Nuts are not just tasty snacks; they’re also incredibly nutritious additions to meals. Packed with protein, healthy fats, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, nuts offer numerous health benefits. Incorporating them into your meals can elevate both the flavor and nutritional profile of your food. Even on a tight budget, there are plenty of creative ways to enjoy nuts in your daily meals. budget-friendly methods to incorporate nuts into your meals, ensuring you maximize their nutritional potential without compromising on taste or affordability.
Importance of Adding Nuts to Meals: Nuts are nutritional powerhouses, offering an impressive array of health benefits. Their high protein content makes them an excellent source of essential amino acids, crucial for muscle repair and growth. Moreover, the healthy fats in nuts, such as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, support heart health and cognitive function while providing long-lasting energy. Nuts are also rich in dietary fiber, promoting digestive health and aiding in weight management by enhancing satiety. Additionally, they boast an array of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin E, magnesium, and zinc, which play vital roles in immune function, energy production, and overall well-being. By incorporating nuts into your meals, you’re not only enhancing flavor but also enriching your diet with essential nutrients that support optimal health and vitality.
10 Ways to Incorporate Nuts into Every Meal, Even on a Tight Budget:
Start Your Day with Nutty Porridge: Prepare a warm bowl of millet or maize porridge and sprinkle roasted peanuts or groundnut paste on top. This adds a delicious nutty flavor and boosts the protein content of the meal.
Make Homemade Peanut Butter: Roast peanuts in a pan until golden brown, then grind them using a simple hand-cranked mill or mortar and pestle. Spread the homemade peanut butter on bread or mix it into breakfast porridge for a nutritious start to the day.
Add Crunch to Stir-Fries with Peanuts: Incorporate roasted peanuts into vegetable stir-fries for added texture and flavor. Simply chop the peanuts by hand and toss them into the pan with the vegetables and spices.
Enhance Rice Dishes with Simsim Seeds: Toast Simsim seeds in a dry pan until fragrant, then sprinkle them over cooked rice dishes like pilau or plain rice. Simsim seeds add a nutty crunch and a boost of calcium to the meal.
Top Salads with Cashews: Crush roasted cashews and sprinkle them over fresh vegetable salads. Cashews provide a creamy texture and a rich flavor that complements the crispiness of the vegetables.
Make Nutty Pancakes: Mix finely ground peanuts or simsim seeds into the dough when making pancakes. This adds a unique nutty flavor and increases the protein content of the bread.
Thicken Soups with Groundnuts: Blend roasted peanuts with a bit of water to create a thick paste, then stir it into soups for added creaminess and flavor. Groundnuts also increase the protein content of the soup.
Sprinkle Peanuts on Fruit Salads: Chop roasted peanuts and sprinkle them over fresh fruit salads for added crunch and protein. Peanuts pair well with sweet fruits like pineapple, mango, and banana.
Bake Peanut Butter Cookies: Mix roasted peanut butter with flour, sugar, and eggs to make simple and delicious peanut butter cookies. Bake them in a charcoal oven or on a stovetop charcoal burner for a homemade treat.
Create a Nutty Snack Mix: Combine roasted peanuts, simsim seeds, and dried fruit like raisins or bananas to make a nutritious snack mix. Portion it into small bags for a convenient and satisfying snack on the go.
Incorporate nuts into your meals to unlock their full nutritional potential without stretching your budget. From breakfast to dinner and everything in between, nuts will offer you a versatile and affordable way to enhance the taste and healthfulness of your meals. So don’t hesitate to experiment with these ideas and discover new ways to enjoy the incredible benefits of nuts in your everyday cooking.
So often, it has occurred to me that my mother even today tells much of her youth days. Among them, was after a family shared a jackfruit at about midday while they were relieved of the morning duties as they went digging.
She says that often the seeds were collected and roasted by the embers of the fireplace. These were then cooled and eaten. These she enjoyed for the aroma and the crunchiness that came after preparation. That was the case, of a country-sider closing to the late decades of the nineteenth century. The times have since moved on, a great range. This is in the world population, technological advancements and expectations of the trends.
There has been an exponential increase in the world’s population in the very recent past. World governments have therefore put the specialists in the food industry on task to broaden the food pool.
One of those convenient resorts has been food waste. For plant food waste commonly under consideration includes stalks, seeds, peelings, leaves and epicarps. These have been reported to contain a significant amount of nutrients that are vital for optimal health. These are therefore important in conveying antidiabetic, antihypertensive, anticarcinogenic and antiatherosclerotic benefits to the consumers.
