PULSES

Pulses are edible seeds of plants in the legume family, but the term pulse refers only to dried seed. Pulses have many health, sustainability and nutrition benefits. There are 11 different types of pulses that have been identified by UN, which are, dry peas, cow peas, lentils, lupins, vetches, broad peas, chicken peas, Bambara peas etc. They all are rich source of vitamins and nutrients like protein, fiber and calcium, pulses also give certain essential minerals such as iron, zinc, magnesium, and folate, which basically play a key role in building human healthy body and muscles.

Furthermore, if we move towards its benefits, following are some of points that will clarify its importance in our diet:

·         SOURCE OF VITAMIN AND MINERAL
·         RICH SOURCE OF PROTEIN
·         PULSES POSSESS ANTIOXIDANT EFFECTS
·         GOOD FOR HEART
·         REDUCE THE RICK OF DIABETES
·         REDUCE THE RISK OF CANCER
·         CONTROLLING APTITUDE
·         GREAT SOURCE OF FOLATE

 

NUTRIENT CONTENTS

ENERGY:

Pulses contain 1040 to 1430 KJ per 100g, provided mostly by carbohydrates as compare to fats.

CARBOHYDRATE:

Pulses contain low glycemic index and are great source of carbohydrate.

DIETARY FIBRE:

·         INSOLUBLE FIBRE:

Important for bowel health

·         SOLUBLE FIBRE:

Lowers blood cholesterol

·         OLIGOSACCHRIDE:

Sugars such as raffinose (3-5%), stachyose and pentosans cause abdominal discomfort and flatulence because they escape digestion in the gut and are fermented in the large bowel.

·         PROTEIN:

Pulses provide between 20 and 30 g of protein per 100 g. Pulses are low in essential amino acids, methionine and cysteine, but they are rich in lysine.s

·         FATS:

Pulses are low in fat, containing 2-6% fat, most of which is provided by polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids.

·         VITAMINS:

1.      Vitamin B: pulses contain thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, vitamin B6

2.      Vitamin E: antioxidant

3.      Vitamin A

4.      Vitamin C: 1 cup of bean sprouts contains 11 mg of vitamin C

·         MINERALS:

o   Potassium

o   Iron, magnesium, zinc and phosphorous

o   Calcium and selenium

o   Manganese and copper

 

NUTRIENT CONTENT OF SOME PULSES

PER 100 G	LUPIN	CHICKPEA	FIELD PEA
Energy( Kj)	1552	1523	1427
Protein (g)	36	19	25
Fat( g)	9.7	6.0	1.2
Carbohydrate (g)	40	61	60
Fiber (g)	35	17	26
Vitamin B 6	0.4	0.5	0.2

 

 

PULSES PRODUCTION IN PAKISTAN

Pulses are not major crop in Pakistan, only grown on five percent of cropped area according to 2016 report. Since, it is important to set up their sustainability in production with other crops like rice, cotton and sugarcane etc.

AREA:

According to reports of last ten years, pulses production has been static. The area covered by pulses was constant since approximately 1960.

Mung bean production has been growing since early 1980s, decreases since 2005 and at present 373,000 acres. Mash bean production has been reduced to 52,000 acres and lentils to 48,000.

YIELD:

Rice and sugar yields have doubled and wheat yield is tripled since 1961, yield of chickpeas, lentils and other pulses have hardly increased. Yield growth is basically dependent on many factors; one is public agriculture research and development spending.

PRODUCTION:

Production of pulses is constant over the last many years because yields have stagnated.

Chickpeas are a non-irrigated crop that is actually grown on marginal land, and its production is extremely variable.

DISPOSAL:

Domestic growing can be utilized for food, for livestock, seed for future planting crops, or can be lost through post- harvest waste. According to FAO food balance sheet for Pakistan in 2013, domestic production of 906 kt was supplemented by import of 176 kt.

IMPORTS:

Import of pulses has risen since in 1981, with spikes in 1993 and 2011, below average production in these two years. Two main types of imports pulses are chickpeas and lentils. The major import is lentils, (US$96 million) and major sources are Canada and Australia. Chickpea imports are worth $34 million, major sources are Iran and Australia.

 

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Creamy Alfredos

Creamy Alfredos are everyone’s favorite. They serve as a main dish providing our dining tables a gratifying appearance let it be put together for a birthday party, Eid dinners, graduation night or a date night. Apart from being a delightful treat for many, it’s recipe is surprisingly a piece of cake with everything available inside your kitchen cabinet. The four ordinary ingredients behind this extra ordinary dish are Milk, Cream, White flour and some spices available at your home.

