Desserts in the Season for a Reason. :)

I was speaking to my husband about  different rituals and how they are related to particular season in India. All over India on the day of Sankrant/Sankranti/Sankrantri( People call it differently) usually dessert made with Sesame seeds and jaggery( raw brown sugar) is eaten. As this is my favorite ladoo of all the ladoos, I let myself eat it by controlling carbohdrates ofcourse. My husband does not like sesame seeds but he likes sesame ladoos. As I went for shopping for sesame seeds and jaggery from Indian store in New Jersey, I was explaining to my husband about special desserts for special season which is for a reason. As we had that discussion, he told me this is I think; followed in Maharashtra because I did not knew about this before you explained it to me. I was like, okay then! I should write it down in my blog for a reason! That to spread knowledge about why we have a particular dessert assigned for a particular season.

Most important reason is local availability. The food which is abundant in a particular season makes an entry into the plate. Even in US, you will find apple pies and pumpkin pies in the fall season and winter season and blueberry pies and peach cobbler in summer. Also in the season you will get most of nutrition using locally grown fruits and vegetables.

I am all of a sudden getting a feeling of writing an essay in exam. 🙂 Anyway where was I? Yeah so I will talk about Maharashtrian festivals with assigned desserts. 🙂  Let’s start from January. (Please note- I am writing about the festivals that I know and celebrate. There are many festivals other than these main ones that I have no idea about. Please let me know if you know about them.)

Makarsankranti- Sesame and jaggery dessert- ladoo/vadi- Essential fatty acids, anitoxidants and energy- Protects from seasonal change from cold into hotter season.

Holi- Color of festival- Puranpoli [a sweet roti made with chana(garbanzo beans) and jaggery and served with ghee]- with all the weather change and play with colors for long time we need energy and protein with fat.

Gudipadwa- New Year for the state of Maharashtra, India- Shrikhand( It’s greek yogurt/hungcurd with sugar and nuts and cardmom-nutmeg-saffron) – The season gets hotter and we need good probiotics to improve immunity. It keeps us calm and cool. Also neem leaves with jaggery and turmeric are eaten on the first day to improve immunity.

Chaitrapuja- Amba daal and panha- Raw mango along with raw soaked chana daal and raw mango drink- Abundant vitamin C, A, protein during summer in India.

Ramnavmi- Summer season- Sunthwada/ladoo- Dried ginger with other spices and jaggery/sugar. – Immunity, Antioxidants during summer.

Naralipornima/Rakshabandhan- Narali Bhat( Sweet coconut rice) – Locally grown rice with coconut( good fat ) and jaggery.

Ganapati and Gauri puja- Steamed Modak( Sweet rice/wheat flour dumplings with fresh coconut, jaggery and nuts) with ghee and also puranpoli- To increase good fat in the diet as the temperature is going to cool down.

Dasara/Dashahara- Shrikhand again.- Why? October heat demands something cold and high protein.

Kojagiri- Warm milk spiced with nutmeg and cardmom and safron with nuts- abundance of dairy and spices for immunity.

Diwali- All fried foods like chakli, sev, anarsa, karanji- Abundance of food and good fats for body’s increased demand to fight cold weather.

There completes the complete circle of main Maharshtrian festivals along with particular desserts! 🙂 Now you will ask, what about people’s favorite gulab jamun and jalebi? They were not prepared as a routine in any festival. They had place in weddings. I think too many people , so sugar syrup soaked desserts could stay for long time. Another thing that I came to know about Indian desserts is that they are served at the time of rest of the lunch or dinner and not after the meal like in Western method of serving. What this does is knowingly or unknowingly we have a portion control over our food intake ( Ok I am not talking about people who do not chew food but gulp food). Any extra carbohydrate load after a meal gets converted into fat. Aaanyway! Too long post! I know! But I hope this spreads knowlwedge about why “we ( Yes I call myself oldfashioned or in my dad’s language- I am music asia) insist on eating local foods and making local desserts at local festivals.”

 

 

Counting carbohydrates for people with Diabetes mellitus- part 1

I know it is a boring title and the message in it is cliché. Sometimes it gets on my nerves to read even a line with nutritional advice in it. I get it. Especially from those who know nothing about body composition, biochemistry and physiology. Sometimes I want to scream at them!  But then I try to calm myself and Sree has to bear everything. Poor him! The story behind this post is my mother told me one day that there are people in India who are on insulin pumps but they have no idea about carbohydrate counting and managing insulin. I won’t call myself expert in it, I am still learning about carbohydrate counting. Whatever knowledge I have gathered being a person with type 1DM for 25 years, being on insulin pump for 8 years and being a Medical Doctor specializing in managing patients with diabetes, I am going to explain here in parts.

