's greatest hits that you can take down in a day trip without shooting your sodium levels to Hanoi. Of course, I'm not a local, and my time in Dorchester was limited, so I won't pretend this is anything close to comprehensive. What I can say is that some restaurants are absolute must-visits while others are quite easy to skip. The neighborhood's best bowl of pho was just the beginning. Here are all the other wonderful things worth eating.

Collect By : http://www.seriouseats.com/

Read More

French food waste law clears first parliamentary hurdle

On 21st May the French National Assembly set aside party political differences and voted unanimously in favour of proposed legislation to curb food waste. The current text, which will be debated next by the French Senate, includes a requirement for supermarkets larger than 400 square metres to donate edible food past its sell-by date to charities and associations. Elsewhere in the proposed law is a ban on pouring bleach over edible food to render it unfit for consumption. A parallel set of requirements will be imposed on foodservice operations, including public sector organisations such as schools and hospitals, as well as work canteens.

The proposed legislation is being helped through the French parliamentary system by former food minister Guillaume Garot, who started work on this topic while he was still at the agricultural ministry. He laid out his objectives and the reasoning behind the new law in a parliamentary report published in April: while the final law will probably be quite close to what its author intended, it may not be a carbon copy.

The French food waste campaign makes a distinction between edible food that ends up in the waste stream and other forms of food waste, such as kitchen waste or food that is rotten. The distinction is a simple one: if food can still be consumed, it should be kept out of the waste stream.

According to figures on the food ministry website, France wastes more than 20 kilos of edible food per person every year – that’s 1.2 million tonnes of food that could have been eaten, but was thrown out. This figure is a subset of the 6.5 million tonnes of total domestic food waste, which includes the inedible as well. The retail sector adds 2.3 million tonnes of further food waste and the foodservice industry 1.5 million tonnes, making a total of more than 10 million tonnes a year across a range of outlets and end users. A public education campaign to cut domestic food waste has been in hand since 2011, and has generated a 10-point checklist for reducing food waste. It suggests [as translated by the author]:

Purchase food in appropriate quantities and plan meals ahead.
When shopping, buy chilled products last.
Observe the ‘chill chain’ temperature recommendations included on the packaging for refrigerated foods.
Read the labels and make a distinction between ‘consume by’ dates and ‘best before’ dates, which apply to different categories of food products in France.
Store food logically in the fridge and clean the fridge regularly.
Freeze food for the longest storage period.
Incorporate leftovers from previous meals into new dishes.
Whether eating out or at home, don’t have eyes larger than your stomach.
At the end of a meal, only throw away leftovers that cannot be kept.
Share fruit, vegetables or last night’s leftovers with neighbours.
In total, the French food chain loses or wastes 140 kilos of food per person between the field and the dustbin. That’s about five times the 20 to 30 kilos of food waste a year that is attributed directly to consumers. Official guesstimates of the monetary value such waste represents range from €12 billion and €20 billion. Garot warns that this waste is “… the sign of a system of production and consumption in crisis”.

It is not hard to spot a problem in the making. French supermarkets account for just over 70% of the country’s household food spend. The retailers have ways of choking off overstocks before they even leave the supplier – retailers have been bending the rules for years, with impunity, often making business very hard for those they work with and leaving much of the waste with the supplier.

Stocks of food produced to order for supermarkets, especially dried and canned goods, are not always collected (“taken up”) or paid for. For example, retailers will place orders for canned tomatoes once a year, before the canneries start packing the tomato harvest. Retailers often over-order stock, which means additional wages and other packing line costs for the canner. The canner is out of pocket until the retailer has collected and paid for the goods, which have been ordered up to a year previously. While this may be manageable with canned goods, which are not labelled until the consignment is despatched, it is a nightmare for ‘own label’ dry groceries in retail packaging. Garot’s suggestion that food manufacturers should be able to donate refused or cancelled orders is well meant, but it sidesteps the delicate question of whether or not the donor should see a return on the work and resources that were invested in the manufacture. It effectively becomes an enforced donation because the goods the food manufacturer produced were not claimed or paid for by the retailer.

Everyone agrees that food waste is a bad thing. But opinions vary as to what to do about it. Headstrong supermarket boss Michel-Edouard Leclerc mounted a vitriolic attack on Garot’s proposed law on his personal blog. Accusing politicians of jumping on the food waste bandwagon, Leclerc claims that retailers have long since stopped pouring bleach over discarded food. His blog aimed to deflect criticism of retail practices.

Leclerc’s retail ‘members’ as they are called, already donate 24,000 tonnes of food a year to good causes, a quarter of which goes to food banks. No less than 95% of Leclerc store owners already have agreements in place for donations to associations – indeed half of them already donate food to three or more charities.

Leclerc also argues in his blog that significant resources are needed to store and manage certain categories of food. For instance, chilled goods require greater skill to manage at the end of their shelf lives than they do on arrival at a supermarket, especially meat and fish. When their shelf life is running out, decisive culinary action is required. There are plenty of volunteers who can cook off a batch of fading food, but the risk of things going wrong is higher the closer the food is to the end of its shelf life. Garot, however, has a plan B and C for perishable foods in need of alternative end uses: animal feed (depending on the foodstuffs involved) and methanisation – turning food waste into energy – are both recommended as last resorts.


There is good reason to give Garot credit for his forward-looking political vision, including the promotion of local food and short supply chains in his proposed legislation, and setting up local and regional food waste reduction schemes. He also has a sense of history: gleaning is still authorised under a French royal edict of 1554. One revolution and five republics later, Garot is keen to retain it in law and make it applicable to the 21st century.

Collect By : http://www.seriouseats.com/

Read More