Chicken and Vegtable Biryani

In my quest to cook 'healthy food' comes this version of Chicken biryani which is also loaded with vegetables! Biryani is something every Indian is familiar with and is usually something made on festivals,special occasions or when you have guests/friends over. Whether it's a 'Vegetable Biryani',Chicken Biryani or Mutton Biryani, most families have their own secret recipes.
Usually, a chicken/mutton biryani is made without vegetables, but here is my attempt at combining the vegetable biryani with the chicken biryani to ensure my family gets it's daily dose of vegetables even on special occasions !
 Ingredients: (Serves 4)

• Basmati rice: 1 1/2 cups (rinse and soak in water for at least half an hour)
• Chicken: 250gms (use chicken with the bones)
• Onions: 2-3 big red onions/5 medium onions (sliced fine)
• Tomatoes: 2 big (chopped)
• Ginger paste: 2 tsp
• Garlic paste: 2 tsp
• Mixed Vegetables: 1 cup (peas, carrots, beans, capsicum/bell pepper and such)
• Yogurt/curd: 1 cup
• Cilantro/coriander leaves: 5 tbsp(finely chopped)
• Mint leaves: 3 tbsp(finely chopped)
• Green chillies: 5-6 slit(use less/more according to your taste)
• Red chilli powder: 2-3 tsp(add less/more according to your taste)
• Coriander powder: 2tsp
• Cumin/Jeera powder: 1tsp
• Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
• Salt: 3-4 tsp (adjust according to taste)
• Oil: 2 tbsp

Whole Spices:

•  Bay leaves: 1-2nos.
• Cumin seeds: 2 tsp
• Cloves: 3-4 nos.
• Cardamom/Elaichi: 2-3nos.
• Peppercorns: 4-5nos.
• Cinnamon stick: 1"
• Star anise: 1-2

Method:

1. Marinate the chicken in a paste made with 1/2 cup yogurt, turmeric, red chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, half of the ginger+garlic paste, half of the chopped cilantro and mint leaves and set aside for at least an hour in the fridge. 
2. Heat the oil in a kadai or thick bottomed pan, add the whole spices and let it fry for a minute.
3. Add the sliced onions and fry till it turns golden brown (add a little salt to let the onions cook in it's own water)
4. Add the remaining ginger+garlic paste, the slit green chillies and the chopped cilantro and mint leaves and fry for another minute.
5. Drain out the water from the basmati rice and add it along with the mixed vegetables and stir for 5-6 minutes.
6. Add the chopped tomatoes,salt and the remaining yogurt and stir till the tomatoes are cooked.
7. Add the marinated chicken and stir for a 5 minutes.
8. Then add about 4 cups of water, cover and cook (with occasional stirring) till the rice is cooked.
9. Serve hot with a mixed vegetable raita.

Healthy tip:

• I use oil when making the biryani instead of ghee and add a little ghee just before serving(an occasional indulgence). This not only reduces the amount of saturated fats and cholesterol in the dish, but also tends to enhances the flavor as the ghee is freshly added. 
• Since I use less oil while cooking(which also drastically reduces the calories in the cooked recipe), I add salt while frying the onions to let it sweat and prevent it from burning.

Foods that can stain your teeth

So you’ve tried every teeth whitening product and still don’t have those pearly white teeth? Don’t blame the product-it may be time to watch what you are eating!
Yes, that’s right; your diet can both help and wreak havoc on your teeth. Here’s a list of foods (and drinks) that you should try and avoid for your teeth, especially after you’ve tried a teeth whitening product:
• Tea: Your daily cups of hot chai could be staining your teeth. This is due to the presence of tannins in tea.
• Wine: Both red and white wines can stain the teeth due to its high acid content and also due to the tannins present in them.
• Energy drinks, sports drinks, colas/aerated drinks: the acid content in these tend to erode the teeth enamel while the color added to the drinks stain teeth.
• Dark colored fruits, berries: the natural color pigments in these fruits can latch on to the teeth enamel thus staining them.
• Tomato based curries/sauces, soy sauce: again the natural color pigments present in these are strong enough to stain teeth.
• Spices like turmeric, saffron and other masalas.
An easy rule of thumb to remember which foods can stain the teeth is that if the food can stain your clothes then they are more than likely to stain your teeth too!
Since completely avoiding all these foods is impossible, here are some tips to reduce the staining effect of these foods:
1. Eat these foods with other foods especially crunchy foods like carrots, celery, apples, and cucumbers. These tend to scrub the teeth while being chewed.
2. Sip drinks from a straw-thus minimizing contact with teeth.
3. Rinse your mouth after each snack, meal and drink. Brushing teeth after a meal if possible is a much better option.
4. Floss your teeth at least once a day to remove all food particles stuck in between teeth.
Take care of your teeth, after all like the saying goes, “Every tooth in a man's head is more valuable than a diamond”!!

