Aishwarya Iyer
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Written By: Aishwarya Iyer | Published : July 24, 2018 7:39 PM IST
Cucumbers are more than just cooling agents. We all know cucumbers are great for your skin, but what if we told you that they're good for your bones too? Trust us, they are.
How does cucumber help in strengthening your bone health?
Cucumbers are rich sources of Vitamin C and Vitamin K.
Vitamin C plays a major role in the formation of collagen, a key component in the development of bone matrix. This collagen also helps in the development of skin, hair and nails.
Vitamin K: Cucumbers are great sources of this vitamin. This plays a pivotal role in preventing bone fractures as well as improving the calcium absorption in the bones.
A study named, 'Vitamin K and the prevention of fractures: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials,' published in the Archives of Internal Medicine stated, "low intake of vitamin K may be associated with an increased risk of fracture." This, in turn, proves that consuming an adequate amount of Vitamin K could help in preventing fractures.
Given that cucumber is great for your bones, we must consume it more often. But if we ask you to name 3 variant dishes made out of cucumber, you would, in all possibilities be able to only name sandwiches, coolers and salads. We suggest you try something new using cucumber today.
Try making cucumber idli, as suggested by Dr Eileen Canday, Head of Department, Nutrition and Dietetics, Reliance Foundation Hospital for healthy and strong bones.
Cucumber Idli
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
1 medium sized cucumber
1 cup dosa rice
3 green chillies
Salt to taste
1/2 cup grated coconut
Preparation Time: 35 minutes
Preparation Method:
1. Wash dosa rice well. Strain out all the water.
2. Grind the rice grains for few seconds without using water so that they breakdown into pieces (called as rava).
3. Peel, grate the cucumber. If your cucumber is mature and has huge seeds, de-seed the cucumber and then grate it. If the cucumber is tender and has tiny, thin seeds then it's okay to leave the seeds on.
4. Mix- the ground rice, grated cucumber, salt, grated coconut, chopped green chillies.
5. Add little water if required.
6. Allow this mixture to stand for 15 minutes so that the rice grains soak up a little.
7. Get your steamer going in the meantime.
8. Transfer cucumber- idli batter into idli moulds, idli plates and steam them for 25 minutes. There should be little water content in the batter or else the rice rava doesn't cook through. There shouldn't be excess water too or else the idlis will be mushy and sticky.
9. If you want to steam the idli batter in banana leaves, then wilt washed squares of banana leaves on a gas flame for few seconds until they start to change their colour. Otherwise banana leaves tend to break when you fold them. Pour in a handful of batter into the banana leaf, fold around the leaf and steam for 25 minutes.
10. Remove the steamed idlis off the moulds after a few minutes of cooking and serve them hot with coconut chutney.
Reference:
1: Cockayne S, Adamson J, Lanham-New S, Shearer MJ, Gilbody S, Torgerson DJ.
Vitamin K and the prevention of fractures: systematic review and meta-analysis of
randomized controlled trials. Arch Intern Med. 2006 Jun 26;166(12):1256-61.
Review. PubMed PMID: 16801507.
Image Source: Shutterstock
