Cooking is love made visible.

 

Cooking is love made visible, in every meal we had from our childhood, by our mother, grandmother, sister, wife or any loved one. Their love for us through the food not only keeps us happy but also healthy. The countless variety they serve during our lifetime is immeasurable, it is enormous love. I wish we are all ever grateful to them and cook for them once in a while… like me!  

I know for sure that meals bring people together, and special dishes and exotic foods boost happiness. Cooking a new recipe at home or trying it out at an exotic restaurant has numerous benefits, you gain an appreciation for other cultures, expand your options to enjoy a large variety of foods, it improves the nutritional variety and most importantly our children get to appreciate and enjoy new foods and international cuisine without any inhibitions… you will be making them connoisseurs of good food, and good cooks - at least an occasional one like me.

Here is one such dish which I prepared last evening and it was liked and appreciated by everyone. It is a very popular dish of Thailand, made at all Thai homes regularly and available at every Thai restaurant all over the world. It is Som Tam Salad, that is Green Papaya Salad, which has shredded Raw Papaya, shredded Carrot, Beans, Sprouts, Tomato, Coriander leaves, crushed and roasted Peanuts with a dressing made from Olive oil, Garlic, Green Chillies, Red Chilly flakes, Lime juice, Soya sauce, Brown Sugar, Honey and Salt.

Som Tum has all the benefits of any vegetable salad, being full of fibre and vitamins while remaining low on calories, fat and carbs. Apart from this Raw Papaya is said to improve digestive health, help treat infections, reduce signs of skin ageing, improve lactation in new mothers, reduce the risk of heart disease and promote wound healing and many more as you can see in the poster below.

This dish is so popular in Thailand that there is a saying… If you do not have Som Tam on any day, you have wasted that day!