Good morning everyone and welcome once again to wacky Wednesday, Eid Mubarak to all of
you, today is Bakrid or Hari Raya Haji, as we call it in Singapore, but growing up in Mumbai,
Bakrid was always synonymous, with Asharaf and her family, we friends would congregate at her
house on this day for the yummy meals, Ashraf lives in the tiny house in Mile Mohalla.
But she and her family, had the largest heart I have ever seen, auntyji would wake up early
in the morning, have a bath and first cook the vegetarian meals for Jaspreet and Jayashree
even before she touches the Kurbani meal, yes, i was a non-vegetarian then, and therefore
I got to taste her yummy biriyani, the taste of which even though I am vegetarian today,
lingers on my tongue, this exotic biryani, traditionally, paired with a simple humble
onion raitha, this onion raitha has yogurt, coriander, onion and cumin seeds or cumin
seeds powder to be exact.
Now this simple looking raitha, is steaming with health benefits, the yogurt, gives the
probiotic, the coriander gives the anti-oxidants, cumin powder, is great for digestion and onion
gives the pre-biotics and anti-inflammatory properties, yes, it has flavonoid called quercetin,
which is a great anti-inflammatory hence it takes care of the Gastritis as well as the
inflammation on the bowl which is some time cause when we have heavy highly seasoned meals
and biryani mind you are quite heavy on digestion, because it is rich in so many ways, this onion,
my dear friends, has pre-biotics, pre-biotics is the mesh or the food which pro-biotics
or the good bacteria need to grow, the intestine flora, is similar to the coral reefs, very
fragile, very delegate, these good bacteria, need little houses and food to grow and that
provided through the inulin in the simple humble onion.
this humble looking Onion has a lot of lamnoids, which acts as scavengers to take away the
free radical, hence it helps prevents gastric ulcers, gastric cancer, as well as colon cancer
and carolin cancer, it has also has great anti-inflammatory properties, and helps the
inflammatory bowel illnesses many a times, but do consult your doctor before taking onion
in case you have inflammatory bowel illnesses, now this Onion which is simple has great bacterial
and antiviral, antibacterial and antiviral properties, hence when it rains or the wheather
gets bad moms to crush the oinion juice add honey and give it to the children to banesh
the nasty cold away, it is rich in cromimum so helps bring down sugers and great friend
of Diabitics, it lowers the LDL the bad cholostrol and hence would help people who have cholostrol
issue this onion also has anti hestamin properties to takes care of the heat rashes and also
as a great cooler, so in good old days people walked on foot and when long distences buy
food in the hot sun they were given onion to carry with them I think the Marathoners
should also do the same, in today's world, this oinon comes in various varities this
big Thai onion, this medium sized Banchan onion the small shallots and the green spring onions,
which is actually onion still in its infency, the greenness of this spring onion also gives
iron when we use it, now, the Banchan onion makes us cry, but the onion that makes us
cry is the best, do you know why, because it has certain chemicals which cleanse the eyes,
not only of the bacteria but helps the cells in the eyes especially in the eye lenses hence it
clears our vision and keeps the blurry vision away, Onion looks simple, but it has been
with human kind for centuries, it is even found in the pyramids of Egyptians.
The Egyptians thought the Onion was a symbol of the eternity because when you chop the
onion there are only concentric rings no beginning no end, yes, in that sense, it is an anti-aging
aid, so do use it, if you want to look younger, onion the maximum concentration of the flavonoid
is in the outer lines, so when you peel the onion be careful do not chop away too much,
otherwise you will lose its great health benefits, so on this Eid on this Bakrid as you prepare
your exotic biryanis, do not forget to make the simple raitha with this lovely simple
onion, the most Banchan one if you can and if you are vegan and don't want to use yogurt
simple chop off the onions into round rings and then springe lemon juice put salt and
pepper even that greatly benefit because the lemon would add to the alkaline of your gastric
juices.
Yes, this simple onion in the raita, if you want to pair it with tomatoes would help you
further because onion helps the lycopene from the tomatoes be absorbed easily, now do you
see the humble simple friend can be paired with the most exotic of fruits and help you
health wise wealth wise and every way, on that beautiful note let me take this opportunity
to wish you all a very healthy and happy Eid, stay happy stay healthy.