With yet another World Environment Day rolling by,Simplicity brings you a quick,easy-to-do green menu Green vegetables, insists Delhi-based diet and nutrition consultant Aditi Mehrotra,shouldnt be seen as a dieters best friends just because they are low in calories. Willi Haueter,executive chef at The Imperial,Delhi adds,A conscious effort to include more greens in the daily diet is not so difficult. As the healthy eating pendulum swings towards concepts like life-time commitment to vegetarianism,organic foods and nutritious,balanced diets (balanced with greens not with starvation),for staving off numerous lifestyle problems,here is an easy to implement guide that could help alter your daily menu. The Raw Files Eat one raw meal a day. It is the best service you can do to yourself. Create it with nine ingredients that should include tomatoes,beans (boiled or semi-boiled),green and yellow capsicum,green peas,broccoli heads,spinach,boiled tomatoes. If you must add a cooked bit to it,try boiled kidney beans (rajma) or chhole and add seasonal fruits like watermelon,grapes,musk melon or pineapple to the riot. The flavours will form a tasty blend. A raw meal is accessible,convenient,budget-sensitive,toxin-free and good to push your daily green agenda. It is high in dietary fibre,iron and calcium phytochemicals,Vitamin C,carotenoids,lutein,folate,magnesium as well as Vitamin K, asserts Mehrotra. Experiment,Minus the Fuss Slow cook greens with minimum fuss to retain their goodness. Green salads need not be bland but the trick is to keep them crisp and light,steamed and sauteed, advises Haueter of The Imperial. To mark World Environment Day recently,the hotel organised a Green Luncheon,as part of their many eco-initiatives. The Chef recommends beetroot and pumpkin in meals to break the monotony. Lightly cooked spinach with garlic and soy sauce isnt just delicious but is high in nutrition. Incidentally,spinach can be grown in home gardens watered by recycled or sewage water without harming its organic value. Haueter rates Thai and Vietnamese cuisines as the healthiest choices when dining out. Puree Them,Gobble Them Add greens to your purees or as finely chopped companions to favourites like potatoes and onions. Options: spinach puree with onions,the puree of sweet gourd with sauteed potatoes spiked with fresh pomegranate seeds,sun-dried mint in raitas or mango pannas and dried mustard leaves in gravies. Where Are My Greens From? American journalist and author of The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals,Michael Pollan suggests that people must make it a basic point to find out where their greens come from and how theyre grown. Indian chefs too are beginning to subscribe to this practice. Says Chef Rajdeep Kapoor,executive chef of the ITC Maratha,Mumbai,Most of our ingredients come from a 100 km radius of Mumbai. We know the vendors were working with,how they grow their produce and the process in which its handled. If your greens come from farms with a three km radius of a river or the sea,in all likelihood they are not organic because pollutants from the sea enter deep into the soil and pollute the produce. The farther a farm from a sea or a river,the more organic is the produce. Seasonal Is Simple Instead of including frozen or tinned greens,keep your meals seasonal. To eat healthy and be environmentally conscious,one must eat seasonally when fruits and vegetables are at their best and high in vitamins and iron, says Mumbai-based nutritionist Pooja Makhija. Choosing vegetables with protective layers like onions,potatoes,carrots and cucumbers is a good idea. Nutrients are lost between the harvest,transport and handling process. Vegetables with a protective layer,are the best options, she says. Green Add-ons An often heard fact but worth repeating if you can start your day with one green drink: wheat grass,amla or aloe vera juice and end it with cup of green tea,half the battle is won.
