SLC S21 Week 3 - Herbal Medicine in the Kitchen

Image is mine, edit by Picarts

Assalamualaikum, friends who love herbal concoctions. I am honored to be able to attend and learn in this week's course. This topic is really very interesting to learn. Although I had to do research independently for several days, I finally managed to complete this article.

Greetings to our teacher @afzalqamar,, and before I start I would like to invite @suboohi @zulay7059 and @rumaisha.

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Recipe Making: Create a meal or recipe using at least 3 herbs commonly found in your area and explain the health benefits of each herb in the recipe.

I very often enjoy healthy foods that use herbal ingredients. Generally I consume herbal foods in the form of vegetables.

For that I will make a vegetable recipe with natural herbal ingredients. I bought some of these herbal ingredients at the traditional market. For the purposes of this course, I will make a spinach leaf vegetable recipe.

Ingredients I use:

• Spinach leaves, clean and roughly chop.
• 1 tomato, cut into several pieces.
• 1 shallot, roughly chopped
• 2 small cloves of garlic, chopped or cut into pieces.
• 2 stalks of celery, finely chopped.

How to make:

• Heat a frying pan, pour a little vegetable oil then sauté the shallots and garlic.
• Add the spinach leaves, wait until wilted then pour in clean water.
• Add salt to taste.
• Add the tomatoes and celery leaves.
• The herbal vegetables are ready to be enjoyed. 👌

Health benefits:

1. Spinach leaves have very complete benefits for health. Among them are to facilitate digestion. Spinach leaves can also increase the amount of hemoglobin in the blood, this is because spinach leaves contain iron. In addition, spinach leaves are very good for maintaining eye health.

2. Tomatoes contain lots of fiber and better water content. The benefits are very good for digestion. In addition, tomatoes are also very useful for maintaining kidney health. Tomatoes are also often used as an ingredient to beautify facial skin. The antioxidant compounds in tomatoes function to remove dead skin cells.

3. Garlic is believed to have benefits for the immune system. Garlic is also very good for lowering cholesterol and also lowering blood pressure. Garlic is also often used as a natural acne medicine.

4. Shallots are very good for fighting infections. In herbal medicine, shallots are often used to cure fever, coughs and sore throats. In addition, shallots are very good for lowering cholesterol and are believed to help maintain heart health.

5. Celery leaves can also help increase endurance in the body. Celery is also believed to be able to lower high blood pressure.

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Health Benefits of Spices Research: Choose any two spices and examine their health benefits. Write a short paragraph about each spice, discussing its health benefits when included in food.

Spices and herbs have become common ingredients used in various food recipes. In our country Indonesia, spices and herbs are used in almost all types of food recipes, such as curry and rendang.

I will choose 2 types of spices and explain the health benefits.

1. White pepper.

Usually white pepper is used in several food recipes such as spices for making curry dishes, soup dishes, and several traditional dishes in Indonesia.

The benefits of white pepper include: can inhibit bacteria that cause infection, this is because white pepper has natural anti-bacterial compounds. White pepper can also help relieve pain, overcome cold problems such as nasal congestion and can soothe the throat.

However, in its use in food recipes, white pepper is usually used in limited quantities. Using white pepper in large amounts can cause a spicy and hot sensation in the throat and body.

1. Star anise.

Personally, I use star anise in curry spices. I usually add a few pieces of star anise and mix them with other spices to make a curry recipe. However, star anise is also often used in savory rice dishes and oily rice in order to create a natural spice aroma.

The benefits of star anise include overcoming the problem of bloating and flatulence. This spice is also very good for preventing flu. In addition, star anise extract is often used to overcome fungal infections.

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Spice Identification Challenge: Identify five spices at your local grocery store or farmer's market, take a photo and write down their uses, along with how they can be incorporated into your cooking.

I am shopping at the traditional market

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I shop at the market almost every day, except Sundays. This is my job. I own a small restaurant that I manage. So every day I always buy spices and seasonings. To answer this question I will break them down one by one:

1. Chili

This is a type of spice that has a spicy taste. Chili has health benefits, especially for relieving pain, besides chili is also very good for treating nasal congestion. However, consuming too much chili can cause digestive problems or diarrhea.

Chili is often used in various dishes. Generally here we use chili to make dry chili or hot sauce. We also use chili in curry dishes and various kinds of soup dishes.

In addition, the benefits of chili in cooking are to strengthen the flavor and can add color to the dish. By using chili in cooking, you can prevent nausea from consuming foods that contain a lot of fat or oil.

1. Tomato.

The health benefits of tomatoes have been explained in the first question. Among them are as an ingredient to brighten facial skin.

