Do you want to spice up your diet with a healthy twist? Are you bored with having the same bowl of rice? Well, let me introduce you to a small twist and tweak that will make your meals more interesting and exciting. Have you ever heard of carrot rice? Well, today, let’s see how to prepare this wonderful, tasty, yet healthy twist to your good old bowl of rice.
Ingredients required
For rice
- Basmati rice: ½ cup
- Water: ¾ cup
- Ghee: 1 tbsp
- Salt: a pinch
For carrot rice
- Carrot: 2 medium
- Onion: 1 small
- Green chilly: 1 large
- Cardamom: 2 pods
- Cloves: 2
- Cinnamon: 1 small piece
- Mustard seeds: ½ tsp
- Bay leaf: 1 small
- Curry leaves: 1 sprig
- Oil: 2 tbsp
- Salt as required
To garnish
- Onion: ½ cup
- Cashews: 10-12 (halved)
- Raisins: 10-12
- Coriander leaves: 1 tbsp
Now, let’s make some tasty Carrot rice
- Before moving into cooking, let’s start by prepping some ingredients.
- Wash the rice until the water turns clear, and soak it for almost 30 minutes.
- Thinly slice the onions and finely grate the carrots.
- Now let’s start cooking.
- Drain the rice and add it to a pressure cooker with water and salt. Pressure cook until two whistles on medium heat.
- Now, wait until the pressure cools down and gently fluff the rice.
- Now heat oil and add the onion kept for sautéing on a pan. Wait till the onions turn light golden.
- Now add the grated carrots to this and saute it until cooked.
- Now, add the rice to this mixture and season it with salt.
- Add the cashews and raisins and mix well.
- Once the raisins become plump, remove them from heat.
- Now, add the mustard seeds to the leftover oil. Please wait for it to crackle.
- Add the bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves and saute until aromatic.
- Add the green chillies and curry leaves.
- Finally, spread the fried onions, cashews, raisins and chopped coriander leaves on top of it.
- Mix well, and the delicious carrot rice is ready to be devoured.
- Serve it hot with a side of raita or salad.
- Do you know why I describe carrot rice as healthy? Well, if you don’t know, you should learn about the various health benefits of including carrots in your diet.
Health benefits of eating carrots
- Carrots are a dietary source that is rich in beta-carotene. As your body transforms the beta carotene it receives into Vitamin A, a nutrient that is quintessential for improving your vision, carrots help in boosting your eyesight. Carotenoids named lutein and zeaxanthin in Carrot can also protect your eyes from the sun’s harmful effects and lower your chance of contracting cataracts or age-related vision loss caused by macular degeneration.
- The potassium in carrots will maintain your cardiovascular health by expelling the excess sodium content from your body. This process will lower your blood pressure, and the fibre in Carrot will remove the excess LDL cholesterol from our artery walls.
- The nutrients vitamin K, calcium and phosphorous in carrots will maintain the health of your bones. These nutrients, which respectively help in the growth, development and repair of your bones when combined with vitamin A, which influences the metabolism of your bone cells, make Carrots the perfect food for your bones.
- The vitamin C in carrots is an excellent antioxidant. It will fight against the free radicals which cause oxidative stress. Hence it will help prevent acne, dermatitis, rash and other skin diseases. Moreover, as Vitamin C is an important ingredient required for collagen production, eating Carrot can also improve your skin’s elasticity.
- The carotenoids in carrots have anti-inflammatory properties. It will prevent your liver from contracting the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Further, the flavonoid will stimulate and support the overall function of your liver.
- The fibre and carotenoids in carrots play an important role in granting both short-term and long-term digestive health. While the fibre helps your food to pass through the food pipe quickly, preventing you from absorbing fat, it also makes your stool bulkier, preventing constipation. At the same time, carotenoids reduce your risk of contracting colorectal cancer.
- Last but never least, the nutrients vitamins A, C, B6, K, potassium and phosphorous in carrots will help abundantly in boosting your immunity. Vitamin C will help you produce antibodies and boost the wound-healing process. Moreover, Vitamin B6 will help in the production of lymphocytes. Well, in a society where possessing a strong innate immunity can determine your overall wellbeing, you should keep an eye on boosting your immunity. That is why I am introducing you to an excellent product that can boost your natural immunity.
Nutriplus ImmunHealth
Nutriplus ImmunHealth is an excellent health supplement offering an extremely convenient way to boost your immunity. As a product produced from the extract of Papaya leaves, Aloe vera, Guduchi satwa etc., it is extremely rich in various nutrients essential for boosting your immunity. Some of the nutrients included in this product are L-glutamine, L-arginine, L-lysine, L-isoleucine, Vitamin C, Alkaloids, Phenolic compounds, and flavonoids. Besides this, it also contains several other mineral nutrients in it. So basically, this product can single-handedly boost your immunity from the inside out.
So, stop pondering over it. Find innovative methods to add veggies to your food. Find recipes that will not only make your dish healthy but also appealing by adding veggies into it, like carrot rice. Or, if you want even better results, go ahead and add Nutriplus ImmunHealth to your life. If you are still unsure about it, always remember that your health is priceless, and you should do everything in your power to live a happy and healthy future.
