How Dal-Chawal May Be the Best Food Combo for a Protein Boost

Healthy eating is not just about picking the first fruit or vegetable you find in front of you. It is also about certain combinations and food pairings. For instance, they say one shouldn't have bananas and milk, or watermelon after dinner. Similarly, you must have heard about a common myth which suggests that legumes must be eaten at the same time as grains to get a "complete" protein. How true is it? Let's find out.

The Explanation
All animal proteins are said to be complete because they provide us all the essential amino acids. Coming to plant-based proteins, leaving soy and quinoa, ingredients like beans, nuts and whole grains are incomplete in nature. But they can be combined with other foods to complete your set of proteins.

Now, legumes contain an essential amino acid called lysine, which is low in many grains. On the other hand, whole grains provide a rich dose of methionine and cysteine, which are low in legumes, beans, peas, lentils and peanuts. In combination, they can complement each other and provide you your essential dose of proteins. So rajma-rice lovers raise your hand, for your protein intake may be just on point as per this logic. One can also pair black bean and corn salad with brown rice, or mixed bean rice salad. The trick is to eat a mix of amino acids throughout the day.

Why is the combination rooted for?
Bangalore-based nutritionist Dr. Anju Sood explains, "Our body calls for the prime nutrients, proteins, carbs and fats. Dals (lentils) and legumes are a high source of vegetarian protein. Often on a high protein diet when you are basing your diet only on protein you tend to miss out on carbs completely. While your metabolism shoots, your body has to function three times harder to make up for the other nutrients, also in many cases, clients complain of increased sugar cravings."

Macrobiotic nutritionist and Health practitioner Shilpa Arora says, "Legumes are great proteins with all their fibre and goodness. The combination of grains and legumes works well if you want a variety of amino acids in a single meal . If you eat a variety of plant-based foods and legumes, you will get your dose of complete protein and nutrition.

She further adds, "In my opinion, hankering behind these minute quanta of nutrition is not required. Eat with pleasure. All lentils and legumes when sprouted are extremely nutritious and also works wonders for digestion."

Other food combinations you can try with your legumes
Pairing legumes with sunflower seeds, sesame seeds or nuts, such as pecans, or walnuts and pistachios also provide complete proteins. You can also include oatmeal with sliced almonds or other nuts, and whole-grain bread with nuts and seeds.

A Delicious Menu for a Memorable Teej Party

Hariyali Teej is an Indian festival which is celebrated with a lot enthusiasm and gusto by women across the Northern states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. Hariyali Teej falls in the Shravana month, usually two days before Nag Pachami.  The festival is dedicated to Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. The Shravana month, also known as Sawan, is considered to be a holy month for observing fasts and worshiping Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. This year, the festival will be celebrated on 26th July, 2017.

Hariyali Teej symbolizes the reunion of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati which is why it is regarded auspicious for married women.  They worship Goddess Parvati and pray for marital bliss. On the festive day, they visit their parent's home, and deck up beautifully in green Sari and with green bangles which is the significant colour of the festival. 

After performing puja at home, a group of women usually get together to enjoy the festivities by preparing swings (symbolic to the festival), singing Teej songs and snacking on some delicious food. Well, a celebration like this definitely calls for a sumptuous feast. If you are planning to throw a Teej party for your friends and family or your daughter or for your daughter-in-law, here's a fully-planned menu to avoid all the fuss.

Drinks

For drinks, try this refreshing and aromatic Jawant Sharbat by Chef Niru Gupta. It is made with beautiful hibiscus flowers and is definitely an impressive drink. You can even keep a sweet and tangy Pineapple Panna by Chef Rajdeep Kapoor for those who would not like to experiment.

Snacks

It's the perfect weather to enjoy an outdoor tea party with some crispy, crunchy delights. Try this interesting version of our favourite tea-time snack - Mushroom Samosa by Chef Niru Gupta. The Rajasthani Mirchi Vada is a popular street snack from Jodhpur, recreate the magic at home with this easy recipe by Chef Niru Gupta.These small bites are perfect to indulge in without ruining your appetite. For those who are calorie-conscious, these baked bite wrapped in crunchy sesame seeds is the best bet - Til-E-Paneer by Chef Niru Gupta. If you're an experimental cook and you quests are adventurous foodies, these melt-in-mouth Rajma Kebabs are a must on your snack menu.

