GRANDMOMMA'S RECIPES FOR HEALTH Note: If you are on medication, please check with your doctor before attempting any other remedy.
1 MUSTARD (RAI): Rheumatism, Arthritis, joint pain, fatigue. Rub a few drops of mustard oil onto a castor plant leaf, warm the leaf and apply over the affected part. Repeat with fresh leaves for 15-20 minutes. Continue for a few days. To expel phlegm (relief of congestion). Mix 1/2 g mustard powder, 1/8 g rock salt, 1/8 g sugar candy (khaddisakhar). Take the powder twice daily for a few days. Severe cold: Mix a little mustard, oil and honey and rub onto the soles of the feet. Wash it off after 15 minutes. 2 GINGER (ADRAK): Common cold: Take ginger water with honey at regular intervanls. Preventive, for heart problems: Make a fine paste of giner in gingelly (til) oil, and take it daily. Blood pressure: Mix ginger juice and an equal quantity of honey. One tablespoon daily. Preventive for cold and influenza: Boil 10 g of dry ginger in a glassful of water. Add jaggery to taste. One glass before going to bed. Gas problem and indigestion: Take a mixture of 10-20 g of ginger power and 5 g of alum. 3 CURRY LEAF (KADDIPATTA): Diabetes, overweight, cholesterol. Eat ten leaves daily in the morning, or drink the juice of leaves 15-20 ml every morning for 2-3 weeks. Insect bite: Apply fresh kaddipatta fruit juice mixed with equal quantity of lemon juice. Hair oil: Boil the leaves in coconut oil until the leaves turn dry. Apply regularly. It helps in growth and retention of the natural colour of the hair. 4 CORIANDER (KOTHMIR): Indigestion, nausea, dysentry, jaundice: Take one or two spoonfuls of coriander leave juice in fresh buttermilk four times a day. High blood pressure, high cholesterol: Boil one teaspoonful of coriander seeds in a glassful of water and drink at regular intervals. Pimples, dry skin, blackheads: Mix a pinch of tumeric powder with one teaspoonful of fresh coriander leaf juice, and apply. Herbal drink for chronic cold and high blood pressure: Methi powder, 3 parts. Tulsi leaf powder, 1 part. Corriander powder, 1 part. Jeera powder /14 part. Wheat (charred and powdered) 2 parts. Mix well and prepare a drink life coffee. Gas: Make a decoction with 15g of coriander seeds and 15g of dry ginger. One cup four times a day. 5 PEPPER (KALA-MIRI): Indigestion: Dry fry and powder coarsely one teaspoonful of pepper. Make a decoction in a glass of water. Add a handful of tulsi leaves and cover for five minutes. One cup, twice a day, for three days. Chronic malaria: Boil one tablespoon of black pepper in two glasses of water and reduce it to one-fourth. Allow it to cool for 12 hours. Strain it in the morning and drink. Add jaggery as required. Have one more dose in the evening. Fever: Add 2-3 pinches of pepper powder to a teaspoon of tulsi leaf juice. Mix in honey and take twice a day for 3-4 days. 6 CARDAMOM (ELAICHI): Urine retention: Add a little cardamom powder to tender coconut juice and drink (1-2 glasses). Sore throat, cough, difficulty in breathing: Mix in equal proportions fine powders of cardamom, ginger and cumin seeds and take a little at regular intervals. Worms, indigestion, stomach pain. Make a decoction with 2g cardamom, 4g garlic and 4g dry ginger. Take 60 ml twice a day. 7 FENUGREEK (METHI): Herbal shampoo. Make a fine powder of mdthi, green gram and Bengal gram in equal proportions. Use as shampoo. Swelling: apply a paste of methi leaves, tumeric powder and salt. Cholesterol, rheumatic pain, bachache: Mix 24g methi powder and 6g dry ginger powder. Take 15g twice a day for 15 days. Gas problem, indigestion: Eat daily a tablespoon of methi sprouts. Cracks in the heel: Apply a paste of methi and henna leaves. 8 ONION: Fever, influenza, cold, sore throat, cough, sore throat, cough. Mix the following items in equal proportions -- onion juice, clear ginger juice, lemon juice, honey. Take 15 ml 2-3 times a day. Goitre: Take one teaspoonful of onion juice with honey. Headache: Apply a thick paste of onion on the forehead, palms and soles. Lie down for sometime. Migrane: Apply the paste on the forehead, thumbs and big toes. Relax. Insect bite: Cut an onion and rub on the affected part. 9 CLOVE (LAVANG): Sore throat, cough: Chew a few cloves with a little salt. Vomitting, loss of appetite, gas, indigestion: Boil 12g of cloves in 8 glasses of water and reduce to two glasses. Take it in four divided doses (half glass, four times). Muscular cramps: Apply clove oil. Toothache: Soak a little cotton in clove oil and keep it on the aching tooth. (Earlier printed in Mother's Call/Maiecho Ulo, January 2006 issue of the Saligao parish newsletter, Saligao 403511 Ph 227 8246). -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Frederick 'FN' Noronha | http://del.icio.us/fredericknoronha Saligao, Goa, India | [EMAIL PROTECTED] Independent Journalist | +91(832)2409490 Cell 9822122436 ----------------------------------------------------------