Jackfruit seeds, being a waste, are a cheap rich source rich in starch, protein and dietary fibre. They are also rich in minerals such as magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese, phosphorus and potassium. Jackfruit seeds have substantial amounts of vitamins.
This is also in addition to improving the sensory properties of the food products. These include taste, aroma and mouthfeel. Jackfruit seed flour also has desirable pasting properties important in the food processing industry that can also be utilized in day-to-day food preparation.
Owing to the above nutrient profile, there are a range of means by which they have been incorporated into foods. The means of preparation has in many cases been slicing followed by drying. Oven drying is the best to be employed at a temperature of 60 to 70°C for 24 hours. This is often followed by roasting for close to one hour. These being hard at this stage of preparation, they are then finely milled.
The jackfruit seed flour is then incorporated into a range of food products to raise their health benefits. The foods are very basic recipes that can be performed at home with minimal technology.
The common flours such as those of maize, soybean, cassava and millet can be fortified with jackfruit seed flour. These can then be utilized for the desired food products. These include a range such porridges and pastries such as breads, biscuits, daddies and cookies. This is in addition to the commonly consumed beverages such as fruit juices and dairy products such as milk and yoghurt. The is a great possibility of developing a jackfruit seed flour-based fermented beverage. This comes along with additional probiotics (beneficial live microorganisms) that are functional in human health.
The jackfruit seed flour, for its distinctive aroma, can also be utilized can be used as a hot-water spice. About a levelled tablespoon of jackfruit seed powder added to a 500-millilitre vessel could serve well for a beverage. The product has a comparable acceptability to tea, ginger, cinnamon and chocolate when used to spice hot water.
How times revolve only to lead us to where we have been. This called us to reconsider a renewed conscience of the sources of nourishment. This is because a great range is wasted in much that we have wasted and yet well composed of nutrients that are vital for human health.
The author of the article is a student of Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition at the Department of Food Technology and Nutrition at Makerere University.
I have decided to share some of my favorite recipes weekly and hopefully, someone can try them out somewhere in the comfort of their homes. Most of these will have most of the common ingredients we can easily get and also a very simple to put together a meal.
The first recipe is a darling of mine because it contains one of most favorite delicacies. I love coconut in any form ( oil, fruit or flavor) and I love chicken. So let us prepare coconut chicken together.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or organic virgin coconut oil
Chopped onions
2 cloves minced garlic
Diced fresh tomatoes
Boneless chicken breasts, cut into uniform dices
1 tablespoon curry powder
⅓ cup coconut milk
⅓ cup water
⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 fresh basil leaves, chopped for garnish
½ teaspoon salt
Some of the ingredients to use
Recipe
Heat oil over medium heat in a pan. Add onions and cook, stirring, until softened. Add garlic and sauté for 1 more minute.
Add tomatoes, chicken strips, and curry powder. Cook over low heat, stirring, for about 10-15 minutes, until chicken is thoroughly cooked and the mixture is thick.
Stir in coconut milk and cook for 5 more minutes.
Top with a sprinkle of cinnamon and garnish with basil.
Serve with your desired carbohydrate like plain rice, matooke or sweet potatoes.
How easy can this recipe be?
Coconut chicken is very rich in high biological proteins very good for everyone especially children who are at the peak of their growth. It is also a good option for weaning children.
Taboos are a part of every culture and among these are food taboos. Anything that is taboo is strictly forbidden, for cultural or spiritual reasons. Those known to have transgressed taboo are punished, and may be cast out of their society. In the days of old, these taboos served a purpose of enforcing discipline and control in society although many of these were many a time affecting only a section of society who were the children and women. These days however, a taboo is usually seen as a magic concept with no real basis although there often is reason for it, at least within systems of belief, some of which are now termed ‘religions’, others ‘philosophies’, and others ‘superstitions’. Food taboos are deeply entrenched and their rationale may be religious, cultural, hygienic, historic or economic.
