Friday 8th April

Check out my article in the Cork Independent or read below:

http://www.corkindependent.com/lifestyle/lifestyle/making-your-own-flavourings/

Making your own flavourings

In many ways, my job is simple. People come and see me each week wanting to improve their health through the foods they are eating. They want to change their current habits and ask me to arm with the knowledge to take control back in their lives. I teach them about food, about the ingredients that have been shown to improve their health issue, and I go about giving them meal suggestions and recipes to help them achieve this. So why does it become complicated?

Mostly I find that people are eating large amounts of processed and refined foods. Over many years, we have been told, by a powerful food manufacturing lobby, that it is more convenient to buy something readymade and simply cook it quickly at home. As a result, we have become more and more unhealthy and have lost many of our cooking skills. In addition, we have disassociated the food we put in our mouths with the way we feel. My job is to reconnect people to cooking for themselves and the massive improvement they will feel in their health as a result of this.

I am managing to assist people to lose weight, to lower their cholesterol by points, to reduce their elevated blood sugar levels and to sooth their tormented digestive systems. No magic pill, no crazy diets, just simple daily meal plans where I encourage them to cook as much as they can, within their lifestyles.

When we allow a food manufacturer to decide what is placed in our meal, we give up all ability to control and have a say in what goes into that meal. Not only can meals be cooked in a matter of minutes, but we can also easily create our own dressings, sauces and flavourings. This garam massala is an easy example, once you stock up your cupboard!

Madhur Jaffrey’s Garam Massala

1 tablespoon of green cardamom seeds
A 2 inch cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp black peppercorns
¼ whole nutmeg – finely grated

Place all of the ingredients into an electric grinder and whizz for about 30 seconds or until all the spices are finely ground. Place in a jar and store in a cool dark place. Coat meats or fish with this seasoning or add to a tomato sauce or some coconut milk to create a curry style sauce.