 It’s wise to multitask to make the process quicker & efficient. Here's how to do it:

1.Take a bowl of Pasta and boil it in a large sauce pan/bowl for quicker results. Start making the sauce side by side. Put one tbsp. of white flour and add some oil. Stir it and let it be cook under a low flame until it turns brown. Now pour one glass of milk into the pan and stir it until no lumps of flour are visible. Stir it and increase the flame to medium. It will start cooking. Now add 3-4 tbsp. of whipping cream based into the sauce. Cream is the wild card here. It enhances the consistency & taste of pasta sauce with all its charm and beauty. However, the consistency can be enhanced or diminished based upon your preference.

 

2.Now the basic species one can use are salt, pepper and chili flakes. The three spices are used in everyday food and are available everywhere. Take one tea spoon of each and enhance according to your taste.

 

3.By this time your pasta would have come to boil. Separate the cooked pasta but don’t throw away its water. Here’s a trick. The water contains starch that thickens the sauce and adds taste to your sauce. This can serve as a hidden ingredient to your majesty pasta recipe.

 

4.Add the cooked pasta to your sauce and stir to combine. You can use the pasta water to lessen the thickness of your sauce that usually happens when you keep the flame very high. Stir until pasta is fully into your sauce. Turn off the flame and let the pasta rest for 5-10 minutes in order to be absorbed fully into the sauce.

 

5.Stir again. You can add parsley to garnish it. Red chili flakes adds to beauty of pasta and can be garnished in the end but take care to keep the balance in the spice.

 

6.After the pasta rests for a couple of more minutes, you will have a creamy but light Alfredo pasta that absorbs the pasta noodles perfectly.

 Classic Alfredos Pasta has been the comfort food for many. You can add other things of your choice such as chicken hot shots, sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms to make it a full fledged meal. Garlic bread can be served with the Alfredo pasta that will add to the majesty to your dining table. Along with easy recipe it takes less than 30 minutes to be fully prepared! You can replace it with magi for your late night cravings while having a movie night.

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Chicken karahi

 

Chicken karahi

 Today we are going to make karahi. There are different types of karahi like chicken, beef, mutton. Now karahi chicken is basically chicken that’s cooked in a wok which means karahi in Urdu so we’re going to make less oily version of karahi.

 

Ingredients:

Very simple ingredients yet a very tasty dish so here are my ingredients I have 2 whole chickens that are cut and cleaned and I haven’t marinated this one because I just cleaned it.

For the spices I have here one teaspoon of garam masala, 2 tablespoons of Kashmiri chili powder, the reason why use Kashmiri chili powder is because this dish is supposed to be hard so I’m not going to eat if it's not spicy, it’s supposed to be spicy you could use chopped Chili Peppers, Serrano Peppers, whatever you like but also the Kashmiri Chili Peppers are a little milder and it has a really nice colour too. It is going to add the colour to our dish we also have a teaspoon of coriander and cumin that is grounded. I have 2 tablespoons of green chutney, I have 2 tablespoons of ginger and garlic I’m going to use one teaspoon of turmeric and I’ll get that I have One Cup of yogurt or curd you want to mix it really nicely so that it’s not watering it’s really nice I have here about 6 tomatoes that I have grinded and that comes to you don’t have to be exact but it comes to about 3 cups of fresh grinded tomatoes we need salt for taste we also need  some fresh coriander here or what is called coriander or start parsley.

