Meet the best bacteria ever

After a course of antibiotics, go the whole hog and include curd in your diet to wear off the side-effects easily, suggests Ratna Rajaiah

Research has shown that curd is the perfect palliative food to accompany a course of antibiotics. Why? Very simple. While antibiotics do a great job of destroying the disease-causing bacteria in our body, they also manage to bump off the beneficial ones, including gut flora — leaving us vulnerable to diarrhoea, a common side effect of antibiotics. The curd bugs both protect and help restore these essential bacteria.

The curd bugs are also great digestive aids, crumbling down difficult-to-digest complex carbohydrates and proteins present in cereals to the more easily digestible sugars and amino acids.

They heighten the nutritional value of the food by boosting the levels of vitamins in it — especially the critical vitamin B family — and by releasing locked-up nutrients like minerals and converting them into more soluble forms. They also work hard to keep many serious diseases at bay. They lower both bad cholesterol and blood pressure and thus help prevent heart disease.

They secrete substances that kill even the nastiest of their bad brethren, including Helicobater pylori, the microbes that cause most kinds of ulcers including peptic ulcers. And studies have shown that they may even help prevent colon cancer and prove to be a powerful ally in both curing and preventing arthritis. Last but definitely not the least, these little bugs are powerful immunity builders and their presence makes curd one of the most important immunity-boosting foods.

Ratna Rajaiah

No-cook buttermilk kadhi
(serves 3–4)

Delicious with plain steamed rice
and a salad.

Ingredients

½ litre buttermilk

¼ fresh coconut

2–3 dried red chillies

½-inch piece of ginger

1 tsp salt (adjust to taste)

Tempering

2 tsp oil

½ tsp mustard seeds

½ a dried red chilli, broken
into pieces

5–7 curry leaves

A pinch of asafoetida

Method

Grind together the coconut, 2–3 dried red chillies and ginger into a smooth, chutney-like paste, adding the ginger last. Add to the buttermilk along with the salt and stir well. Heat the oil. Now add mustard seeds and red chilli. When the mustard stops spluttering, add the curry leaves and asafoetida. Take off the fire and add to the buttermilk mixture. Stir well again.

(Excerpted with permission from ‘Secrets of Health from the Indian Kitchen’ by
Ratna Rajaiah, Published by Westland)