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Aug 3, 2013

Goat curry

August 3, 2013 By

According to Ayurveda, goat meat is one of the few types of meat that is suitable to all three doshas, a virtue seemingly understood by peoples throughout Asia, making it one of the most commonly consumed meats. For one thing, goat meat brings none of the religious baggage of other meats, and is equally consumed by almost all peoples, including Hindus, Muslims, Jews and Christians. From a nutritional perspective, goat meat is very dense in nutrients, especially when prepared as a stew, which usually includes bone and marrow. Being curious browsers rather than focused grazers, goats consume a broader array of plant foods and nutrients than ruminants like beef or bison, which may explain why goat meat has a more balancing, harmonizing effect. Pasture-raised goat meat can often be found at halal and East Indian butchers.

The following recipe is a basic curry, for which any meat can be used, adjusting the cooking time as needed. Likewise, the mixture of herbs called the masala can vary depending on the flavors desired. This recipe has a mixture of sweet, bitter and pungent flavors, which has a balancing, harmonious effect in the body.

Ingredients
3-4 lbs. goat meat, bone in
2 onions, finely chopped
2-3 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 medium zucchinis, in large 1 inch chunks
2 tsp. cumin seed
1 tsp. black mustard seed
2-3 tsp. coriander seed powder
½ tsp. turmeric
½ tsp. fenugreek seed
10 cardamom pods, crushed
2-3 sticks of cinnamon
6-8 cloves
6-8 garlic cloves, chopped
1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 sprig of curry leaves, separated from stem
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. pink salt (sanchal)
2-3 tbsp. ghee
2 cups soup stock

Directions
In a large heavy-bottom pot, sauté the cumin, black mustard, fenugreek, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves in ghee over a medium heat. As the mustard seed begins to pop, add in the coriander seed powder, turmeric and pink salt. Add in garlic, ginger, and goat meat. Brown the meat in the spices and ghee for about 5-10 minutes and then add onions, celery and zucchini, and cook until the onions become a little translucent. Add in enough soup stock to cover, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook at low heat for 3-4 hours, or 1 hour in a pressure cooker at 15 psi. Approximately 10-15 minutes before serving, sauté fresh curry leaves with fresh crushed black pepper in a tablespoon of ghee at medium heat, for several minutes, but do not blacken. When the goat stew is done, remove the lid and add in the curry leaf and black pepper mixture, and allow to infuse into the stew for several minutes before serving. Serves four or more people.

Filed Under: curry, Diet, Digestion, Goat, Recipes
Soup stock
Jun 27, 2012

Soup stock

June 27, 2012 By

Every traditional system of medicine including Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, and Western herbal medicine maintains as a core principle the idea that heat represents the vitality of life. According to 19th century herbalist Samuel Thomson, this “heat is maintained in the stomach by consuming food; and all the body and limbs receive their proportion of nourishment and heat from that source; as the whole room is warmed by the fire which is consumed in the fireplace”. In this way, all the care required to restore digestion utilizes the same knowledge it takes to build and maintain a fire. And if you have ever built a fire, then you know that there is more to it than just holding a match to a log. You know that you need to ‘enkindle’ the fire, using light, easily combustible materials such as paper and thin strips of kindling. Only once you get this little fire going can you throw on progressively larger pieces of wood to build a nice big roaring fire.

In the same manner, the digestive fire is best enkindled by light, easily digestible foods, and for this purpose there is no better food than soup. To make such a soup, we need to have some base ingredients, and these can include anything and everything including vegetable trimmings and peelings, Chinese dried brown mushrooms, seaweed, and/or animal bones. Simply throw all these ingredients into a pot, cover with water, and let simmer for 12-24 hrs. Especially for stocks containing animal fats, make sure to avoid boiling the stock for any length of time as this will cause the fats to peroxidize and produce undesirable off-flavors.

Most frequently I use soups as a medium to build and restore the skeletal system, using ingredients such as chicken or turkey bones, lamb bones, and marrow bones. These bones contain valuable nutrients such as calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, glucosamine and chondroitin that our bodies can use to build and enhance bone health, to prevent and treat osteoporosis and arthritis. To render these constituents bioavailable, add in a little vinegar to create a slightly acid medium that will pull these minerals into the broth. Likewise, to make them more flavorful, you can roast the bones in the oven for 30 minutes. To boost the nutrient profile of these bone soups, I frequently recommend adding in seaweed such as kelp or dulse. Sea vegetables are truly one of nature’s super foods, not only as the single most abundant source of minerals compared to any land-based food, but also to boost metabolism and promote detoxification. In addition, there are any number of medicinal plants that can be added to boost the healing properties of the soup.

Ingredients (non-vegetarian option)
3-5 lbs. of bones
one handful crushed seaweed
vegetable trimmings and peels
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

Ingredients (vegetarian option)
one handful crushed seaweed
vegetable trimmings and peels
4-5 Chinese brown (shiitake) mushrooms

Directions
Place ingredients into a large stockpot and fill to the top with water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and let cook for 12-24 hours for the bone broth, between 4-6 hours for the vegetable broth. When done, strain and then store in the refrigerator.