I’m losing my start here so when I get back to it I will let you know so how do we go or cilantro that’s fresh chopped up there we go and then we’re going to be use about a 1/4^th of a cup of olive oil not too much oil but we need that ¼ cup you want pan fried the chicken and I’ll show you how that goes let me grab my turmeric and I’m going to meet you back here very soon some other track my walk on going to add about a 4^th of a cup of olive oil in here usually this dishes made with a lot more oil okay that’s good enough star oil is really nice and hot don’t make it very hard where you burn the ginger and garlic surely hot in there we want to fry up this ginger and garlic so it’s got your Roma of the ginger and garlic coming out you just want to make sure that you don’t burn it now I’m going to go ahead and add my green chutney in there ginger garlic and the green chutney has cooked it’s been cooking up a really nicely so we’re going to go ahead and put half chicken in there I’ll tell you the reason why I didn’t jump the whole chicken in there it’s because if you see the bottom you see a lot of water in and I don’t want to get extra water in their don’t want extra moisture in there so I’m going to add that you want your wak to be heated on an medium flame, I want my chicken  in just stir frying  chicken it’s in my heat is pretty up there, I told you my tabletop doesn’t get really hard so basically we want to stir fry or chicken just until you see that parts of the chicken have started becoming white that my chicken has been started cooking for about 7 minutes and it’s not completely done it’s like halfway done this is perfect at this point now I’m going to start adding all my spices in Mysore tanaji cumin and coriander powder Garam masala powder red Kashmiri chili powder now once Sir spices are all in there now I will  stir well just for about 30 seconds to get all my spices really nice and mix at this point I’m going ahead and add the yogurt in there so just going to add my yogurt in here as well as my tomatoes. Now you see that I put my yogurt my tomatoes and all my spices everything in here this is the time you want to do a test to make sure that your salt your chili everything is good now the reason why I don’t add my tomatoes and my yogurt separately is because I don’t want to overcook my chicken cut chicken really cooks fast so at this point I am going to now go ahead and cover this up and put it on medium low or  golden medium low until my chicken is completely cooked through for about 20 minutes when we come back I’m going to show you.

 well it’s been about 20 minutes and I want you to see here what are chicken looks like if you see all that oil on top if we had added half cup or 3 4^th cup that usually people do you would be swimming in oil so this is supposed to have a little bit more oil but the ¼ cup has still quite a bit.

This how you can make an amazing and tasty karahi at your home with half an hour and enjoy it with your family.

Karahi is a marketable food dish in Pakistan it has much demand and people are selling and buying it and making profit through it some big names are Butt karahi which is popular throughout the Pakistan and people are eating it.

Now days almost every restaurant in Pakistan is offering karahi because it's that common and profitable.

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Junk Food

The term junk food dates back at least to the early 1950s. Junk Food and Fast Food are those commercial products which have little or no nutritional value but do have plenty of calories, salt, and fats, which include candy, bakery goods, ice cream, salty snacks and soft drinks. Not all fast food are junk food but a lot of them. They are inverses to salad because they are high in calories and low in nutrients and salad that is very good is for health contains high nutrients and low calories. Junk food might consider very low or no proteins, vitamins, or minerals. Some junk food contains ingredients that contain little amount of protein or minerals.

Junk food is very popular now days as we see people or young generation is more towards Junk food, we see so many stalls in our surrounding, in Markaz there are lot of stalls of Burgers, Shawarma, and etc..

IMPACT ON HUMAN BEINGS:

·         OBESITY:

Eating a poor quality diet high in junk food causes high risk of obesity. Excessive amount of sugar, calories, and fats present in junk food plays a major role in gaining weight. Obesity can lead to many health related issues such as heart diseases, fatty liver disease, arthritis, diabetes and other health damaging issues arises due to this.

 

·         DEPRESSION:

According to Spanish study, people who eat a lot of food are 51% more likely to be depressed than those who steer clear of it. Junk food basically contain excessive amount of sugar and fats that causes chemical reaction in human brain, disturbing brain normal functioning. Moreover, our body loses most important amino acids by consuming too much of junk food, leading to inability to deal with stress situation and lastly a person feels depressed.

 

·         WORSEN DIGESTION:

Junk food such as French fries, deep-dish pizza, cheese burgers and doughnuts are rich in calories, fat, salt but low in fiber, vitamins and minerals. So it may cause bloating, stomach pain, and diarrhea. Secondly, increase amount of intake of sugar can lead to blood sugar level to rise or to fluctuate and make brain to demand more food, leading to overeating. This causes difficulty for body to digest excessive food.

 

 

·         INADEQUATE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT:

Nutrients and Vitamins are essential for proper growth and development of body. Consuming junk food, with an imbalance of fatty acid can hamper the development of human brain and other body part.

WAYS THAT LEADS TO ELIMINATION OF JUNK FOOD:

·         EAT HEALTHY FOOD:

Most common myth is that fat makes you fat, but human body needs some essential healthy fat. A person should avoid Tran’s fats and limit saturated fats, but healthy fats like nuts will help you feel full and reduce craving. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are known as good fats because they reduce the risk of heart diseases and enhance health.

 

·         EAT ENOUGH PROTEIN:

Protein is basically a major building block for human body. It maintains human muscle mass, helps make antibodies that fight against diseases, and repair cells and makes new cells. Basic protein items are: Fish, Bean, Vegetables and Nuts etc.

