Expert-approved monsoon food guide and recipes for seasonal detox

Come monsoon, and the cravings for deep-fried pakodas, chai, and parathas get intense. While we love enjoying these dishes, have you ever thought of enjoying these calorie-dense delicacies with a pinch of nutrition? Well, addressing the same, celebrity nutritionist and author Rujuta Diwekar once shared a post about a monsoon food guide on her official Instagram. In her seven-slide post, Rujuta mentioned what all foods and how frequently one should eat during monsoon. The post also includes three simple and easy recipes that one can enjoy during the monsoon. According to her post, the grains, pulses, vegetables, and special preparations are important for the next 4 months of Chaturmas/Chaumasa. Scroll down to read the details.

Rujuta has listed the food items that one should have at least 2-3 times a week, and the list includes boiled peanuts, pulses (soaked and sprouted cooked as dal or sabzi", corn, dudhi, cucumber, pumpkin, other creeper vegetables, suran, arbi and other root vegetables.

In her Instagram post, she also talked about the food that should be consumed at least once a week. Here, the list includes millets such as rajgira and kuttu and wild and uncultivated vegetables of the season like ambadi (gongura) and alu (colocasia).

According to Rujuta, eating steamed food in this weather is good. In the list she has included steamed local foods like patoli, modak, bafla and siddu that one should consume once a month. Among the special preparations are "bhaji or pakoda of ghosala, mayalu and ajwain". She also suggests that wild mushrooms, lingdi and bamboo, either cooked or turned into pickles could also be consumed for 2-3 months.

Pressure cook arbi with water for 2-3 whistles. Peel off the skin and cut it lengthwise. Coat it with a mixture of chilli powder, haldi and leave it for 10 mins.
Add salt to it just before frying and enjoy.

According to Rujuta, to make this seasonal delight, add chopped ambadi leaves into boiling water. Pressure cook the leaves, jowar/rice, tur dal, and soaked peanuts. Add a tadka made with rai, hing, haldi, and chili powder. Also, add salt, jaggery and grated coconut to it. Cook for a while and serve. (Image: Instagram/my_rainbow_palette)

Make rice flour dough. Then, make a golden-brown ghee, jaggery, and coconut mixture. Add nutmeg and cardamom powder. Use your hands or a modak mould to shape them. Grease the vessel with ghee and steam modak for 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!

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