Adopting healthy cooking habits for Indian fare

Between doing laundry and mopping floors, what runs through our minds are the details of countless recipes, which are fondly associated with memories. Most homemakers and anyone who fancy cooking traditional Indian fare would know the feeling. The flaky crusts of a perfectly done cookie, the rich creamy consistency of a sauce or the thickness of the curry deserve all the contemplation and meditation and I give them that in between my daily chores. Ingredient by ingredient, every step of the recipe needs reflection and innovation. And the end result can always use up an extra pinch of sugar or a second dollop of ghee to add to the delight. 

However, the health conscious would definitely frown at my food filled with love, and fat! Well as I struggled to appease our family doctor and dietician with what was served on the table every day, I struggled with the taste—something I have never had a problem with. Even a bad food day in my kitchen could match up to the best north Indian restaurants in Gurgaon but adopting healthy cooking habits was detrimental for my kitchen, until I came across a friend, a food blogger, who passed on these tips. 

When you take out the clarified butter and heavy spices from the food, the focus is suddenly shifted to the underlying rich and subtler flavours that are available in abundance to play around with. Indian fare is a medley of veggies, dairy products, legumes and other grains and each lend a distinct flavour to the food, beside the onion garlic paste and spices. So the tip number one would be to start focusing on the taste of each and every ingredient individually, says a chef at a home delivery restaurants in Saket. 

Moreover, she is also a big advocator of a full course meal everyday rather than just the main course. It gives me space to sneak in a few nutritious bites in the face of homemade soups, baked veggies, sprout salads and grilled kebabs. It is also very satiating so the main meal that is laden with carbs only constitutes of a very little portion.

Round off your meal with Mukhwaas!

The North Indian cuisine is known for its elaborate multi course meals. The fare, fit for the royalty, includes various shades of flavours and aromas that will have your senses enamoured. Before the common folk admired and adapted the royal salver into their humble daily lives, there were elaborate courses befitting, seasons, moods, main course’s preparation method, time of the meal and even the digestive system.

One such small ritual in this imperial meal was Mukwaas-- a spoonful of sweet and aromatic flavours which disentangle your senses from the rich and spice laden flavours, refreshes the mouth and sets the digestive juices roiling. This unique course in the meal is now usually limited to just fennel seeds, but did you know there were over 100 recipes for that, says a chef at a popular restaurant in Saket. Here are a few samples.

All-in-one

Take 1 portion of roughly shredded betel nut leaves to this add ¼ portion of dhana dal, roasted fennel seeds, sugar coated fennel seed, dry dates finely chopped, sweet supari and rose sherbet each. Now take 1 portion of fresh shredded coconut half of which can be coloured with permitted food colours and add it to the mixture. Finally, put in around 2 teaspoons of ground cardamom. Mix all this together and store in an airtight container. North Indian restaurants saket say that it has a shelf life as long as one year if handled properly.

All purpose Mukhwaas

 Betel nut and supari aren’t everyone’s favourite. Besides, children should avoid such ingredients. So this recipe uses healthy ayirvedic medicines which are good for digestion, cures seasonal coughs and tatse good. take 1 portion of fennel seeds, carom seeds, mulethi powder and dried mint leaves. To this add sea salt according to your taste and 1 tsp of cloves. Now take the whole mixture and coarse grind it in a mixer.

Best north Indian restaurants in Delhi

Fusions foods, Mediterranean diets, Italian delights and French delicacies: a panoply of platters are at offer and yet I’ll choose my butter chicken over everything else, any day. So if you too are a ‘Delhite’ who dotes on the traditional Punjabi food, then this is dedicated to you.

Chandni Chowk ke golgappe, University road’s tea and samosa, Moolchand’s Paratha joint- when your whole life in the city has been not an album of memories but a food association game, I take it upon me to suggest you some really cool eating joints serving Check Taste of North Indian food Delhi that are too good to miss.

 

 Dhaba By Claridges

The fine dine restaurant with a quirky décor by the Claridges hotels is now a standalone unit. Economic prices and some superb food makes it one of the finest North Indian restaurants in Delhi. Balti meat, mutton chaap, kanastari baingan and chicken pulao are all their glowing dishes. But wait till you have tried their theka menu for some innovative cocktails with quirky names. The ambiance is that of a typical dhaba that is sophisticated yet earthy in its own ways. It can score a mighty 8 for food even on a bad food day, as a bad food day at dhaba is certainy better than good food days at many joints that are stupidly famous. A full 10 for ambiance and serice.

Dum Pukht

A little on the costlier side of it, but the experience is every penny worth it. If you are ready to splurge around 6 grand on a dinner for two then Dum Pukht knows how to pull it off. A pricey meal with assured elegance and earthy flavours. Though it is known for its traditional Mughlai cuisine, a selection of Punjabi recipes gathers much praise. Try the tadka daal and tawa chicken and you will remember the flavours for a long long time.

Bukhara

Living in Delhi, who hasn’t heard of Bukhara? Tagged to be ‘The Best’ it has maintained its standards ever since. Try the epicurean dal tadka and family naan and you would know how they have earned the name they got. The price though can be a let-down for many. Be ready to splurge around 5k on a dinner for two.