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Count your proteins

It's useful to take a good look at the power of proteins for your body's development

It is all a question of dal-roti. Quite literally. Because the dals prepared in thousands of Indian homes every day are packed with proteins. And `protein' comes from a Greek word meaning "first in importance". Not surprisingly, proteins are extremely important for our body development. If proteins are in short supply, our body consumes its own muscles to keep the vital organs functioning. Formed by a combination of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus and sulphur, etc., proteins are composed of more than 70 amino acids. For assimilation of proteins, the body releases enzymes, which break the protein into amino acids, which are later absorbed into our blood stream.

The protein content in milk, soybean, eggs and meat is of high quality. Cereals, pulses, peas and seeds have some of the essential amino acids and high quality proteins. Deficiency in proteins in cereals is made up by the proteins in pulses. And so, it is appropriate to take pulses with cereals. That brings us back to dal-roti!

I have in the past talked about how various elements in food such as vitamins, proteins and enzymes, etc. may not be consumed by our body immediately, and that the amount consumed also depends upon various factors relating to our body and mind.

Understanding it all

This brings us to the reason why we need to understand about all these elements, what proportions of these are actually required by our body, and also how capable our system is in extracting and consuming these. The need for proteins depends on our body weight. For every kilogram of our body weight, one gram of protein is required every day. Fish is an important source of protein. The fat content in fish varies between one per cent and five per cent only. Fish is a good source of Vitamins A and D and is high in potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc and Vitamin B. It is also rich in iron in a form that is much easier to absorb than that of iron from plant sources.

However, there are two drawbacks in fish — namely, it can lead to acidity and contribute to uric acid content by adding to blood urea. However, consumption of white fish thins blood and protects against arterial damage. Here is an easy fish recipe to try out at home.

Tandoori Fish

Ingredients
500 gm fish cut into thick cubes
2 tbsp gram flour
1 tbsp lemon juice
Chat masala to sprinkle
For the first marinade
2 tbsp lemon juice
Salt to taste
1 tsp red chilli
For the second marinade
1 tsp ginger paste
2 tsp garlic paste
3 tbsp thick yoghurt
1/2 tsp carom seeds
1 tsp dried fenugreek

Method

Place the fish in a pan, rub the first marinade and keep aside for 30 minutes. Then rub the fish with gram flour and lemon juice. Pour the second marinade, rub well and keep aside for another 30 minutes. Grill in a medium hot oven. Baste with butter in between. Sprinkle some chaat masala and serve.

MONISH GUJRAL

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