Discovering local foods

Reading books and hearing people speak about raw opens you to so many new raw foods.

I'm in Singapore now and guess what it is a land of mushrooms, goji berries and many asian greens. Thanks to the mix of cultures here, I get to know discover so many new greens, fruits, vegetables and many other foods.

My latest discovery is Jicama a white root that is crispy and tastes sweet. It is used in veg rojak.

I also discovered Miso the fermented soy and rice sauce. It is salty but good fermented food.

I also tried the Shiitake and wood ear mushrooms. There is a whole new world of mushrooms here. Visit a Chinese herbal stores near your place or in the China town.

And then there are herbal teas, chrysanthemum tea, Ginseng etc. These can be easily tasted in China town.

There are a lot of greens yet to be explored by me here. Mustard greens, water cress, bok choy etc. Then there is Ginger flower, lotus stems etc.

A world to explore out here and hope I get some time to do it and enjoy!

My green smoothie

I try to have a green smoothie every morning.

Basic ingredients - Greens + fruit + vegetables(optional) + a little fat

Lettuce
Banana
half a beetroot
little seaweed
Dash of lemon and ginger
half a teaspoon of coconut oil


So whats on the right? They are 2 varieties of Purslane. They are good source of Omega-3 fatty acids. And the grass is Durva grass (what is kept for Ganesha). It is also known as Bermuda grass. Dogs/cats tend to eat this when they fall sick. So where did I get this? Oh just look around, these are weeds and you can find it in your garden or in your pots. I never knew about this and would de-weed my garden. Now these are wild foods, they are way more nutritious than the ones that are grown by humans.

In greens you can add anything available. Palak(Spinach), Moringa leaves (Drumstick leaves) , pudina(mint), coriander/ Dill leaves (sabaske soppu in Kannada). I tried moringa leaves raw recently, so I took them very little.This is what I was saying before. Don't think you cannot get raw foods locally. All these are easily available in India. Else where they use Kale, Celery, lettuce, mustard greens and many more. If you know any other greens that can be consumed raw, please let me know. India has huge variety of greens and I would love to learn about them.

Other ingredients that you can add
Flax seeds (Agasi in Kannada), carrots, apples, honey, and wild greens, chlorella, Spirulina , Ashwagandha, olive oil.

My daily salad

My usual salad. The ingredients vary according to season and what is available at home :)
The must items in a healthy salad are greens, fats and proteins (sprouts).

Ingredients
Lettuce
Tomato
Capsicum (more the colors the better green, yellow, red)
Cucumber/carrot/zuccini

Optional ingredients
baby corn/sweet corn/peas
Sprouts (green gram/alfa alfa )
Pudina

Dressing
Groundnut(peanut) powder (I started with roasted peanut but now moved to raw peanut powder)
Grated fresh coconut
Salt/himalayan rock salt
Lime juice
a bit of jaggery(optional)

Just mix everything together and eat!

Vegetables,greens, seeds and nuts that can be eaten raw

Most of the raw foods mentioned on the Internet are not found easily in India. Even if they are found, the local names differ. Recently a lot of foods like Zucchini, lettuce is found in supermarkets. Below is the list I've compiled. I'm still investigating and trying out what veggies and greens available locally can be eaten raw. Thanks to my parents, we used to eat quite a few greens and veggies raw at home.

I'll give names in local languages and keep updating it as my knowledge increases.

Vegetables

Cucumber (sautekai, vellri kai)
Onion
Tomato
Carrot
Capsicum/Bell peppers
Chilli
Beetroot
Radish/Mool (Mulangi)
Kohlrabi (Navil koos)
Cabbage
Chinese cabbage

 Brocolli
Chayote (Seeme Badane kai, chow chow)
Turnips
Zucchini

Peas
Sweet corn
Baby corn
Ash gourd
Pumpkin (in small amounts)
French beans (very tender ones in small amounts)


Greens/Herbs
Methi greens (menthay soppu)
Lettuce
Spinach (Palak) (Cant eat too much because of the oxalic acid)
Dill (Sabaske soppu)
Coriander
Pudina/Mint
Celery
Tulsi/Holy Basil
Ajwaan leaves
Kale
Basil

Sprouts / Molake Kalu
Green gram
Mataki
Chana (in small amounts)


Seeds
Flax seed (Agasi)
Ground nut
pumpkin seeds
cucumber seeds
watermelon seeds
Sesame (yellu)
Poppy seeds (khas-khas,Khus Khus)
Ajwan seeds

Nuts and Dry fruits
Almond (Badam)
Pista
Cashew
Walnut
Dry grapes (Manuka)
Apricot
Dried fig (Anjeer)
Dates (fresh and dried) (Khajur)
Cacao beans (I'll keep the cacao story for another post)

Other foods
Ginger
Garlic
Honey
Rock Salt (Sede lon, pade lon)
Sea Salt (kal uppu)

Go to the market and discover the wide variety of raw foods that you can eat! I had read a lot about Flax seeds and I was wondering whether it would be available. I found it in the usual grocery shop and in all super markets!

I'll update on fruits in the next post.