vegetarian capsicum Gravy

Capsicum Gravy:

Capsicum is one of the vegetable i like the most...but my hubby does not like much :( 

For 3 persons:

Ingredients:
Capsicum 3nos
Onions 2no
Ginger and garlic paste
Fennel seeds 1tbsp
cinnamon a small piece
cloves 3nos
Ground nuts or cashew nuts 2tbsp


Method:
 Take a tbsp of oil in a pan. To this add fennel seeds, cloves, ginger garlic paste, ground nuts and a half onion. Fry them for few minutes until the raw smell goes off. Grind it too smooth paste.

Then cut the capsicum in cube size and add it to the pan.To this add salt and chilli powder and water. Once it is 90 % done add the gridded paste. Then allow to boil for few minutes and then off the flame.

The yummy capsicum grave is ready to eat with rice or chapatti.



Nutritional value:


Capsicum helps in curing many diseases that include lowering blood pressure, reducing cholesterol and warding off strokes and heart attacks, speeding up metabolism, treating colds and fevers, preventing cancer and pain control. Capsaicin is a flavorless, odorless chemical concentrated in the veins of chiles and peppers.

Capsicum contains  Vitamins A and C, and beta-carotene. It’s low in fat, calories and cholesterol. If you thought your diabetic diet was supposed to be boring, try spicing up your cuisine with capsaicin-based products, like hot sauce or jalapeno peppers.

Listed below are some of the health benefits of Capsicum:

* Enhances Metabolism: Capsicum increases the metabolism by lowering triglycerides, which are stored fats in blood corpuscles.This helps in burning calories.

* Anti Oxidant Property: Capsicum is an important source of vitamin A and vitamin C. These two vitamins are powerful antioxidants that help in fighting free radicals in the body and help in treating heart diseases, osteoarthritis, bronchial asthma, cataract etc. The free radicals are responsible for causing cellular damage, damage to nerves and blood vessels.

* Pain Relief: Scientists believe that the compound capsaicin found in capsicum blocks the transmission of pain from the skin to the spinal cord. This is considered helpful in treating neuralgia, pain associated with herpes zoster and postoperative amputation trauma.

* Cancer Prevention: The compound capsaicin is also believed to treat cancer by preventing carcinogens from binding with DNA. As a regular dietary intake, it has been found through various studies that eating capsicum can provide some protection from cancer.

* Prevents Clotting of Blood: Studies suggest that capsicum has the capacity to prevent clotting of blood. Vitamin C is found to play a major role in dissolving blood clots.

* Fights Food-Borne Bacterial Diseases: In a study it has been found that capsaicin content in capsicum is effective in fighting off food-borne bacterial diseases like Vibrio vulnificus bacteria found in raw shellfish.

Nutritional Value of Capsicum

• Carotenoids (Capsanthin, Capsorubin, Carotene and Lutein)
• Proteins
• Fats
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin C
• Capsaicinoid Oleoresin
• Provitamins E, P, B1, B2 and B3
• Steroidal Alkaloidal Glycosides (Solanine and Solasadine)
• Scopoletin (Coumarin)

Health & Nutrition Benefits of Eating Capsicum

• Beneficial to the mucous membranes, eyes and skin
• Helps wards off infection
• Promotes cardiovascular health, by helping lower blood pressure
• Has antioxidant properties that neutralize the free radicals responsible for damaging tissue and cells
• Has anti-inflammatory properties
• Helps reduce cholesterol and thus, is effective in warding off strokes and heart attacks
• Speeds up the metabolism and helps burn more calories
• Good for treating colds and fevers
• Stimulates stomach secretions and improves digestion
• Lowers triglycerides
• Has a laxative effect
• Triggers the release of endorphins
• Good for diabetics

Health benefits of Peanuts

• Peanuts are rich in energy and contain many health benefiting nutrients, minerals, antioxidants and vitamins that are essential for optimum health.
  
• They are especially, rich in mono-unsaturated fatty acids like oleic acids that help to lower LDL or "bad cholesterol" and increase HDL or "good cholesterol". Research studies suggest that Mediterranean diet, which is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids helps to prevent coronary artery disease and strokes by favoring healthy blood lipid profile.
  
• These nuts are good source of dietary protein compose fine quality amino acids that are essential for growth and development.
  
• Research studies have shown that peanuts contain high concentrations of poly-phenolic antioxidants, primarily in p-coumaric acid, which is believed to reduce the risk of stomach cancer by reducing the formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines.
  
• Peanuts are excellent source of resveratrol, another polyphenol antioxidant, which has been found to have protective function against cancers, heart disease, degenerative nerve disease, Alzheimer's disease, and viral/fungal infections.
  
• Studies suggests that resveratrol reduces stroke risk by alteration of molecular mechanisms in blood vessels (reducing susceptibility to vascular damage through decreased activity of angiotensin, a systemic hormone causing blood vessel constriction that would elevate blood pressure) and by increasing production of the vasodilator hormone, nitric oxide.
  
• Recent research studies suggest that boiling enhances antioxidant concentration in the peanuts. It has been found that boiled peanuts have two and four fold increase in isoflavone antioxidants biochanin A and genistein content, respectively.
  
• The nuts are an excellent source of vitamin E (a-tocopherol); containing about 8 g per100 g. vitamin E is a powerful lipid soluble antioxidant which helps maintain the integrity of cell membrane of mucus membranes and skin by protecting from harmful oxygen free radicals.
  
• The nuts are packed with many important B-complex groups of vitamins such as riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, pantothenic acid, vitamin B-6, and folates. 100 g of peanuts provide about 85% of RDI of niacin, which contribute to brain health and blood flow to brain.
  
• The nuts are rich source of minerals like copper, manganese, potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, and selenium.
  

Just a hand full of peanuts per day provides enough recommended levels of phenolic anti-oxidants, minerals, vitamins, and protein.

Try this recipe and enjoy your day.......