 

·         CONSUMPTION OF HEALTHY FRUITS:

Fruit are excellent source of vitamin, fiber and minerals. There are many benefits of eating fruit such as:

1.      Protect against cancer and dangerous diseases

2.      Keep you hydrated

3.      Contain antioxidants that combat free radicals

4.      Boost brain power

5.      Digestive system remain happy, doing proper function

·         WORK ON STRESS MANAGEMENT:

Consumption of junk food and level of stress level is directly proportional to each other.

A person should look his diet routine so that he can differentiate which thing in his diet is actually distracting and causing depresses feeling.

    Healthy stress management tools include:

1.      Yoga

2.      Taking deep breathe

3.      Doing something creative

4.      Taking a walk or run

5.      Mediate

PLAN YOUR MEAL:

Planning meal will enable a person to see how much a person is actually eating.

With anything in life, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. That applies to meal planning as well, says Silvia Veri. Planning meal ahead of time increases chances for healthy livelihood and happy life.

 

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Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting has been one of the most rapidly growing health trends all over the world. In intermittent fasting, you only have a specific window of time to consume food which helps in burning fat from your body as you eat less in that time frame.  Many people tend to follow this trend in order to lose weight and maintain their optimal health level. However, intermittent fasting is not suitable for everyone to follow, because everyone’s body reacts differently to new changes. Research shows that the generations before us were easily capable of staying empty stomach for longer hours because of their lifestyle. But nowadays, every kind of entertainment is available and people are fonder of eating junk food which is why they are more prone to diseases such as sugar, diabetes, cancer, well intermittent fasting can reverse this trend.

How Does it Work?

There are many different intermittent fasting schedules for example there is one schedule in which you can eat only for 8 hours and fast for the remaining hours while the other schedules contain one meal or two meals a day, choose the one which is the most suitable according to your lifestyle. Here are some fasting schedules to help you get started:

1. 16/8 Fasting: It involves eating for 8 hours while fasting for 6 hours

 

2. 5:2 Fasting: Involves eating regularly 5 days a week while fasting 2 days

 

3. Eat Stop Eat: Involves fasting up to 1 whole day for 24 hours once a week

 

4. Alternate day Fasting: Involves fasting every other day

 

What to eat while fasting?

During your fasting period, liquids such as water, black coffee, green tea and calorie free beverages are allowed. Whereas in your window of eating period, foods that are high in calories are not permitted especially junk food. Only healthy foods are allowed such as vegetables, whole grains, fruits, leafy greens, protein etc. Usually people are so exhausted from the fasting and when its time to eat healthy they tend to eat high caloric junk foods which makes the whole fast go to waste. So, its very important to eat healthy in order to maintain your healthy lifestyle.

Pros of Intermittent Fasting

1. Heart Health: Fasting improves your heart condition as it removes harmful fats from your body making your heart function at its best.

2. Obesity: Fasting helps lose weight.

3. Better performance: Due to intermittent fasting people feel light, relaxed and are able to work more efficiently towards their goal.

4. Lower risk of chronic diseases: Fasting helps prevent diseases such as diabetes, cancer, food poisoning etc.

Cons

1. Takes time to adjust: Intermittent fasting may not be hard for some people but it can be hard for others as it takes a lot of time to change your older unhealthy eating routine into a healthy eating one.

2. Feeling hungry: People who are not used to intermittent fasting may feel unpleasant and hungry at the end of the day which will of course affect their mood in a negative way.

3. Feeling Weak: Due to the controlled diet, one may feel weak and lazy because the body doesn’t get the fuel it once consumed.

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Mystery of Sea Foods

 Seafood is viewed as a low calorie food when contrasted with other protein-rich food sources like meat and poultry. Generally lean or lower fat types of fish, like cod, struggle, and sole, contain 100 calories or less per 3 ounce cooked piece, and, surprisingly, the fattier fish like mackerel, herring, and salmon contain roughly 200 calories or less in a 3 ounce cooked serving. With seafood, you can devour fewer calories to meet your everyday protein needs. This is one justification for why seafood is a decent decision for diets intended to help you lose or keep an optimal weight. Seafood contains a top notch protein that incorporates each of the fundamental amino acids for human well being, making it a total protein source. A 3 ounce cooked serving of most fish or shellfish gives around 33% of the typical everyday suggested measure of protein.

