Health Benefits of Traditional Tamarind broth – A Tangy Taste with Ayurvedic Power

 Health Benefits of Traditional Tamarind broth – A Tangy Taste                                   with Ayurvedic Power

• Have you ever tried spicy, tangy gravy which used to be cooked by your grandmother in the village in a clay pot, which took a long time? Yes, it is the Traditional Puli Kulambu we are talking about this excellent South Indian dish which reminds about the times gone by and yet carries with itself some unexpected health benefits!
• With ready-made food and instant blends in the modern-day life, one forgets about the strength of humble home cooked traditional dishes. However, when made the traditional way, Puli Kulambu is not only delicious, it is medicinal too in various respects. Supported with the help of all the ingredients used in this dish that are known in Ayurveda to promote healing qualities, it can in fact improve your digestion and immunity and well being in general.
• So how is this simple kulambu your health hero in the kitchen? Let us see how.

What is Traditional Tamarind broth?

• Puli Kulambu is a tamarind-based curry, which is frequently cooked along vegetables; brinjal, drumstick, garlic, and shallots. It is normally seasoned with mustard seeds, fenugreek, curry leaves and other South Indian spices.
• Puli contains its meaning as tamarind and the Kulambu has the meaning of a gravy or a curry in Tamil. This dish is special because of the sourness of tamarind, heat of garlic and rich flavours because of slow cooking.and when it is made in a mud pot or a iron kadai, the flavor and the health advantage doubles!

🌿 1. Tamarind: the Ayurvedic super star ingredient

• Tamarind does not only taste good. Tamarind is reputed to be safe in Ayurveda:
• Enhance the digestive system by stimulating production of bile
• Expel toxins in the liver
• Cooling the body in hot days
• Assistance with weight control because of its appetite suppressing benefit
• Well, actually people in most of the villages used to talk in this manner, by the elders saying, Have a bowl of puli kulambu a day, stomach problems be gone!
• Tamarind is an antioxidant as well that will defend your body against free radicals.

🧄 2. Garlic- the Natural Antibiotic:

• Garlic free puli kulambu? Impossible! Such tiny cloves are delivers a powerful blow to health.
• The garlic is famous:
• Boosting immunity
• Reducing blood cholesterol level and blood pressure
• Playing the role of a natural antibiotic
• Promoting intestinal wellbeing
• When a person gets a cold or some minor infection, in village houses a spicy garlic kulambu would be prepared to be served with hot rice and it is magical!

🧅 3. The Unsung hero shallots (Small Onions):

• Sweetness and depth are provided through shallots to gravy. But they wind up also bringing:
• Anti-inflammatory properties
• Antioxidant abundance
• Assistance in controlling the sugar level in the body
• They do not weigh much on the stomach like big onions and the digestive system can easily digest them.

🌱 4. Curry Leaves  Small and the spicy:

• Curry leaves do not only garnish. They are more aromatic, still helpful when they are tempered in gingelly oil.

Benefits include:

• Hair promoting
• Improves digestion

💪 5. Fenugreek ( Methi )- Little Seeds with a Big Punch:

• During the tempering process, fenugreek seeds are fried lightly. These seeds are a secret stuff!
• Balancing hormones
• Minimization of pains in the joints
• Nutrition of the digestive tube
• Heat reduction of the body
• The Ayurveda suggests using fenugreek to restore warm body during summer season.

🧘 6. The Best Digestion and Detox:

Naturally Tamarind broth:

• Oil deficient
• Stomach-lightness
• Stuffed with the spices of the digestive system like cumin, coriander, and turmeric, etc.
• Having it regularly (it should be used with millets or red rice) cleanses the stomach, so one does not experience bloating.

🔥 7. Boost Metabolism & Immune:

• This dish will make the body warm in positive way because Mustard seeds, tamarind, mustard pepper and garlic. Especially when it's raining or there's winter season you tend to feel this exhilarating plate of puli kulambu accompanied with hot rice which acts as an energizer for you.
• Just like home made pickles and pulli oodhaarai, puli kulumbu tastes good the next day. Why? With the flavors come out and sourness toned down. And that makes it darling for meal prep - cook once, eat for 2- 3 days!
• At the same time keeping in a clay pot or steel crock instead of plastic, easily the management of nutrients is preserved.

My Own Narration about Tamarind broth:

• I can recall the aroma of the kitchen of my grandmother. She would also cook her own creation of garlic-filled puli kulambu on a mud pot over a fire made of wood every Friday and slowly cooked them. The odour would get out to the street! She held that it cleaned the stomach and made all of us hearty and handy.
• When I prepare puli kulambu even in my house these days I may feel that she is beside me. That is the chestnut of traditional cooking, after all it is not only a food, it is food-plus-memories-plus-medicine.

Best Combinations to Puli Kulambu:

• Hot rice + Appalam (papad)
• Puli Kulambu vas Kambu dosa or Ragi dosa
• Side dish Idiyappam + Kulambu
• Red rice + raw banana fry + kulambu
• Eating with your hands (it is more satisfying).

Concluding Ideas:

• We live in a modern world, where we are in a race after some fancy bars and diets. But our classical village food recipes/ Puli Kulambu has already everything that is required by our body. This is a superfood in a different form with Ayurvedic ingredients, the healing power of nature and the scrumptious tangy taste.
• Therefore next time when someone asks you what is in lunch be proud and say Puli Kulambu!