When the stock made with animal bones is cool, the fat will rise to the top and should be skimmed off, especially when using fatty bones such as marrow bones. The skimmed fat, however, can be used later as a cooking fat or added back to the diet as a nutrient, such as using marrow fat (majja) for vata disorders including immunodeficiency and weakness.

I frequently recommend soup stocks, especially for women to ensure fertility and to maintain bone density, and frequently include herbs that assist in this process including shatavari, peony, dang gui, rehmannia, American ginseng, codonopsis, ashwagandha, goji berry, astragalus, Chinese red date, horsetail, and nettle.

Filed Under: Ayurveda, Diet, Digestion, Recipes, soup
Spicy Saag – Nettle style
May 15, 2012

Spicy Saag – Nettle style

May 15, 2012 By

A few days ago on facebook I wrote little post on Nettle, and how it could be used as a substitute for a recipe in Food As Medicine called Spciy Saag. Well, yesterday I went into the forest and harvested nettle, along with some miner’s lettuce (Claytonia sibirica) and cleavers (Galium aparine) which all grew in the same area. It’s amazing how many wild edibles there are, probably growing in your backyard. For this recipe, any green vegetable can be used, although Nettles are particularly favored due to their high nutrient content.  Here’s a little history on Nettle, taken from my monograph at toddcaldecott.com.

Nettle has a long history of use all over the world as a food, medicine and textile fiber. Weiss properly calls Nettle a ruderale, meaning that it tends to grow around human settlements (1988, 261). Grieve states that the common name of Nettle is derived from the German noedl meaning ‘needle,’ possibly from its sharp sting, or in reference to the fact that it once furnished thread and cloth before the introduction of flax and hemp into Europe (1971, 575). ‘Net’ is stated as being the passive participle of ne, a verb that in many Indo-European languages such as Latin and Sanskrit, means ‘sew’ or ‘bind,’ respectively (Grieve 1971, 575). Nettle was at one time highly esteemed as a textile fiber, and is highly durable, once thought to be the only real equivalent to cotton, used by the third Reich during the second world war as a textile in manufacture of German uniforms (Grieve 1971, 575; Wood 1999, 482). Beyond its importance as a fiber however, Nettle has long been regarded as an important and nutritious green vegetable, one of the first edible green growing things of spring, picked young and eaten steamed or in soups, said to be a good corrector of the bowels. The body of the famous Tibetan yogi Milarepa is said to have turned green from consuming nothing other than Nettle during his meditations. Despite being classified as a weed in many parts of the North America, Nettle was at one time highly prized commodity in rural areas, where the English poet Campbell recounts of his travels, “In Scotland I have eaten nettles, I have slept in nettle sheets, and I have dined off a nettle tablecloth” (Grieve 1971 575). More recently Nettle has been used as a commercial source of chlorophyll, and Weiss states that this color has been used in Germany as a food coloring agent for canned vegetables (1988, 262; Mills and Bone 2000, 490).

Here is the recipe for Spicy Saag, from Food As Medicine:

Saag refers to any kind of stir-fried greens in Indian cookery, prepared with the characteristic Indian spices such as cumin and black mustard seed. While spinach is most commonly used nowadays, saag can be made with any kind of greens, such as amaranth greens found in Chinese markets as hin choy and Indian markets as chaulai. I frequently use the kale and chard in my garden. To boost the nutrient content, I also add in other herbs such as fresh cilantro and fenugreek (methi), or use curry leaf instead.

Ingredients
1-2 lbs of amaranth greens, chopped into 1 inch chunks
½ bunch finely chopped fenugreek (methi)
½ bunch finely chopped cilantro; or, 1-2 sprigs of curry leaves
one-thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp black mustard seed
½ tsp hing powder
2 tbsp coriander powder
½-1 tsp turmeric
½-1 tsp black pepper
1-2 tsp pink salt (sanchal)
2-3 tbsp ghee

Directions
Melt ghee in a wok or large saucepan at medium heat, and when it begins to glisten add in fresh ginger, cumin and black mustard seed. If you are using curry leaf instead of cilantro, slide the leaves off the curry sprig and into the pan. When the mustard seeds just begin to pop, add in hing, coriander, turmeric, black pepper and pink salt. Stir for a half minute and then add in amaranth greens, turning the heat up a little higher. Cook veggies for about 2-3 minutes on high heat, then reduce it back to a medium heat. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, just until the leaves turn a bright, brilliant green. Serves 2-4 people.

For variations, use different herbs and spices. Have a little gas? Add some ajwain, crushed fenugreek seed or fennel seed. Maybe today the kapha is a little thick and heavy? Add in some red chili powder. Or instead of cilantro or curry leaf, try some Thai Basil instead.

Filed Under: Digestion, Food As Medicine, Meals, Recipes, Vegetarian, Wild Food