In cooking, tomatoes are the most frequently used ingredient. It is like an ingredient for making chili sauce and also salad.

Its red color can beautify the color of the dish and its slightly sour taste also gives a unique sensation to the dish. In addition, tomatoes also have a soft texture and are very delicious even when consumed raw.

In addition to making food, tomatoes are also often used as a basic ingredient for making drinks such as juice or drinks for diet purposes.

1. Lime.

Lime has many health benefits such as overcoming throat problems and being able to relieve coughs. In cooking, lime is often used as a solvent. Usually we use lime juice in meat or fish. The goal is to remove the fishy smell. We also often use lime in the marinating or fermentation process of chicken, and this can make the meat more tender.

In addition, we also use lime to make pickles or processed foods with a sour taste and texture.

Lime can also be used as a herbal drink such as lemon tea which is useful for soothing the throat.

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1. Shallots.

Here we often use shallots in various dishes. This is the main ingredient for making various recipes. For example, in making rendang recipes, curry dishes, stir-fried dishes and we even use shallots as ingredients for making dry and wet chili sauce. Shallots can provide benefits as a natural flavoring.

The benefits of using shallots in cooking are numerous. Among them are to enhance the taste and aroma of the dish. Shallots can also be served in a crispier form such as fried onions. Even shallots are very tasty as a base ingredient for making pickles such as in burgers and egg martabak, and this gives a more savory taste.

1. Garlic.

Almost the same as shallots, garlic is also a type of spice that is most widely used in various recipes. Starting from dry dishes such as chili sauce or containing sauce such as curry dishes, garlic is always used in spices.

The benefits of using garlic in cooking are to enrich the taste and aroma. Add flavor to the dish and to add a savory taste to the dish. And the most important thing is that the health benefits of garlic are very complex, and I have mentioned that in the first question.

But here we use garlic in smaller quantities compared to shallots. The reason is because the aroma of garlic is sharper than shallots.

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Detoxification Medicine: Prepare herbal detoxification medicine and tell the step-by-step process and how it helps detoxify the body?

There are many herbs and spices that can be used as herbal detoxification medicine recipes that are safe for the body. We can choose them according to what we want. Some of these spices are easy to get in the market or herbal pharmacy.

Here I will make a herbal detoxification medicine recipe using several herbs and spices.

Ingredients:

• 2 small pieces of cinnamon cloves
• Dried cloves
• ½ lime
• 2 teaspoons of pure honey.
• Hot water for soaking.

How to make:

• Prepare a small teapot and pour hot water.
• Add cinnamon and cloves, then soak for about 10 minutes.

• Cover the teapot with a lid to speed up the soaking process.

• Strain the soaking water into a glass and leave the cinnamon and cloves.

• Add lime or lemon juice.

• Add pure honey as a natural sweetener

• Herbal detoxification medicine is ready to drink.

• I recommend drinking this concoction warm.

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How detoxification medicine works and its benefits on the body.

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This medicine has a complex way of working in detoxifying the body. Cinnamon is known to have natural antioxidants that can detoxify the digestive system. And this can trigger a reaction to remove toxins from the intestines and from the body in general.

Cloves also have antioxidants and can reduce inflammation. This spice also functions to detoxify and provide protection to the liver.

The use of lime in this herbal concoction has the benefit of speeding up the detoxification process, this is because lime contains nitric acid which works very well in facilitating the digestive system.

While honey has many uses for digestion and can increase the body's immunity and this can ward off toxins in the body.

All images belong to personal documentation taken using the Redmi Note 11 Pro 4G smartphone device.

Reference sources for reading: 👇

https://www.alodokter.com/mengolah-manfaat-bayam-menjadi-hidangan-sehari-hari

https://www.alodokter.com/9-manfaat-tomat-buah-yang-disangka-sayur

https://www.halodoc.com/artikel/7-manfaat-lada-putih-untuk-pengobatan-alami-kesehatan?srsltid=AfmBOoqdAiECf1-uk1AU8PKcelqnb7-UyzhvqRl5ijeHinHJ5hjz8B1F

https://www.klikdokter.com/gaya-hidup/diet-nutrisi/manfaat-bunga-lawang-untuk-kesehatan-tubuh-anda?srsltid=AfmBOoolhPTy4RTOF1ckSt8lNV9qM763zS7awg5fOJJxPyN906fO21pv

https://www.alodokter.com/simak-berbagai-manfaat-cengkeh-untuk-kesehatan

https://www.halodoc.com/artikel/ini-8-manfaat-kayu-manis-untuk-kesehatan?srsltid=AfmBOoqkoQheTonUR_Pdyd0MPktBLgeljUe9U3rPt5hSoEUiYpwao7Zb

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