Idli, Breakfast of Champions

By Dinah Jackson

Expert Author Dinah Jackson

If you know idli, you know how delicious it is. Many people know the puffy nan, some the flatbread, tortilla-like chapatti, but unless you know southern Indian cuisine you probably don't know the soft, delectable delights of idli. Idli, I suppose, is technically a type of bread. It looks like a bun and has the mealy quality of bread, but the taste is altogether different as idli is made from basmati rice flour. So idli is like bread in the same way that cornbread is like bread I guess.

In any case, when idli is eaten properly it serves as a substitute for rice. It is steamed and eaten with any number of curries and chutneys. The grandest way of all to eat idli is to eat it on a houseboat while touring the magical green backwaters of Kerala.

My first experience with idli was none of the romantic image I painted above at all however- it was a terrible shock. My wife and I had been eating at a restaurant near our guesthouse for some days and the food was really great. We were friendly with the staff and one day I even gave them a couple of kilos of guava that I had purchased at the market. In return they whipped us up a most delicious guava lassi.

So before heading to Kovalam, we thought we would have breakfast there before catching the train. The food had been great, right? When I saw the idli I knew what it was and was anxious to try it. I dipped it in the accompanying curry and hungrily put it in my mouth only to discover that it was the hottest curry I had ever encountered in my whole life! Apparently, people in Madras eat extra hot curry in the morning to wake them up! Sometimes cultural differences can be huge.

This article was written by Dinah Jackson who is a nutritionist in Japan. To find the rarest Japanese Pokemon cards, check out the store that has every kind of Japanese Pokemon cards that you can imagine. Also an incredible selection of Japanese Pokemon plush toys, figures, binders, deck boxes, sleeves, and just about anything you can imagine. Delivered right to your front door from Japan.

Benefits Of Becoming A Vegetarian And How To Make It Work For You

By Adrian Hargray

Going vegetarian is just smart. Not only is this a good thing to do for yourself, but it's also good for the environment and for other people around you. If you were wondering how to become a vegetarian but aren't sure about how to go about doing it, then this article is for you. In this article, we'll take a look at some of the ways that you can make the transition into going vegetarian 100%.

For some people in life, becoming a vegetarian is just a hard thing to do. The fact that meat is totally out of the equation makes some people cringe, but you just have to have a strong will power to get you through this. And on the other side of this coin, some people have an easy time going vegetarian. If you're one of the people who have a hard time going vegetarian, then maybe you should ease into the process.

Instead of dropping meat altogether, slowly integrate vegetarian habits into your lifestyle. Go to the grocery store and purchase a vegetarian tray and a fruit tray to snack on throughout the course of the day. This will give you a good chance to eat right throughout the day all while getting an acquired taste of the fruits and vegetables that you're eating. Another way to do this is to have an all vegetarian dinner. Include 3 vegetables in your plate and exclude meat from it. You can even go down to your local grocery store and pick up a vegetarian dinner from the deli.

Now that you've learned some tips about going vegetarian, let's take a look at why this is a good decision to make. For one, when you go vegetarian, you're cutting back on all of the fatty foods that you use to eat. All of these foods clog up your system and put you at risk for a wide range of health problems.

A lot of the foods that you eat from fast food restaurants are high in calories and contain a lot of fat. This is one of the reasons why America contains a high obese rating. The next time you go to a fast food restaurant, instead of eating a hamburger with fries, swap it out with a salad with grilled chicken. This is a much healthier alternative and you still get to eat a bit of meat also.

You can also reduce the risk of getting food poisoning by going vegetarian. Some people don't handle and cook their meat well, and if the foods are tampered with in any way, you could be at risk for food poisoning. But going vegetarian, you cut back on the risk of acquiring any kind of poisoning at all.

With that being said, I think it's safe to say that going vegetarian is a smart thing to do. You will want to consider the tips in this article when making the decision to go vegan.

Introducing Bok Choy - An Easy to Prepare, Low Cal, Filling Veggie

By Linda Murdock 

Do you ever feel guilty that we Americans have so many choices in our grocery stores? Even supermarkets that carry just food have between 15,000 and 60,000 different items on hand! When you compare that to the fact that almost half of what we eat comes from fast food or meals eaten away from home, is it any wonder that we never get around to choosing new and different foods?

Well, here's a challenge. From the produce section (which contains all those great fruits and vegetables you keeping telling yourself you need to eat more of) pick a food you have never eaten or prepared before and give it a try. Alternate between fruits and vegetables. Select your "new food" by location on the stand or, if you have a bit of an obsessive nature, pick new foods alphabetically. Even if you have eaten an apple, have you tried different varieties like Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, Orange Pippin or Sweetango? You get the picture.

An often overlooked choice at the beginning of the alphabet is the un-American-sounding bok choy or Chinese white cabbage. It is usually nestled in somewhere among the cabbages and greens. Also known as pak choi this non-head-forming cabbage is most associated with Asian foods. However, it is packed with nutritional goodies, including vitamins (A, B-complex, C and K, which helps bones and brains), minerals, dietary fiber and antioxidants. It helps reduce bad cholesterol and it is filling. Best of all, you can eat a pound of it and take in less than 60 calories. The only negative impact is that like other cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage) it may cause swelling in the thyroid gland for those who are prone to goiters.

If bok choy is not available where you live, take heart in the fact that it is easy to grow. Because you can plant the seeds before the last frost, it is one of the first veggies you can get from the garden. It only takes 45-50 days to grow to about a foot to eighteen inches tall. Smaller plants, which look like whiter, less compressed celery with large green leaves, are more tender. If bought in a store, it should keep for a couple of days. However, it is best to use it right away to retain flavor. Trim off the bottom, remove discolored leaves and wash before eating.

You may eat both the firm stalks and the leaves raw. Try stuffing stalks with cream cheese or guacamole and serve it as an appetizer and see if anyone notices your attempt to sneak in a healthy snack. Stalks may be cut up and added to coleslaw, while the leaves may be used like lettuce in a salad or on sandwiches. Unlike celery, with bok choy you don't have to deal with any "strings."

There are many ways to spice up bok choy using garlic, ginger, onion, sweet bell peppers, red wine vinegar and chilis. One of the best ways to prepare it is in a stir-fry. Add protein by cooking it with beans, peanuts, chicken or pork. Sesame seeds are also a nice addition. Bok choy adds moisture to stuffings and texture to soups. Use it much like you would use celery. It can also be steamed. If you need a low-calorie filler, or you run short on a vegetable or salad dish, bok choy is a good choice to add not only more volume, but more nutrients as well.

Isn't it time you be a little more adventuresome and try this veggie (and other fruits and vegetables) from your produce stand? Who knows, you might just learn to love it enough to include it in your garden next year.