Reggie Annan, a lecturer/Public Health Nutritionist at Kwame Nkurumah University of Science and Technology says ” In Africa, as in many other parts of the world, what people say and do is strongly influenced by age-old supernatural beliefs, which Christian missionaries downgraded as ‘superstition’. In Africa, as in Asia, older and country people still may live as much in the realms of the supernatural and the afterlife, as in the physically living realm”
In Africa, many cultures forbade children and women from eating most of the protein rich foods from animal sources like chicken, eggs, pork, goats milk to mention but a few. But like we said many of these had a super natural belief attached however behind closed curtains, a justifiable reason was given. For example in Ghana, children were not allowed to eat eggs for it was believed that if the child was fed on eggs, they would end up thieves. This practice has faded in current times although some areas still hold onto this practice and children themselves will refuse eggs when they are offered to protect themselves from becoming thieves. Trying to understand why this supernatural belief existed, this is the explanation that I was given which turns out to be for economic reasons, “it was feared that when children were fed very well or were brought up luxuriously, they would resort to stealing to maintain opulent ways of living when their parents can longer afford or when they grew up. And so to avoid this situation, children were not allowed foods considered to be luxuries.” Whilst this made alot of sense and I believe it was done in the best interest of the children, it served more harm than good. You see, children need eggs more than anyone as they are growing because eggs are a very good source of proteins that is most required yet here they are worrying about not becoming thieves. It is even more unfortunate that some superstitions found their way to breastfeeding in some cultures and some of these will shock you. In some cultures, it was believed that milk given to babies in the night would be sour their stomach so teas were given instead. Lactating mothers who had sexual intercourse with a man who was not the father of the child, were at risk of giving the baby ‘bad’ milk or the baby picking germs. The most surprising of them all I came across was that unless a drop of breastmilk is squeezed into the rectum of the baby, milk from the breast of a woman who has been working in the sun and sweating would make the baby sick. All these worked against the baby who would end up losing out all the benefits of breastmilk and end up malnourished.
Food taboos have an impact on dietary intake and nutritional status of the affected persons. In Uganda like other parts of Africa, tribal food taboos, especially as applied to women and female children, have been one of the main causes of malnutrition. Kwashiorkor which is a form of severe acute malnutrition has been one of the common occurrences here in Africa and food taboos together with poverty have played a big role in this. In addition to the examples I have pointed above, I will give you another case in point to drive the point home. For so long here in Uganda among many cultures, it was a taboo for a pregnant woman to continue breastfeeding even when the older child was less than six months. It was believed that continuing to breastfeed would harm the growing child therefore such mothers stopped breastfeeding as soon as they found out that they were pregnant. On top of stopping to breastfeed, these children were often neglected because mothers turned all their attention on the pregnancy and preparation for the coming child. Hence the older child became malnourished. The indigenous people in those days did not realise that these children were suffering from malnutrition because they had been prematurely weaned, were being inadequately fed, and receiving poor care.
This leaves me with the question that where do we draw the line between respecting culture by upholding the taboos and violating them to preseve life.
What food taboos exist in your culture? What superstitions accompany them and have you found out the reason behind the closed curtains. Also have you ever wondered why there is almost no food taboo that affects the men?
You have probably heard people talk about a staple food and maybe or maybe not you have wondered what in the world a staple food is. A staple food is a food that is eaten routinely and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for a given person, supplying a large fraction of energy needs and generally forming a significant proportion of the intake of other nutrients as well. It is eaten regularly or even daily. We have about 41 tribes here in Uganda and each of these have a staple food that has been handed over generations down since time memorial although many tribes share in the regions where they are. These staple foods are mostly shaped by the geographical conditions of the area where these people hail.
Uganda is generally an equatorial country although the climate is not uniform as temperatures and rainfall vary with altitude across regions. The southern part of Uganda is more rainy, and the rainfall is generally spread throughout the year. On the northern shore of Lake Victoria, the rain falls from March to June and from November to December. In the southwest, on the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it rains heavily all year round. The northeastern region has the driest climate and is prone to droughts in some years. Annual rainfall ranges between 500 mm in the northeast and 1300 mm in the southwest. However today let us look at the different staples and native foods that shape our cultures in Uganda
Overall, plantains (also commonly known as matooke here in Uganda) and cassava are the most common staple foods in Uganda. Plantains or simply matooke are starchy bananas that are cooked and consumed as a staple which you will find as a part of most household diets here. Plantains are common in the central, western, and southern regions whereas cassava is very in eastern, northern, and northwestern Uganda. The other staple foods we have in Uganda include sweet potatoes, Maize, wheat, rice, millet, groundnuts, sorghum, to mention but a few. Food staples vary from place to place like earlier said, depending on the food sources available. Most food staples are inexpensive, plant-based foods and usually full of calories for energy. From the examples given above you can see that cereal grains and tubers are the most common food staples. Although staple foods are nutritious, they do not provide the full, healthy range of nutrients. People must add other foods to their diets to avoid malnutrition.
