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Ayurvedic food that will keep you fit
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If prepared well, Ayurvedic dishes can be delicious
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GO GREEN A chicken dish prepared with basil Photo: Sandeep Saxena
Eat healthy, live long. That is the mantra these days. The food should taste great, look good. But remember the primary function of food is to provide energy and fulfil other biological needs. However, "sensible, well directed and planned" food takes you a step ahead of primary needs.
Ayurvedic food takes that step, as it not only talks of food energy but also of the added advantages like the medicinal value of food, how it builds a stronger immune system, kills stress and improves body functions. But this doesn't mean a strict regimen of bland, tasteless or bitter vegetarian dishes.
On the contrary, creativity in cuisine can surprise and delight you every day. If prepared well, Ayurvedic food can be both healthy and delicious. You can create a breakfast with fresh fruit, juices, herbal soups, home-baked breads and cookies and a selection of other dishes. Lunch and dinner can be created with a wide selection of fish, trimmed chicken, vegetable and herbal curries.
In Ayurveda, food and drinks are classified according to their taste — sweet, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent — and by their influence on the doshas (body energies). The goal is to represent all tastes in every meal.
According to Ayurveda, every individual has unique needs. Since diet is one of the most important tools for achieving balance, one has to generally design diets after carefully selecting the ingredients.
Ayurvedic way
Talking of the ingredients, we have all known and read about herbal and medicinal spices. Tulsi, hing, turmeric... the list is endless. And since the food has to be designed for individual needs, there is no hard and fast rule about a recipe. Be experimental and try to put in the ingredients that suit your needs. If basil is needed, then get "experimental" and make your basil and carrot curry. What stops you from doing just that? If need be, use shilajeet as an ingredient for your designer food. Just be sure that it makes some culinary sense and the taste buds are kept happy too.
On a similar pattern, here is a recipe to try out.
Basil ka tandoori chicken
Time for preparation: 25-30 minutes
Time for marinade: 30-35 minutes
Time for cooking in charcoal tandoor: 6-8 minutes
Ingredients
Lean chicken: 800gm
Lemon medium-sized: 1
Ginger paste: 1tsp
Garlic paste: 1tsp
Yoghurt (thick): 1 cup
Garam masala: 1tbsp
Fresh basil paste: 3tbsp
Refined oil: 1tbsp
Paste of 1-2 green chillies
Salt to taste
Besan (gram flour): 1tbsp
Method
Remove the skin of the chicken using a knife. Trim the excess fat. Make deep cuts, three each, in the chicken breast, two in the thigh and one in each drumstick to allow better absorption of the marinade. Fry the besan in a little oil till it gives out an aroma. Now separately squeeze the juice of one lemon, mix ginger and garlic paste with it and rub it on the cleaned chicken on all sides. Leave it aside for 15 minutes.
Mix the besan with yoghurt, salt, green chilli paste, basil paste and garam masala powder. Apply this mixture on the chicken, making sure that it is fully covered. Leave it aside for 30 minutes.
Skewer the chicken from the rear side. Cook it on a medium heated tandoor till half done. Remove from the tandoor and apply oil as a basting. Put it back in the tandoor and cook till it is fully done.
Remove from the tandoor. Serve hot after adding a dash of lemon juice on it, with green salad and mint chutney.
RAKESH KUMAR
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