Recipe: Gbegiri( mashed beans sauce

Gbegiri 

Ingredients

Beans 1 cup

Palm oil (1.5 serving spoon)

Habanero Pepper/ Rodo (some people use dry pepper also known as cayenne pepper)

Stock cubes

Potash ( a little)

Salt to taste

Locust beans{iru} (optional)

Procedure:
Peel your beans like you would do to moin-moin, place a pot on medium heat,

add your potash and boil till its soft,

 blend your pepper (6pieces would do) to a smooth paste,

 I use the traditional broom to mash my beans the same way it is done for ewedu, but in place of the 

broom a blender can be used..

 The beans must be warm not scalding hot before blending so you don't destroy your blender. Once the 

beans is in a smooth paste either from blender/broom, place back on low heat, add one single stock 

cube, your pepper and your oil, then you stir.

Add salt to taste and a little water to reduce the thickness. Leave on low heat for 5mins, if u want to put

 locust beans, now is the perfect time, add it and let it steam for 1min.

Turn off the heat

serve hot with ewedu (I personally enjoy it with ewedu)(optional)

Note :Gbegiri gets thickened when cold, little water can be added when warming.

       ENJOY

health benefits: Guava

Guava

The guava is native to the Caribbean. Its skin is thin, light yellow and blushed with pink. A ripe guava softens to the touch. Guavas emit a strong, sweet, pungent fragrance. The flesh is white, red or salmon-colored and flavor ranges from strawberry to lemon to tropical.

Guavas like other tropical fruits should not be refrigerated unless over ripe. The seeds of a guava can be eaten and the taste is often described as a cross between pears and strawberries.

Health Benefits of Guava

- Diarrhea & Dysentery: Guava is very rich in astringents (compounds those make your gums feel tighter and fresh after you chew guava leaves or eat a raw guava or use some toothpaste) which binds up loose bowels in diarrhea. These astringents are alkaline in nature and have disinfectant and anti-bacterial properties, thus help cure dysentery by inhibiting microbial growth and removing extra mucus from the intestines. Further, other nutrients in guava, such as vitamin-C, Carotenoids and potassium strengthens and tones up the digestive system and disinfect it. Guava is also beneficial in gastroenteritis due to reasons stated above. 

- Constipation: Guava is one of the riches sources of dietary fiber. Its seeds, if ingested whole or chewed, serve as excellent laxatives. These two properties of guava help forming bowels, retaining water and clean your intestines and excretory system thoroughly. It is said that single constipation can lead to seventy two types of ailments. It is absolutely true. Every way to your total health goes through proper digestion and more importantly, proper excretion. Guava ensures both of these. 

- Cough & Cold: Juice of raw and immature guavas or decoction of guava-leaves is very helpful in giving relief in cough and cold by loosening cough, reducing mucus, disinfecting the respiratory tract, throat and lungs and inhibiting microbial activity due to its astringent properties. Guava is one of richest in vitamin-C and iron which are proven to be preventive against cold and viral infections. In some areas in India, roasted ripe guava is used as a remedy against extreme cases of cough and cold and congestion. 

- Skin Care: Guavas can help improve your skin texture and avoid skin problems more than the best of beauty creams or skin toner gels can do. This is chiefly due to the abundance of astringents in its fruits (more in immature ones) and in leaves. You can benefit from it either by eating the fruits (this help tighten your muscles apart from your skin) or by washing your skin with the decoction of its immature fruits and leaves. It will tone up and tighten the loosened skin. In addition to the astringents, guava is very-very rich in vitamin-A, B, C and potassium which are very good anti oxidants and detoxifiers and keep your skin glowing and free from aging, wrinkles and other disorders. 

- High Blood Pressure: Guava helps reduce cholesterol in blood and prevents it from thickening, thereby maintaining fluidity of blood and reducing blood pressure. Studies have shown that food stuffs which lack fiber (such a refined flour) add to blood pressure, due to quick conversion to sugar. Guava, being very rich in fiber and hypoglycemic in nature, helps reduce blood pressure. 

