Cucumber pachadi

To the routine question to my dental patients whether they are suffering from any systemic disease, from the past five or six years I find that many ladies are taking tablets for thyroid diseases. Even young girls of 25 years! Imagine taking allopathic medicine for all the remaining years of their lives.

It is advisable that a person afflicted with thyroid malfunctioning should go for salads made out of sprouts, cucumber and carrot. Cucumber is very effective for patients diagnosed with goiter- a disease resulting from hypothyroidism.

Pachadi is a Kerala preparation that is so soothing. It is made with the Kerala variety of cucumber.

Ingredients:

Cucumber, pealed and cut into small elongated pieces – 2 cups

Curry leaves    - a few

Curds     - ½ cup

Salt to taste

To grind ;

Scraped coconut            -1/2 cup

Cut onion (shallots preferable)    - 1 tsp

Coriander or coriander powder  - ½ tsp

Mustard seeds-  ½ tsp

Method:

Cover the cut cucumber with sufficient water, add curry leaves, salt and cook till done (they will look transparent when cooked).  

Meanwhile, grind coconut, cut onion and coriander with a little water. When it is smoothly ground, add the mustard seed and just run the mixi once so that the mustard seeds are just broken down, not ground to paste. Add the ground coconut paste to the cooked cucumber, stir and cook for a few seconds. Now add the beaten curd and stir well. Remove from fire. Goes well with rice.