You maybe wondering the ‘other foods’ I am referring to that ought to be added to get the rest of the nutrients. These ‘other foods’ are called complementary foods and just as their name suggests, these complement the staples. They may not be routinely eaten and not in large quantities as the staples but the serve an essential role in meeting nutritional requirements. They are also more expensive compared to the staples. They include protein sources like meat, poultry, fish, legumes and milk products; energy sources like fats, oils and sugars; and vitamin and mineral sources – fruits, vegetables and animal products. Just like the staples they are varied in regions depending on their way of living, for example fish will be found common in the Albertine region and Lake Victoria basin while milk products will be found among regions that herd cattle.
That being said, I will leave you with Uganda’s must trys when it comes to native foods. These comprise of most of Uganda’s staple foods in all regions that we have.
Matooke
Being the most common staple food is Uganda I will start here. It is a type of plantain belonging to the East African Highland Banana group that can be peeled and be boiled in water, steamed in banana leaves then squeezed to make a golden yellow mash or else boiled together with ground nuts, beans or meat, offal to make the delicious meal commonly known as akatogo. Another type of plantain that is enjoyed by many is Gonja which can either be steamed or fried. Matooke can also be cooked without being peeled to make a dish known as mpogola or roasted in hot ash which is a very tasty meal accompanied with a complementary dish of choice. Probably what makes it even more common is the various options of preparation that it has.
Luwombo
This is a very common dish that has spread to almost all parts of the country with it’s roots in Buganda. History tells us that it was invented by Kabaka Mwanga’s personal chef in the 19th century, in 1887and was meant to be eaten by the royal family. Over the centuries, this opened up to his subjects and is now popular in most parts of the country. Because of it’s length of preparation, it is preserved for special days like Christmas, Easter, Eid, weddings, introduction ceremonies, business meetings and also when one has important visitors at home. There are restaurants however that have made it part and parcel of their daily menu and one does not have to wait for a special day to enjoy it. Luwombo can be prepared using chicken, smoked fish, beef, goat meat, mushrooms and ground nut (peanut) sauce. The ingredients are put in smoked banana leaves to give the luwombo the best aroma. Note that smoked beef or goat meat also make very delicious luwombo. Recently I found out that there is pork luwombo which I am yet to try.
Akaro
I have decided to use my native language for this but this is a mixture of millet or sorghum flour and cassava that is mingled with boiling water until it stiffens and becomes solid. The mixture of the ingredients differs as some tribes prepare it with less proportions of cassava and others with more cassava flour while others prefer it with no cassava. For instance the Bakonjo enjoy just mingling cassava flour known as Obundwe whereas people in eastern Uganda enjoy Atapa where more cassava flour is mingled with less millet flour. In Western Uganda it is millet with less cassava, they do not use sorghum and it is known as Akaro
Malewa
I got the privilege for tasting this for the first time in my life just a few weeks ago and if I had not seen it before preparation, I would have sworn that it was fish. This is a popular meal in Eastern Uganda where soft bamboo shoots are harvested, dried, cut into smaller pieces and boiled. Groundnut or peanut sauce is added and boiled together with the shoots until it is ready to be eaten. It is commonly enjoyed by the Bagisu, they serve it with Matooke and will leave you biting at your fingers.
Eshabwe
Have you ever imagined fat and salt making a delicacy? This is a traditional meal for the Banyankole, one of the tribes in western Uganda, although just like luwombo, it has gained popularity in other parts of the country too. It is prepared by using mature ghee of about 2 or 3 weeks, salt, cold boiled water and rock salt. For a variety and enhanced taste, some go ahead and add smoked meat.
Malakwang
Originally, this dish was reserved for dry seasons when food was scarce. Originating from the northern region, it is prepared using sour vegetables together with groundnuts and can be served with sweet potatoes and millet bread. Gone are the days when the dish was reserved for dry seasons, it is now eaten almost everyday given its affordability and it is also gaining prominence in other parts of the country.
Firinda
Growing I dreaded the day we had this on the menu. The work that went into un-shelling of the beans was exhausting especially those last 5 beans that would take forever. Firinda is a traditional meal popular among the Banyoro and Batooro in Western Uganda and is prepared by soaking the beans for a night and then they remove the husks. They are then boiled until they are soft and mashed into a porridge like consistency (puree); tomatoes, onions, ghee or smoked meat are added to make the firinda get the perfect taste and aroma. Other ingredients that can be put are vegetable eggs, pumpkin leaves, eggplants. The Bagisu and Acholi also enjoy this sauce and it is served with Akaro, sweet potatoes, cassava.
Removing the testa from beans to make firinda
This is not all of the native foods, I have sampled just some of the most common ones in all the regions. Food shapes any culture or society and it would be interesting for you to try out all these if you happen to come to Uganda.
