'Student Spotlight' Khichdi
Another Friday... another Integrative Nutrition 'student spotlight'. This week I am introducing Neha Tuli with a delicious traditiona Indian recipe. I love indian food and spices and would love to learn more about herbs and spices in general.
Neha is a busy mom of two, a beauty buyer in the big apple, a certified make-up artist and is currently training with IIN. She is passionate about helping women transform themselves from the inside-out and reach their optimum potential.
She says: "This is a really delicious and nutritious recipe that is #1 comfort food for me and a lot of my Indian friends and Family".
Recipe: Khichdi
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Moong Dal (Lentils)
- 1/2 cup rice (you can use brown rice or white rice)
- 1 tspn oil of your choice.
- 1 pinch Asafoetida ( also known as Hing)
- 1 tspn Turmeric Powder
- Salt to Taste
- 1 tspn Whole Cumin (Sabut Zeera)
- 1 tbspn chopped onion
- 1 tbspn chopped tomato
- 1 tspn Ghee (or sub coconut or olive oil to become vegan)
- 3/4 cup of raw vegetables (optional) of your choice. I like to add carrots, cauliflower and some green beans.
Method:
In a pressure cooker, add 1 tspn oil. Once the oil is warm, add 1/2 tspn cumin seeds, and 1 pinch of asafoetida. Once the mixture starts spluttering, add the moong dal, rice and 21/2 cups of water. Then add 1 tspn turmeric powder & salt. Stir, cover with the lid of the pressure cooker and after one whistle, let it simmer on low heat for 5 minutes.
If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can use a regular pan but you will have to cook the mixture for a longer time till both the lentils, veggies and rice gets cooked and almost unified.
Once cooked, remove the pan/ cooker from the heat. Take a separate frying pan, and add 1 teaspoon ghee on medium heat. Once the ghee is warm, add 1 pinch asafoetida, 5-6 cumin seeds and once the mixture is cracking, add the tomatoes and onions. Cook for 2-3 minutes and add this mixture to the main lentil & rice pot. Mix well.
Enjoy!!
'Spotlight Interview'
1- What first drew you to study with IIN?
The fact that they focus on 'primary' food and not just nutrition really resonated with me.
2- How has your life changed since becoming a health coaching student?
I'm definitely more aware of what what foods nourish us and have made lots of changes to my whole family's way of eating by substituting regular salt with only sea salt and eating a lot more green vegetables.
3- What do you hope to take away into the world and how do you plan to help others once you graduate?
I hope to educate families in particular moms on how to add more nourishing foods to their diet, eat clean, eliminate processed foods and eat organic dairy and meat if they aren't vegan. Food is actually very simple, it's all the unhealthy processed food, fast food chains and the marketing that supports these products confuses and tempts people to eat this way.
4- Being a ‘wellness crusader’ what one thing would you wish to change about the world?
Go back to basics where there was no gmos, processed food and factory farming.
5- What would you choose for your 'final meal on earth’?
I love Indian food. I would choose a delicious naan (Indian bread), dal (lentils) and saag (spinach vegetable).
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You can reach our and find Neha here: www.nehatuli.com.
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