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12 July 2007

Garlic, The King of Spices.

As Mangaloreans we eat lot of garlic chutneys, garlic pickles and lots of our curries are seasoned with garlic. Children in our family fight for those garlic flakes in curries. The smell and flavour of seasoned garlic cannot be matched with any seasonings.

People from Jain community prepare a tamarind chutney with just whole raw garlic, tamarind, chilli powder and salt with a dash of gingelly oil. Once you taste it you will surely ask for more!.

Chinese are also very fond of garlic. You will find lots of garlic in most of the chinese dishes like manchurians, soups.

Here are some values of eating garlic

Garlic has a lot of inate antibacterial properties. It has a special place in ayurveda and gets mentioned in many a medicinal prescriptions. Garlic is also called as rasayana or rejuvenator, it is a stimulant, renews tissues and enriches blood. As a nutritionist I recommend eveybody to eat 2-3 flakes of raw garlic everyday and take maximum benfits from it. It lowers the blood cholestrol, improves digestion and also gives relief from gastric disorders.

Especially the dhals, legumes if consumed more will give feeling of satiety and leads to gas formation in the stomach. Garlic inhibits that and helps in easy digestion. According to the research findings, antibacterial property is lost if garlic is boiled. Consume as it is to increase the benefits. So go ahead and try using garlic regularly and see how beneficial it is.

Do share your experiences with me through your comments

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Garlic is indeed the king of spices ! Lasun, as we call it in India, is a must-have in every Indian kitchen.

Whether it is the garlic chutney or the garlic rasam or the garlic soup, not many can resist it !

The greens of garlic also can be added to salads. It has the typically garlicy taste.

Anonymous said...

Garlic also has a lot of medicinal value and is used alongwith ginger to help stopping throat itch and cough.

Anonymous said...

I remember when I was a school-going girl and whenever I used to complain about strain in the calf muscle, my mom used to crush garlic cloves and rub them on my calf and it worked magic !