Why carbohydrate counting for patient with Diabetes Mellitus? Because major impact on blood glucose is by carbohydrates or starch that we eat. Proteins and fats also get converted into glucose too. Shocked? It is a reality. Let me put it this way – 1 gm of carbohydrate will get converted 100% into glucose.Out of 1 gm of protein that we eat 60% will be glucose in next 2-8 hours and out of 1 gm of fat, 10% of it into glucose in next 2-8 hours.

People with diabetes mellitus basically have a lot of fluctuations in blood glucose and that extra spill of blood glucose also causes our body to convert the glucose into triglycerides as a storage form in presence of insulin. Increase in blood glucose by eating more, followed by taking insulin for keeping blood glucose in control leads to increase in triglycerides and increase in weight. That is one of the reason people put on weight when they start using pump. I went through that and I don’t want you guys to go through it!

How much carbohydrates should we eat as a person with diabetes mellitus( also normal people who do not want diabetes.) – Less than 150 gms a day. Also it depends on how physical is your work. If the person is doing all the manual labor work then 150 gms would be low for him as he/she needs more carbohydrates for instant energy. If it is a sedentary work I would say go as low as possible without going into hypoglycemia. For in general carbohydrate counting you will need measuring cups at least 1/3rd cup and 1/2 cup, measuring spoons, small food scale. I know this is a lot, but trust me it is worth it. Remaining we will see in next blog post.

Idly vs Vada- Making a smart choice.

 

I am from Indian origin and I know, Indians especially from southern part of India love their Idlies, and Vadas with sambhar and coconut chutney. And there is a popular belief that, as idlies are steamed, they are healthy and ultimately they are like holy food which can be eaten in large quantities. And for person with diabetes, it is the best food for breakfast!! Let us investigate this in detail.. Shall we?

1. Idly batter is usually 3 parts of parboiled rice/rawa along with 1 part of urad daal. ( 75% carbs with little protein.)
2. Then rice and daal is soaked for 8-10 hours.
3. Fermented for 8-10 hours. ( What does fermentation do: it breaks down complex carbohydrates into simple glucose. What you get ultimately is the batter with glucose formed along with bacteria.)
4. Then there is a process of steaming. ( We kill the good bacteria we have as a probiotic and what remains is a steamed batter containing glucose. Blood glucose rise with one medium steam idly is comparable to eating 3-4 teaspoons of glucose directly. )

If a person is eating idly, he/she does not stop at two medium-sized idlies. Most people have to have 4-6 idlies.( I am talking about Indians.). The accompaniment is thin watery sambhar with less vegetables and daal  and coconut chutney. Coconut chutney actually helps in delaying the absorption of carbs.( Because it has fats and fiber and some nut protein.) But some dietitians/ nutritionist ask people to avoid chutney as it has fats. So mostly we end up eating lot of idlies with thin watery sambhar which practically has no protein. And because it is absorbed quickly, one gets hungry in less than 3 hours.

Now look at medu vada- made of urad daal only and no rice. ( so less carbs and more protein.) It is usually not fermented, so protein and carbs are intact. ( some people do ferment it. That is a different issue.) And then it is deep-fried. So the benefits that we get are

1. Absorption of carbohydrate is slow
2. Satiety level is more. You eat only 2-3 vadas at a time and you feel fuller for longer time.

And vada I am talking about is medium size, not giant ones.

Few people will say that calorie content of idly is less than vada. I agree. If we compare one medium size idly with one medium vada then absolutely Yes. But the punch line” No one can eat just one!” is also true for idly. A person eats at least 5-6 idlies for breakfast, followed by some food/snack or at least coffee in sometime. So if we compare the real calorie intake with idlies with vadas, vada wins here. Does this mean to give up idly for life. NO. Absolutely not.  Here are few suggestions.

1. Limit or cut idly intake to just 2-3.

2. Make a thicker sambhar with more toor daal  and lots of vegetables like tomatoes, onions, drumstick, eggplant, carrots, zucchini.( All five colors are available through this sambhar. How about that! 🙂 )

3. Eat 2 tbsp homemade coconut chutney with it. Do not over do it.

Or try my version of idly with thick sambhar and chutney. Of course eat these idlies in limited quantities too. I have not used fermentation technique or any grains in it. It is totally pulses based idly. I hope you like it. Suggestions, comments are welcome.

 

No fermentation No grain idly

 

Ingredients:   1) 1 cup moong daal- soak in water for 3-4 hours.

2) 1 cup urad daal- soak in water for 3-4 hours along with some fenugreek seeds( about 1/4^th teaspoon).

Procedure :

Grind both daals individually with very little water to make a fine paste.

Mix both daals together. make batter  as thick as possible.

Put some cloth in individual idly molds so that this batter will not run down through holes in the molds.

Steam them for 10-12 minutes.

Cool them and enjoy with hot sambhar and chutney.

I usually do not add salt in the batter but if you like you can add it.  These idlies are not be as fluffy as regular fermented idlies but surely are better nutritionally.