Cooking for Wellness

Online Workshop by Emmy and James Beard Honoree, International Celebrity Chef Raghavan Iyer

– Rashmitha Keshav

          Since classical times, India is referred as the home of spices for its exotic zest, taste, and medicinal values. From grandmother’s kitchen wisdom to the pages of Ayurveda, people have persistently expressed their effectiveness on health. The second virtual cookery episode – cooking for wellness was hosted by TNID with the international celebrity chef and the author of six best-selling cookbooks Raghavan Iyer

          Emmy and James Beard honouree Chef Iyer has constantly been sharing his knowledge and passion for the food of his homeland India and other cultures. He is known for promoting an Indian Meals program for Bon Appetit Management through training chefs in over seventy-five workshops across the U.S. His innovative creations including a line of roasted spice blends and the Pizza Karma concept restaurant gathered great global reviews.  Furthermore, his remarkable journey so far has been concomitant to several popularly admired entities including award winning documentary, popular magazines, radio shows, and television series.

          In this cooking workshop, Chef Iyer presented quick and simplified Indian healthy combo dish Basmati rice and masoor dal. Chef Iyer introduced our global audience, the significance of knowing the amalgamation of ingredients used in a simple Indian recipe with the right amount of spices is the key to great health and immunity. He debunked the ‘bad carb’ rice myth and shared a quick and foolproof mantra to prepare perfect rice on stove without using pressure cooker. As he prepared dal, he talked about features to keep in mind to enhance the taste such as ingredients concentration, color, texture, aroma, flavor, and their correlation with each other when added on the right time. Chef also conveyed regarding benefits of using crystalline salt, ghee, spices like turmeric and garlic, seasonal veggies, and fruits etc.

          From a young age, motivated by his own mother’s and grandmother’s kitchen wisdoms, Chef Iyer has perfected the art of cooking. He recommended the audience to let children explore kitchen without worrying much about the mess they may make. 

          Chef believes that there are recipes for comfort and healing in every culture, dishes people make to nourish both body and soul. Cookbook author, chef, teacher and cancer fighter, Raghavan Iyer is on a mission to ensure that more of these recipes from all cultures find their way onto recovery menus in hospitals and even at your neighbourhood or workplace. Through this  workshop – Cooking for Wellness, TNID finds great pleasure associated with chef Iyer in the selfless service of sharing healthy recipes for global comfort that encourage healing and wishes him good luck for his upcoming projects.

“If diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. If diet is correct, medicine is of no need.”

– Ayurveda

<— Watch the full episode of the event on TNID Facebook page —-<<<<

Stay connected for our upcoming cooking episode. Until then, wish you a healthy diet and eat your way to wellness

References:

• http://www.raghavaniyer.com/about.html
• https://www.allrecipes.com/gallery/global-healing-comfort-food-recipes/

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