Easy Home remedies for cold

Due to this adverse weather condition kids are down with cold.

I used to follow some home made remedies from kitchen to help kids fight with cold.

Thought of sharing those here so that it ll be helpful for everyone 🙌

1. Pachai karpooram and coconut oil:

Remember this pachai karpooram is different from camphor which we use at temple for god. You can find this pachai karpooram in Herbal stores( Nattu marunthu kadai)  and in few super markets 

And the coconut oil which I have used is cold pressed one ( chekku oil). Use good quality oil

Take few karpooram pieces. Crumble them.

Take 2 to 3 tbsp of coconut oil in a deep ladle preferably kuli karandai like shown in picture and heat them. Stop heating when you can smell nice aroma and add it to crumbled karpooram. Be careful while heating oil, sometimes when it's heated much oil might get fired.

Wait for karpooram to completely dissolve in oil . Apply oil in chest, forehead, back, over nose and under feet for kids . Do this before they go to bed . They will have a good sleep. Since we are applying only externally you can even try this for babies.

2. Turmeric powder, pepper powder, palm sugar ( panangarkandu) milk : 

Its better to avoid milk during  Cold. Even if you want to give milk , try giving this way. It acts as a good antibiotic. You can give this milk two times a day for three days and then you can give milk with palm sugar ( panangarkandu) alone for next few days .

 Just mix these with hot milk . Cool it down a little and give the milk warm to kids .

Make sure you use original turmeric Powder and palm sugar. Many adulterated products are available in shops . So keep that in mind and get directly from a farmer if you could .

3. Ginger, mint, palm sugar ( panangarkandu) cough syrup:

It acts as best cough syrup.  It helps to relieve congestion.

Take 2 TSP of finely chopped ginger, two mint leaves and 1 tbsp of palm sugar in a pan

Add little water to it and boil in low heat till it reduces to a thick syrup. I used to get only five ml syrup . 

You can give this two times in a day.

4. Omam leaves ( karpoora valli leaves) and tulasi leaves:

You can give this one as such to kids.  Even my younger one used to eat this right from ten months. If your kid don't eat these leaves you can boil in little watee , filter and give the water to kids .

You can give these leaves to eat often to prevent cold too.

5. Lemon juice and honey:

I didn't prepare this one  , this time since I didn't have honey at home . Make sure you use original and good quality honey. Take equal amount of lemon juice and honey. Mix it well and give to kids .

You can try all these methods  for kids above one year. Make sure you use good quality ingredients.

If the cold doesn't seem to reduce or kids having difficulty in breathing rush to doctors immediately . 

Take care of little ones and enjoy the rainy days..

Health Benefits of Brown Rice

Health Benefits Of Brown Rice

We recently met a Malaysian Tamilian here in KL. We learnt that she was born and brought up in Malaysia. She used to speak to my Kid and one day during their conversation, my kid couldn't understand some of the Tamil words she spoke. I was able to understand what she meant but we don’t use such pure Tamil words in our daily use.


She realized this and told me that only her grandmother lived in India and she & her mom were brought up here only. She was very proud that, though they were living outside India for 3 generations they didn't forget the Indian culture, Food Habits and Tradition.

She also raised a question which I would never ever forget in my life. She sarcastically asked who has changed; Its you or us?? Yes. Its definitely us.. We have moved out of our tradition. Our Grandparents, used to consume only Millets and they used to have Rice, only on special occasions. That too they were using only Hand Pound Rice (Kai Kuthal Arisi or Brown Rice). Passion for white slowly moved us away from Brown Rice to White Rice.

  I would like to reiterate the importance of Brown Rice.

•  Rice has three layers surrounding it; Husk, Bran and Germ. Brown Rice is prepared just by removing the Husk whereas White Rice is prepared by removing Husk, Bran and Germ leaving only the rice.
•  Both White Rice and Brown Rice gives same calories, Proteins and Carbohydrates. But both differ with respect to Fiber, Vitamins and Minerals contents.
• . Though some Vitamins can be added back to White Rice, It really lacks Magnesium, Sodium and Potassium contents. Fiber and the most important chemical element missing is Manganese. 1 cup of Brown Rice provides almost 80% of our daily requirement.
• Research shows those who consume Brown Rice reduce their risks of developing Diabetes by 60% than that of people who consume White Rice. It slowly releases sugar into Blood and hence controls Diabetes.

Let me share my experience of how to Cook Brown Rice??


Normally Brown Rice needs more time to cook. So, for cooking rice in the morning for packing lunch to my kid and husband, I used to soak the rice in enough water and keep in fridge the previous night itself. It needs 4 cups of water for every 1 cup of rice. While cooking the rice, I will cook the rice in high flame for 1 whistle. After 1 whistle, will reduce the flame and cook it for 15 more minutes.
Brown Rice is a little bit chewy.
For the first try, I would recommend you to have rice hot and with any Kuzhambu or Sambar. And from my personal experience, Brown Rice doesn't taste good for Variety Rice.

Since Rice has become the elixir of our life nowadays, why don't we give a try to healthy and nutritious Brown Rice!!?

Health Benefits Of Seasoning

Health Benefits of Seasoning

Most of the Indian recipes don’t end without seasoning. Whatever the dish is, we tamper seasoning ingredients in oil and add it to the dish. We may think we are doing seasoning just to enhance the taste.

But Seasoning has much more to do with; it is a must for dishes like chutney, thuvaiyal which doesn't involve cooking. In case of coconut chutney, we grind coconut along with fried gram; here both coconut and fried gram are not cooked and we also add water to prepare it. The seasoning will remove the impurities from the chutney which may be because it is uncooked.

Try to do seasoning for all the dishes especially uncooked ones. Here I am listing out the benefits of the seasoning ingredients

Be proud of our ancestors!! They have carefully found the reasons and selected the ingredients for seasoning.

Mustard keeps you young, Urad Dal helps to reduce Blood Pressure, Fenugreek seeds help you to avoid Diabetes, Pepper helps to prevent digestive problems, Cumin seeds help with respiratory problems and Fennel seeds help to reduce fat.

So Next time when you are cooking, Be proud of why we are actually doing seasoning!!!

Health Benefits of Whole Garam Masala

Health Benefits of Whole Garam Masala

I'm a person who believes Food is Medicine. Have been thinking for a long time of sharing this information. We use it in our daily cooking for seasoning only but it has lot more to do.I've shared my little research on the benefits of Garam Masala and how to use it too!! Hope it will be helpful.