Spice For Life

As the Spice Girls once said, while no doubt singing about Indian Cuisine, “People of the world spice up your life, every boy and Pulitzer journalist, spice up your life.” Food & spices is all about memories, a fond remembrance of our childhood and especially for Indians living abroad, it’s like a feeling of homecoming aka “Food For The Soul”. Authentic cooking is not just about recreating dishes from your childhood but also improvising and incorporating new things to suit your lifestyle, dietary requirements and the produce available and imparting that love of food to your children. Ever since I could remember, food has been an integral part of all my childhood memories. It’s the one thing that ties us all together and enhances our emotions and experiences. It’s more than nourishment, it can be preventative towards many common ailments. Personally I believe that it’s much easier for the body to absorb something organic instead of relying on supplements and pain medications.

Growing up as a child who constantly fell sick, food was a source of comfort, of love and in latter years romance. I am sure we are all familiar with the saying, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” As a child, whenever I used to suffer from a cold and sore throat, my mum’s remedy was always a glass of warm milk, with turmeric, honey, cinnamon and a bit of ginger added to it and lo and behold it always worked wonders. We never knew how cough syrup tasted as we never had it. Turmeric is supposed to reduce inflammation in your body as it contains a substance called “curcumin” and it’s very effective in reducing pain and swelling for people with arthritis. Honey is soothing and ginger helps with your cough and clears up your sinuses. It’s also meant to settle an upset stomach and pregnancy related nausea. Even nowadays as an adult, every time I am sick, a cup of ginger tea and a glass of warm milk with the magic spices does the trick every time. Cinnamon has other health benefits too (other than just being delish) as it’s meant to lower blood sugar levels so it’s extremely beneficial to people with type 2 diabetes.

Another thing that comes to mind is I always used to see my mum sauteeing some garlic with chillies and a pinch of cayenne/chilli pepper powder in mustard oil and my dad would have it every day as he suffered from high cholesterol. I loved the smell of fried garlic wafting from the kitchen every afternoon and now when I sauté garlic, my kids would run downstairs to find out what’s cooking as they too associate it with something delicious. Chilli pepper contains capsaicin and it acts as a natural pain reliever. Among all the antiinflammatory ointments available, most contain capsaicin as it aids in relieving joint pain, whereas garlic intake keeps your arteries flexible and may reduce cholesterol and triglycerides.

Food and spices have always been more to me than just the source of sustenance. As soon as I breathe in those lovely aromas, it immediately takes me back to a far off land, back to my childhood, those balmy summer afternoons, those ominously beautiful thunderstorms and mum’s delicious lunches that I so eagerly awaited. If I close my eyes I could almost hear mum’s voice gently chiding me to eat some more. I think we can all relate and reminisce about those lovely bygone days.

Hearty Chicken Stew Recipe Incorporating All Those Lovely Spices

Ingredients:

• 1 kg chicken with bones
• Onions (2 roughly chopped)
• Ginger (1 inch piece roughly sliced)
• Garlic (1 whole roughly pounded)
• Cinnamon (2 sticks)
• Bay leaves (2-3)
• Cloves (4-5)
• Turmeric (half a teaspoon)