- Weight Loss: Guava is very helpful for those who want to lose weight without compromising with their intake of proteins, vitamins and fiber. Guava, being very high in roughage and very rich in vitamins, proteins and minerals, but with no cholesterol and less digestible carbohydrates, is very filling and satisfies appetite very easily. Just have a medium sized guava in the lunch and you will not feel hungry till night. But ironically, it helps gaining weight in lean and thin people. This is probably due to its richness in nutrients, which keeps your metabolism right helping proper absorption of nutrients. 

- Scurvy: Guava can outdo many other fruits, including orange and other citrus fruits, when it comes to concentration of vitamin-C, whose deficiency causes scurvy and which is the only remedy to it. It contains five times the vitamin-C in oranges.

Health Benefit : ginger

Ginger

A native of tropical Asia, this perennial is cultivated in the tropical climates of Australia, Brazil, China, India, Jamaica, West Africa, and parts of the United States. The rhizome, which is used medicinally and as a culinary spice, is harvested at 6 to 20 months; taste and pungency increase with maturity. The plant carries a green-purple flower in terminal spikes; the flowers are similar in appearance to orchids.

Health Benefits of Ginger

Ginger has been used for its health benefits for over 5000 years and is a favorite medicinal as well as culinary herb. Unlike most spices, the part that has the most medicinal value grows under ground. Often mistakenly called "ginger root" this is actually the rhizome of the plant which is more of a subterranean stem than a root.

• One of ginger's most touted health benefits is its ameliorating effects on digestive ailments. It can help digest fatty foods and break down proteins. It is excellent for reducing gas. Many people report that it will also relieve nausea, and can be effective in treating morning sickness as well as motion sickness.
• Ginger can also help reduce inflammation. So it can be used to treat any disease that is caused by inflammations such as arthritis or ulcerative colitis. Some studies show that it can even help inhibit the replication of the herpes simplex virus.
• Being a warming herb, ginger can help knock out a fever. This property also makes it effective in stimulating circulation of the blood. It can also help relax muscles around the blood vessels and is said to help prevent blood clots from forming. The warming effects make it a natural decongestant as well as an antihistamine, making it the perfect remedy for colds.
• Recent studies show that ginger might also have a role in lowering LDL cholesterol because the spice can help reduce the amount of cholesterol that is absorbed. It has also been shown in animal trials to help slow or even prevent cancerous tumor growth.
• Gingers healing properties come from it's volatile oils, gingerols and shogaols, which are also responsible for it's pungent taste. The oils cause more digestive enzymes to be produced which helps with the whole digestion process and neutralizes the acids that can cause nausea, cramps and even diarrhea.
• To discover the health benefits of ginger for yourself, simply make a tea by steeping about 5 slices of ginger in hot water. If you prefer it in your food, ginger is excellent in many dishes and is perfect when combined with garlic.

Did you know

 Did you know

·      Did you know grapes explode when you put them in the microwave

·      Did you know rice is the staple food for 50% of the worlds population

·      Did you know a hard boiled eggs spin (uncooked or soft boiled dont)

·      Did you know there is no butter in buttermilk

·      Did you know almonds are members of the peach family

·      Did you know an egg contains every vitamin except vitamin C

·      Did you know more people die from falling coconuts then from shark attacks

·      Did you know the oldest known vegetable is the pea

·      Did you know the average hen lays 228 eggs a year

·      Did you know carrots contain 0% fat

·      Did you know that in developed countries 27% of food is thrown away

·      Did you know a banana contains 75% water

·      Did you know cucumbers are 96% water.

·    

·      Did you know bananas grow pointing upwards.

·      Did you know tarantula spiders can survive 2 and a half years without food

·      Did you know Brazil got its name from the Brazilian nut (not the other way around)

    Did you know the largest exporter of sugar is Cuba

    Did you know flamingos can only eat when their heads are upside down

    Did you know turnips turn green when sunburnt

    Did you know americans spend $10 million a day on potato chips

    Did you know most of the Vitamin C found in fruits is in the skin

    Did you know you can buy square watermelons in Japan (developed to stack better in supermarkets)