March-Frozen Food Month

Like most people, I had no clue that there was such a month as “Frozen Food Month” (definitely frozen food manufactures have something to do with this)! Anyway, we were grocery shopping and a poster for the same caught my eye. Although I’m not for frozen ready-made/ready to eat food as it has way too much sodium and preservatives, I am a regular visitor to the frozen veggie aisle.
Frozen fruits and veggies are according to me a life saver for working women (and of course those men who can and will cook)! Washing, cutting and cooking veggies take time and that’s where these frozen veggies come handy since they are already cleaned and cut.
Nutritionally too, frozen veggies have the same nutrition as fresh vegetables and fruits. Some scientists feel that frozen fruits and vegetables are more nutritious than fresh foods as they are picked, cleaned, cut and frozen immediately after harvesting. Compare this to the amount of time it takes for the fresh veggies to be picked, packed, sent to the different parts of the country before it reaches a sabziwala(vegetable vendor) or sabzi mandi or bazaar near you. Even after that, it’s probably sitting on the cart/refrigerated shelf for some time before you pick (and put in the fridge) and it gets eaten!
The advantages of frozen veggies and fruit:
1) Easy, convenient and saves a lot of time (can you think of the amount of time saved peeling fresh peas)!
2) Sometimes frozen veggies can be cheaper when the fresh vegetable is not in season.
3) Similar in nutritional content as fresh veggies/fruits.
I always have a packet of frozen mixed veggies which has green beans, carrots, green peas and corn-I usually use this in pulav’s, upma, khichdi, poha, biryani and even in pasta and noodles!

What kind of frozen foods do you pick up?

Free radicals,antioxidants and ORAC

We’ve all heard about free radicals and the damage it causes the body-but how many of us actually know what free radicals are and how we can prevent/reduce the damage caused by it. Free radicals are oxygen molecules that have lost an electron and hence become highly unstable and extremely reactive. In this state it tries to grab an electron from any atom that it is close to, so that it can become stable again. This sort of starts a chain reaction as now the other atom has lost an electron and has become a free radical and needs to find an electron itself to become stable. This kind of grabbing of electrons within our body causes a lot of damage. Free radicals are created as natural by-products of the various reactions in our body as well as due to exposure to cigarette smoke, air pollution, and UV light or radiation. It is said that on an average, every cell in our body comes under attack from a free radical once every ten seconds. So how do we stop/prevent/reduce this damage? The answer lies in something known as antioxidants.
Antioxidants are substances or nutrients found in food that may help in protecting or slowing the damage caused by free radicals to our bodies. These antioxidants are thought to act as ‘free radical scavengers’ and provide them with the extra atom that they need. By doing so, the free radical become stable and also stops the chain reaction. Although there are some enzyme systems within the body that scavenge free radicals, the principle micro nutrient antioxidants are said to be vitamin E, beta-carotene, and vitamin C. Additionally, selenium ( which is a trace metal that is required for proper function of one of the body's antioxidant enzyme systems) is also included in this category.
Since the body cannot manufacture these micro nutrients, they must be supplied by our diet. Foods that contain antioxidants are measured by ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity). Though this theory hasn’t been proved, nutrition researchers estimate that a person needs to consume around 3,000 to 5,000 ORAC units every day for our blood levels to maintain a good antioxidant defense system.
Here are some foods and the ORAC Value/100g:
Pomegranate:3,307
Raisins:2,830
Blueberries:2,400
Strawberries:1,540
Spinach:1,290
Plums:949
Broccoli:890
Beetroot:840
Oranges:750
Red grapes:730
Cherries:670
Brinjal/eggplant:390
Carrots:207
String beans:201
Tomatoes:189

You don’t have to memorize these values, just remember to eat a variety of colored fruits and vegetables. The more colorful your diet (naturally colorful-not by the addition of food colors) the more you will benefit. Don’t limit yourself to just the vegetables and fruits mentioned in the list-others can have their own special benefit.
The rule of the thumb should be to include as many seasonal (and fresh) fruits and vegetables as possible.

Q)What is your favorite antioxidant rich fruit/vegetable?