It is all very exciting to relish fast food, snacks and cocktails until it’s time to switch and get serious about your health. In today’s fast-paced life, you constantly need to fuel yourself and treat your body with something nutritious. And that’s your cue to hit the superfoods bucket list.
Superfoods are foodstuffs that include the right proportion of proteins, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, antioxidants and other ingredients that are important for a balanced-diet.
Guardian 20, brings to you some superfoods that you need to try out soon.
Bhutanese Red Rice
Bhutanese Red Rice is grown nearly 9000ft above sea level in Bhutan and is irrigated by mineral rich glaciers and pristine springs. The Bhutanese Red Rice is gluten, wheat, pesticide and herbicide-free and is planted, harvested and packaged by hand. Its dramatic red colour adds a visual elegance to any salad. It is full flavoured, with a crunchy, firm texture that softens nicely when cooked.
The Bhutanese Red Rice can be cooked in a wide variety of recipes, making it one of the most versatile rice varieties in the world. The regular consumption of whole grains help in maintaining healthy weight, improves cholesterol levels, lowers blood pressure and reduces the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even certain types of cancers.
Peruvian Purple Corn
Purple corn is another popular superfood. Its regular intake provides energy and essential nutrients. Research has shown that purple corn contains cell-protecting antioxidants that are able to limit carcinogen-induced tumours. It has also demonstrated anti-inflammatory capabilities and the potential to help control diabetes. This variety of corn, whose farming goes back to pre-Hispanic period, is the base of some Peruvian gastronomy classics like mazamorra (soft, sweetmaize-based dessert) and chicha (purple corn sweet drink).
Apart from being a main ingredient of their diet, the kernels of purple corn (maizmorado in Spanish) have long been used by the people of the Peruvian Andes to colour foods and beverages, and are a part of cocktail mixology as well—a practice just beginning to gain popularity in the industrialised world.
Indian Gooseberry (Amla)
The Indian gooseberry grows on small deciduous trees and bushes from the Euphorbiaceae family, which are known for producing thorny branches. The fruit of this superfood is small, round and light green with six vertical stripes down each fruit. The taste is strong, tangy and rough and is generally eaten with salt in India, where it is a native species. It is considered beneficial for eyes, hair and skin. It is best used for healing arthritic joint pain. And let’s not forget it holds a special importance in Ayurvedic treatments. Amla is also known for slowing down aging and lowering the sugar levels.
Generally a cheat meal for most of us would be an outing to our favourite restaurant but with us everyday can be a cheat day with our superfood menu.
Cooking with Superfoods
Making these an essential part of their cuisine, Delhi Heights Café offers a wide variety of dishes made out of superfoods in their special menu. It comprises of over 15 dishes powered by almost 25 superfoods. Ranging from Shakarkandi Tikki Chaat (appetiser) to Egg Roti Burritos that contains tomatoes, capsicum, eggs, wheat flour baked beans and lettuce with olive oil as the main course to Trinity Halwa Beet root, Broccoli, Pumpkin as dessert, it makes one healthy menu. The beverage varieties include sabja lemonade which is made with soda, sabja seeds, pomegranate with a pinch of salt, tangy and quirky taste of lemon garnished with mint leaves. Masala sattu with coconut water is one drink that is not to be missed.
Elaborating on the exclusive menu Vikrant Batra of Café Delhi Heights said, “Generally a cheat meal for most of us would be an outing to our favourite restaurant but with us everyday can be a cheat day with our superfood menu. The menu is like a bible with all the information which people can take home with them. It has the importance of each superfood used and also our recipes from the menu. Kavita Devgan and our corporate chef, Ashish Singh, have done a great job with the menu and we hope that our patrons also enjoy the menu as much as we did while curating it.”