Drink your painkiller

Tumeric Drink

Turmeric is one of the world’s most powerful natural healers. Its active ingredient called curcumin has been known for centuries to have potent medicinal properties. I discovered this anti-inflammatory turmeric tea not long ago when I was searching for home remedies for pain. I only knew turmeric as one of the ingredients of curry, but didn’t know about all these magical effects on your body. Yes, unfortunately I do suffer from frequent muscle/ joint pain and headaches. I used to take panadols, neurofens and even stronger painkillers for it – not good for my stomach. For some reason I’ve been getting night cramps and pain in my back recently (sorry for complaining in my blog >.<). I have to admit I do need more exercises to keep myself away from all pain, though I’ve been lazy not doing any weight training or Pilates, which usually works for me. Moving on…. more about turmeric!

Turmeric is an anti-microbial, which means it fights against bacterial and viral infection, especially effective in cold and flu. It’s a natural liver detoxifier. It has shown to prevent and stop some cancers and type 2 diabetes. It is also a natural anti-inflammatory painkiller. To make a turmeric drink you can use fresh turmeric root or turmeric powder. It can be also served cold or hot – both are really nice.

1 cup of mildly hot water ( not boiling hot, you don’t want to kill all the goodness in the ingredients )
1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
1 teaspoon of grated ginger ( use ginger powder if you don’t have fresh ginger )
1 teaspoon of maple syrup ( honey or agave syrup if you want )
1 teaspoon of bee pollen (optional)
1 teaspoon of maca powder (optional)
1 teaspoon of goji berries
sprinkle of cinnamon powder (just because I like cinnamon on anything)
If it is hard for you to drink, try with squeezed orange juice or any kind of fruit juice for sweetness. You can also use herbal tea instead of hot water e.g. green tea, lemon& ginger tea, camomile tea.

 

Tofu Steak with Carrot Salad

Tofu steak

Seasoned and grilled, tofu breaks out of its typical image of being bland and tasteless. Tofu is so versatile you can put any spice or sauce of your choice. Growing up in Korea, one of my favorite dishes was pan-fried tofu with soy sesame sauce. It is damn simple but so tasty.

For tofu steak, you need to pat dry a block of firm tofu, slice about 1cm thick, lightly coat with rice flour and spice, pan-fry with coconut oil for about 3-4 minutes each side until outside is brown and crispy. I like mine to be still firm texture, but for more crispy skin you can use egg and breadcrumbs. You can serve grilled tofu with salads like me or serve with rice and soy sauce for more Asian flavour. Some people marinate tofu for hours or even a day before cooking if you want tofu to soak up all the flavour. To make soy dressing, combine soy sauce or tamari, minced garlic and ginger, chopped spring onion, sake or cooking wine, sesame seeds and sesame oil. Drizzle over the steak and enjoy!

For the salads I mixed cooked French lentils, grated orange and purple carrots, red onion and green salads. It is raw, refreshing, crunch and colourful.

Tofu steak