The protein in seafood is additionally more straightforward to process since it has less connective tissue than red meats and poultry. This is one justification for why fish muscle is so delicate, and why it drops when cooked and can be eaten minus any additional cutting or cutting. For specific gatherings, for example, the older that might experience issues biting or processing their food, seafood can be a decent decision to assist them with getting their everyday protein needs. To find out about the fat substance of most fish species, check out at the shade of the tissue. The most slender species, for example, cod and flop have a white or lighter tone, and fattier fish like salmon, herring, and mackerel normally have a lot hazier variety. The fat substance of fish and shellfish can differ contingent upon when and where they are gotten and different variables. Seafood usually viewed as a sensible however not an especially rich origin of vitamins. Fish have levels of B vitamins that are like numerous other protein-rich food sources. Fattier fish like mackerel and herring can be a decent wellspring of Vitamin D and Vitamin A. Most sorts of seafood are a sensible wellspring of minerals like phosphorus, potassium, and selenium.

Canned fish, for example, salmon and sardines that contain bones which are relaxed during the canning system can be a decent wellspring of calcium, yet most fish tissue doesn't give a lot of calcium. Some shellfish, like mollusks and clams, are a decent wellspring of iron, zinc, magnesium, copper, iodine, and other minor elements. Most fish contain moderate to limited quantities of these minerals. Seafood is exceptionally nutritious, giving a wellspring of solid fats, protein, vitamins, and minerals. Eating seafood has been connected to a lower hazard of numerous medical issue, including CHD, mental, and liver diseases.

Seafood’s safety:

On the off chance that you are a seafood enthusiast, there are a few principles you really want to follow. Individuals with weakened immune framework, diabetics, kids and the old must be especially cautious. Restricting admission of enormous, predatory fish like shark and king fish will likewise restrict the absorption of weighty metals. Most pathogenic seafood-related infections happen when the fish isn't cooked as expected. So cook the fish completely and avoid crude fish dishes.

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Nihari

 

Nihari:

It is stew dish consisting of shank meat, mutton and lamb meat with bone marrow and now chicken is also used with some spices, black pepper and flavor spices with different veggies according to locations and culture the process of its cooking is slow means it takes more time than other dishes.

Derivation of word Nihari:

Nihari is derived from Arabic language word “Nahar” which means morning and initially it was mostly or I can say only consumed by Nawabs of Mughal Empire because at that time having Nihari daily in the morning was too difficult for other people because mostly people were generally poor at that time and it was hard for them to earn bread in that era so Nawabs ate Nihari in the morning after Fajar prayer as their first meal of the day or as a breakfast

History of Nihari:

It was originated in 18^th century in Mughals last eras especially from Lucknow India. At first it was cooked to only eat in morning. Nihari is now attached its name with specifically with Muslims of both India and Pakistan. Back in the times people used to cook it whole night to have this delicious dish in breakfast.

But now people often have this dish at dinner so the affiliation of Nihari with breakfast is almost drawn down and yes I am agree with this point that why this delicious food is attached with one time which was morning only now a days eating habits of people changed they can’t eat heavy in the morning so if they want it at lunch or dinner it’s okay sometimes it’s healthy to break taboos which were created centuries ago because now time is changing and with it we should evolve as well.

Marketability of Nihari:

As I mentioned above this dish was affiliated with Muslims so after the partition of Bara-e-sageer most of the Muslims migrated to Pakistan in Karachi and there they started their restaurant business where they sold Nihari and gradually with the passage of time Nihari became popular and now it is almost available in every Pakistani restaurant in the world. Nali Nihari and bong Nihari are very famous throughout the world and not only Pakistani and Indians like it now it is like by foreigners as well. This is how Nihari got popularity due to its taste.

In few restaurant of both Pakistan and India there is a concept of “taar” which means the leftover of today’s Nihari in some kilos are added in the next day’s fresh Nihari they believe that this process enhance and increase the taste of Nihari and this process continues from the Mughals era.

The fun fact is it is consumed as a medicine to normal fever and for flu as well in many areas people actually got cured from this remedy.

Ingredients:

Meat (camel, cow and buffalo), mutton (goat, sheep), spices, garlic, ginger, onion, salt, and flour.

Step to cook Nihari:

1. First of take a pot and boil meat

2. Make curry by using veggies and spices with salt.

3. Now take another pot put meat, curry and heated brown flour with salt and some water, mix all the ingredients nicely and properly and let the pot on heat until its little bit thick.

4. Now take a bowl out from pot and eat it with bread or have it like soup, whatever you prefer.

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