Friday, May 20, 2011

Make stock everyday!

I do not mean the financial stock here, but the 'health' stock or vegetable stock.
Vegetable stock is the nutritious water got by boiling vegetables. Mostly it is a base for soups and dishes. But we can use the stock in our day to day curries, doughs for chapathi/puri, batters for chillas, idli-dosas etc. to enable our children and other memebers of our family get the vitamins and other nutrients from the vegetables they do not like. (I have also mentioned its usage in my earlier post "IF YOUR CHILDREN/GROWN-UPS DO NOT EAT VEGETABLES" dt. 26th Sept. 2009).

Its part of my cooking job (now a pleasant one) to boil daily, any number of available vegetables like carrots, beans(these two I always stack in my refrigerator) peas, pumpkins, gourds, tomatoes, cauliflower, anything from onions to ginger-garlic, bay leaf to coriander and use the stock to make soup for my MIL(I get all the blessings as she feels energetic) and use the rest of the strained water in making the dough for chapatis, curries or any snack I make for my kids( they do not like to eat pumpkins, gourds, courgettes/zucchini/turai, tindas and other greens) and get utmost satisfaction that my family is not deprived of the essential nutrients from vegetables!
Its winter time and time to consume lots of fresh vegetables.

So make the 'health' stock everyday(the baby one litre cooker I bought for my kids 23 years ago is coming to use now). Boiling vegetables cannot be tedious once you bring it in your routine. You can also try innovative methods of using stock in your dishes.
HAPPY COOKING!