The Pizzazzy

It was my last weekend and I had lots of shopping to do. I have been having a difficult time in deciding what to get for everyone back home. I thought may be looking around in malls I can get some nice ideas, so we set out to Plaza Singapura.

Since mum is having a good time looking at the vegetable section of spacious malls I gave her a round of Carrefour. In India the newly coming up departmental stores like pulse, reliance retail are actually quite cramped compared to huge players here.

Once inside the mall, a typical rotten smell hit us. Excuse my use of adjective for the king of fruits Durian. And I told mum this is the fruit which is banned in the MRT and buses here. Durian with it’s typical smell is a fruit that you either love or hate. A week back when my team gave me a farewell party I was forced to try this fruit. Even before registering the taste the smell was so awful that my brain outrightly rejected the taste. I simply cannot understand how anyone can stand this fruit. I asked mum if she wanted to try it. And she made such a face which read how could you even dare to suggest it.

After we crossed the durian section, I got a look at another fruit which I had lost all hopes of ever trying before I left Singapore. Mangosteen, the queen of fruits were nicely lying in heaps. My happiness was sky high at that moment and I started picking up some in a bag. My mum couldn’t comprehend what all the excitement was about so I explained her how I have read about mangosteen and wanted to try them. But because they were out of season I was very disappointed. Durian is also out of season but the good people at Carrefour could still stock both the king and the queen of fruits.

After reaching home when I cracked open the mangosteen to reveal the white mushy fruit, mum was equally excited and said “ohh this is cow” and she was transported back to her childhood. Well, cow is what it is called in Manipuri and both of us finished the great tasting fruit. The fruit is aptly called Queen of fruits although why Durian the smelly one is called the king I don’t understand.

The mangosteen is a truly tropical fruit, once opened has a white fruit inside which is plum like in texture and sweet with a faint hint of acidity. This fruit is perfect when it comes to the taste with seeds which may or may not be present. You can read all about mangosteen at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangosteen.

Now when I want to compile a list of my favourite fruits definitely mangosteen steals the second place right below Mangoes and on top of yet another personal favorite, custard apple. And if you are anywhere in world where you can grab a mangosteen, I would personally recommend you to taste this exquisite fruit. And that’s not all, this sweetheart of a fruit comes with a lot of health benefits also.

The most popular drink next to water is Tea. Very common in India, China and Japan tea is also very popular in Britain and America and several other western countries. You would rarely find an Indian who does not begin the day without a hot cuppa.

Tea has a beautiful history. As per Chinese legend Emperor Shen Nung who was also known as divine healer, tasted the water boiled with some wild leaves fallen accidently from a nearby tree. He liked the taste so much that he started using tea leaves thereafter. And it was the Boston Tea Party that led to American Independence. 

I was not a great tea lover and am one of the rare people who can go without tea for days on end. But my husband is a tea fan. His days cannot begin without tea and every few hours he loves to take a hot cuppa. Even at 12 O’Clock in the night he can ask for tea. I have become a tea consumer only after meeting my husband some 8 years back, now if I think back our love story began over the daily tea that we used to have in our college canteen.

My new found taste now a days is green tea. I remember the first time I tasted this version of such a popular Indian brew in Japan. During a meeting we were served green tea, I just couldn’t get it down my throat. I found it terrible. Basically because it was so bland. For me till that point of time tea meant our normal indian tea with milk and sugar or my favorite  iced lemon tea, the gift of Americans, which I really love a lot or the black tea with a little lime juice. Shockingly green tea turned out to be a plain clear green color bland hot water with no taste.

Green tea is an acquired taste, you need to develop the taste for it like sushi or sashami. And I have started loving it. It was simply because I decided one fine day to start drinking more water thanks to my beautician (yes from the New York Skin Solution) who clearly told me my skin needed more hydrating. And going a step further I thought instead of having plain cold water let me take warm water. I started taking around 3-4 glasses of warm water daily. And another fine day I got bored of that too. Yes, I can go on for days without actually having a glass of plain water. I did have juices, coffee, tea, lemon tea or simply coconut water.

Since I was bored of water and still wanted the hydrating effect of water, I thought I can try green tea and I would be consuming water and on the other hand the health benefits of green tea will be really helpful. Then it all started. First I was taking one cup daily and slowly started taking around 2-3 cups a day. Now its become a routine to take green tea in office every few hours especially after lunch. Moreover its so easy to prepare, just take boiling water in a cup and stir in a green tea bag, leave for 1-2 minutes and sip the faintly fragrant, pale green brew.

It helps me digest my lunch and makes my stomach feel lighter, it cleanses and detoxicates my system and I simply feel more healthy now. So, if you are health concious then replace your usual intake of water with green tea. Without any sugar in it this makes the ultimate health drink.

To learn more about Green tea and its health benefits visit http://www.greentea.com

The staple food of Manipur is Fish and Rice. And the common belief in this part of India is that eating fish develops the brains. Mom constantly told us this and made us eat fish, not that we didn’t like it and we grew up believing that our academic success had something to do with eating fish.

Eating fish regularly also gives good skin and hair as fishes are high in oil content. And fishes are the healthiest in the non-vegetarian section.

By the way fish is not considered non-veg in Manipur. Even my very orthodox grand parents eat fish but do not touch eggs. For auspicious ceremonies also fishes are prepared. Somtimes fishes are offered in prayers also. This is so unlike the tradition in other parts of the country.

Even though there is rarely any shortage of fishes as usually people have private ponds in the rural parts, fishes are so commonly used that they are made available round the year by different ways of curing. In fact there are many small scale industries associated with curing fishes. Commonly used methods for curing fishes are salting, drying, smoking, grilling, pickling. Then the fishes are stocked away for use in almost every dish. Treating fish and meat in these methods adds a different flavour and also ensures availablility of fishes at all times. In fact all the preparations with vegetables or pulses are also enhanced in flavour by adding fish. Manipuri recipes are unique in nature and very healthy. I’ll dwell into the different Manipuri recipes in some other segment of posts.

For today let me share what I read in a news item. Studies have proved that fishes are high on omega-3 fatty acids and these are essential for brain development in foetuses and newborns. It is proved that eating fishes regularly helps develop the brain in babies. Mostly fishes like Sardines and Salmon. This reminds of the popular line “Mum told me…”

But some fishes like King mackerel, swordfish contain high level of mercury, these fishes are to be avoided by pregrant women and nursing moms as these may cause harm.

In case you are wondering at this fishy post well… after the chicken rice post I needed to jerk myself awake into the world of my favorite diet: Fish and Rice.