Healthy Recipes To Cool The Body

In Ayurveda, bitter foods are considered cooling foods, especially because they have a dry effect too. The pungency of bitter counteracts the moistening qualities of salty foods. Dark leafy veggies like Swedish bitters are good examples of cooling foods. Cold foods tend to calm the digestion. These include milk, coconut and dill while yogurt is given different qualities by different systems. In India it is considered to have heating properties while the same yogurt is thought to cool the body according to Tibetan medicine.

On a hot summer day, it would be a good idea to start the day with liquids. Juice or tea is almost standard breakfast fare, but a bowl of fresh fruits will also be a good help. If still hungry, one can go for breakfast or puffed rice. It is light, easy to digest and filling, especially with some finely chopped cucumbers thrown in.

According to Ayurveda, lunch is supposed to be the heaviest meal of the day because the body’s digestive capabilities are at its highest at that hour of the day. For lunch, one can try curried parsnips and carrots, unleavened bread of whole wheat or rye, or rice cakes and a tossed salad of lettuce and sprouts, with simple oil and vinegar or lemon juice dressing. In the evening, fresh bitter berries or any fresh fruit with cool mint tea would be a good idea.

Dinner can be time for Asparagus soufflé and rice, accompanied by summer squash with parsley and dill. The salad can also be replaced by bean sprouts, tossed with some lemon juice.

Before we have the recipes of the main dishes, here are some pointers.

A generous sprinkling of coriander (usually found in the Chinese produce section of supermarkets) as Chinese parsley, is very cooling on the food. Also, addition of fennel seeds makes digestibility of any food that much easier and cooler. Many dieticians consider cumin also cooling, but for many people, they are not.

Curried Parsnips and Carrots:

You need 6 medium sized parsnips, and 3 medium carrots, washed and diced...
For the seasoning, 2 tablespoons sunflower oil (even ghee would be fine), one teaspoon mustard seeds and half teaspoon turmeric powder, with a pinch of asafetida.

Keep a cup of water and about half a cup of plain yogurt ready.

For the spices, keep ready half teaspoon sea salt, a quarter teaspoon cinnamon, half a teaspoon curry powder and one teaspoon coriander powder.

If you have the taste for coconut, about one tablespoon of shredded garlic and about the same quantity of copped coriander leaves can be used as garnish.

Heat oil in a pan and add the black mustard seeds and asafetida. When the seeds start popping, add turmeric powder and a quarter cup of water, parsnips and carrots. Mix well and cover. Let it cook on slow heat for about 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Then add yogurt, some water and all the other spices. Cook over low heat for another 5 minutes. Garnish with coriander, and if you wish, coconut. This makes a tasty dish to be had with bread, rice or unleavened bread.

For a summer dinner, the main dish will be Asparagus Soufflé

For this dish you need one cup of milk (preferably soy milk or goat), three tablespoons unclarified butter and three tablespoons of whole wheat or barley flour. Keep ready four egg yolks and a pinch of cream of tartar also. These will be required to make the sauce.

Also keep ready about one cup of cooked asparagus and yolk of one egg.

For the seasoning, the spices required are half a teaspoon of sea salt, a quarter teaspoon of ground pepper.

The asparagus needs to be washed, chopped into inch long pieces and steamed for about 8 minutes.

Melt the fat in a skillet and slowly stir in the flour. Then add the milk, gradually stir it in. This is basically the same method as a regular white sauce. As t cooks, the sauce will thicken. Just as it boils, add the cooked asparagus and let it thicken a bit more. Reduce the heat and stir in the egg yolk. Them add the salt and pepper, and mix well. Remove from heat and cool.

In the meanwhile, beat together he egg whites with cream of tartar in a clean bowl (preferably metal). When the whites are stiff, fold gently into the asparagus sauce and pour into a deep baking dish. Sprinkle the top with crushed paprika and bake at 325 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Serve with rice or whole wheat bread.

The other dishes in the summer menu are basically tossed together salads with vinegar and oil or lime juice dressing and are really self explanatory. Sticking to this kind of a menu can help take care of a lot of heat related problems which the human body may suffer.