and Peanut –coconut chutney
Not that F word. I know what you are thinking….Get your mind
out of gutter will ya? I am thinking of FAT- the other F word. Since I had the baby ( gosh almost 3 years ago) I am trying to lose some
weight and I think about fat quite often.
Even though fat has such a negative connotation when comes to dieting
and losing weight, to survive we need fat. Fat has vital role to play in terms
of the energy storage, absorption of Vitamins ( fat soluble vitamins such as A,
D etc), provide insulation and production key hormones.
The recipe I am working on today is the absolute favorite
chutney of our entire family. We eat it with Dosa, rice, poori and anything you
can imagine. This is one of the recipes
I have perfected over years and I make all the time. You can use this chutney
on the sandwich as a spread....mmm so
good.
Ingredients:
Peanuts : 1/2 cup
Fresh Coconut : 1/2 cup
Red chilies : 4-5
Tamarind paste : ½ TSP
Or
Tamarind : Size of small marble
Jagerry/ Brown sugar: ½ tsp (Optional)
Salt to taste
Preparation Method:
Dry roast peanut on a skillet till they change
color a bit.
Add Red chilies to the skillet at the last
minutes before taking it off from the heat.
Let the peanut and chilies cool to room temperature.
Grind the peanuts and red chilies to a powder.
Don’t add any water at this stage
Add coconut, tamarind , salt, Brown sugar and water to the above mix and grind till
smooth.
Tadka :
You don’t have to add any tadka for this
chutney to taste good but if you want you can add mustard, curry leaves tadka
to the chutney.
Good, Bad and the Ugly of the fats : When
it comes to fats, not all of them are created equal. Based on the role these fats play in our
system fats can be classified into good and bad fats.
Good fats: The good fats are the unsaturated fats (Mano
and poly) which paly number of beneficial roles in our body including improve
the blood cholesterol levels. These fats are usually liquid at room temperature
and are from plant sources such as nuts and seeds and fish. Avocados are very
good source of monounsaturated fats while fish, flaxseed and soy bean oil are
good source of Polyunsaturated fats.
Bad fats: saturated fats are considered
bad as they have negative impact on health specifically on the heart and our
body is capable of producing these fats and hence we do not need to consumer saturated
fats through food. The main sources of these fats are usually from animal such
as chicken and from dairy products.
Ugly fats: These are the really bad fats which cause lot
of the health issues related to the heart. The ugly fats a.k.a trans fats are
mostly originate from the processing of the fat and oils such as during the partial hydrogenation which is the process of converting liquid oil
into a solid fat that has beneficial functional properties such as heat stability.
Hence the partially hydrogenated fats are used in the fast food restaurant for
making French fries. The source of trans
fat in our diet is from processed food specially fried food.
For
more information on the fats please check :
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fats-full-story/index.html
The other good thing I found while researching for this article is the daily plate which talks about a balanced diet (from http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fats-and-cholesterol/ ). 