A Food Current Trend

I recently overcame an unusually long bout with the seasonal cold and cough; it was ironic that I contracted the virus during a five-day fitness conference! Instead of resorting to the various over the counter meds that make you feel continually parched and your head weigh a ton, this time I have been thinking about not only power of food to provide nourishment, but also its healing attributes; so the preventative medicine inherent in nutrition. 

In my culture, as in many others, the cures for everyday ailments can be found in the kitchen, so a ginger and lemon tea or a chicken broth does wonders for a cold. A teaspoon of honey with a dash of black pepper calms down a sore throat. When dealing with a cough and cold, it is best to avoid red meat, rice, dairy, or other foods that may unnecessarily tax the digestive system, so keeping the diet as simple as possible; vegetables, lentils, or fish cooked with the minimum amount of oil, and complex carbs in moderation. Simple and clean eating as a life choice is nothing new to the new-age health conscious types, but for me it was great to discover it is possible to undo several days of lazy lunch choices (again, the irony!) with a few simple tweaks.

Recent studies about the healing power of spices are of great interest to me. Hopefully it won’t just be a passing fad and this knowledge is here to stay. Spices and ingredients used for millennia in traditional cooking in my part of the world are suddenly characterized as superfoods. Turmeric, for prevention of Alzheimer’s and gout; red chili peppers to kick start fat-burning; cinnamon, to combat diabetes; ginger for pain and inflammation, and tomatoes especially when cooked, have amazing anti-aging properties. All of this is especially exciting to me, because our mothers and grandmothers have been doing it right all along! 

Another curious trend I came across taking root in the epicurean Mecca of the world, New York, is yogurt bars. Harried office workers have favoured fruit yogurt for years, without discerning the amount of sugar or calories; personally I would just chop up an actual banana into a bowl of plain yogurt instead of opting for a simulated peach flavour (which tastes like Splenda anyway), but the convenience factor is the deal breaker in this case. Enter the vegetable yogurt bar. Yogurt with simulated vegetable flavours (tomato, beet, butternut squash) is still artisanal and yet to hit the mainstream, but New York would be the perfect testing environment. 

Establishments have started serving yogurt with an eastern twist, so a kimchee flavoured yogurt, or a hummus topped yogurt. All of this is exciting and amusing to me; raita, an everyday condiment that provides a cooling balance to meat and rice dishes, in Pakistani cuisine is just as delightful as a snack on its own. We have been adding boiled potato, roasted eggplant and cumin, chopped cucumber and tomato, blanched onion, and various steamed / boiled squashes to seasoned yogurt for centuries; I am glad the West is also taking notice!

Aapa ji’s Machhli (my grandmother’s fish recipe)

My Aapa ji (grandmother from my mother’s side) was the best cook and I’ve never tasted fish (or anything else) the way she made it. ‘Aapa’ is a form of address for elder sister. Not sure how this title is appropriate for one’s grandmother, but Aapa ji she was to us. She passed away when I was very young, but I can still recall the sweet scent of henna she used to dye her palms and of the paan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paan she enjoyed on lazy afternoons. My grandparents lived in the Lahore Cantonment, where sometimes the odd street vendor would hawk his wares from atop his squeaky bicycle; Cook would be sent scurrying after him, big bowl and a couple of crisp hundred rupee notes in hand. His return was greeted by a loud cacophony from the numerous pet cats, in anticipation of their favourite fish parts. She would have preferred sweet water fish from the river Ravi and cooked it in an earthen vessel using a wooden spoon but I am told salmon or any fish that can withstand a bit of cooking and does not flake too easily will do for this recipe as well.

Fish fillets ½ kg 

Onion 1                                                             

Ginger paste 1 tbsp

Garlic paste 1 tbsp                                                  Cumin seeds ½ tsp

Coriander seeds ¼ tsp                                                Yogurt ½ cup

Spinach 1 cup, chopped                                              Carom 1 pinch

Green chilies 3-4                                                    Fresh coriander for garnish

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Heat oil in a pot. Add finely sliced onion and fry till translucent. Add garlic paste, ginger paste and continue frying. Add cumin, coriander, and carom, and fry till aroma evolves. Add spinach, and fry, adding a splash of water now and then, to keep the masala sticking to the bottom. Keep frying until the spinach reduces and oil separates. Now turn the heat to a simmer and add the yogurt. When the yogurt begins to boil, gently arrange fish pieces in the pot, and shake slightly so that the yogurt mixture covers the fish. Add the whole green chilies, cover the pot and leave to simmer.  When the gravy is thickened and fish is tender, remove from heat. Add salt at the end. Garnish with fresh coriander. Serve with plain boiled rice and dal, or naan.