Main Course

For mains, go for the traditional dishes like the Dal-Baati which is perfect for this nippy weather. Hot, simmering dalserved with ghee-laden baatis is the best combination. Try these absolutely delicious Stuffed Baatis by Chef Sujata Natraj filled with paneer and spices. Along with this, serve a tangy and spicy Palak Mirchi Kadhi by Chef Kunal Kapoor along with a nutty Sesame Seed Pulao by Chef Marut Sikka.

Desserts

For a sweet, sweet ending stick to the classic dessert of the festival - Ghewar but show off your culinary skills by making it at home. This version with a rich topping of malai and nuts by Chef Ashish Deva from Jaisalmer Marriott Resort will win over all your guests. To add a fun element, try these dainty Gulkand Cupcakes by Chef Swasti Aggarwal.

With our simple recipes and this fantastic menu, you can be a part of your Teej festivities and don't have to worry about a thing.

Green Crabs Are Officially Delicious

Kick over a rock or a chunk of turf along the coast of Maine and chances are a horde of invasive green crabs will scurry out. Since their accidental introduction to the North American coast by European ships in the early 1800s, green crabs have become among the most common creatures in the region. Commercial crabbers and lobster fishermen motor past millions of them every day because the credit card-sized crabs—though perfectly edible—are too small to be worth manually shucking.

A new processing technique explored in a scientific paper by researchers from the University of Maine could change that. By experimenting with a mechanical means of extracting meat from green crabs, they hope to create a market for the ecologically disruptive animals.

As a food scientist who specializes in reducing waste of seafood, researcher Denise Skonberg had long been aware of the Paoli One Step Deboner, a machine that resembles a meat grinder the size of a truck transmission. After workers strip off the chicken meat, carcasses are put in the machine, deboned, and emerge as a paste-like meat product. The machine can also be used for green crabs.

If green crab paste becomes commercially successful, it could become a key part of coastal habitat restorations.

"The cost of fuel would prevent it from being a specifically targeted catch," says Skonberg, one of the paper's three authors. Since fishermen are already on the water for high-value species such as lobsters, they could add the 7.5-centimeter-wide green crabs to their catch. "Instead of killing the crabs or throwing them overboard, they can have a bin for crabs and a bin for lobsters."

A commercial fishery is unlikely to ever completely eradicate green crabs, but reducing their numbers would still benefit ecosystems and humans.

Green crabs alter their habitat in dramatic ways. Their activity, for example, disrupts and kills beds of eelgrass, which serve as essential protective cover for many species of juvenile fish. But most distressing to Mainers, the crabs eat clams in large quantities and compete with young lobsters for food.

The green crab problem has gradually worsened in northern waters. Historically, cold winters limited the population. A New Brunswick study in the 1950s and '60s showed that as temperatures declined, so did the green crab populations. Monitoring traps went from an average of 343 crabs a day in 1956 to 7.5 a day in 1960. But with ocean temperatures warming, crab numbers have risen dramatically.

New introductions of green crabs in ballast water from northern Europe have recently provided cold-tolerant genes to the invasive population. This has probably contributed to the recent population explosion in the cold waters of Maine and Eastern Canada.

As the crab populations expand, perhaps human palates will too.

"Compared to other kinds of crabs, the flavor is sweeter," Skonberg says. The texture of processed meat, however, isn't quite what people expect from crab. "It's more like a puree.

So there are challenges in using the finished product as food, but it is somewhat familiar to North Americans. Green crab puree is a variation of the centuries-old Asian seafood paste surimi. In the 1960s, Japanese researchers applied the principles of surimi production to cheap Alaskan pollock, creating imitation crab legs found in most North American grocery stores today.

Skonberg and her coauthors decided to use the green crab paste in a dish where the fibrous texture of normal crabmeat would not be missed: empanadas. And because this is science rather than just having fun in the kitchen, they conducted organized taste tests and collected data. Sixty-three percent of respondents said that they would "probably" or "definitely" buy crabmeat empanadas if they were available locally.

"It's a realistic idea," says Christina DeWitt, director of the Seafood Lab at Oregon State University, noting that the seafood industry uses all kinds of minced seafood in a variety of products. "I have never thought about surimi for crab, but it's possible. We typically take low-value fish and convert it into surimi that is imitation crab, but this is already a crab."