Saravanaa Bhavan – Indian Vegetarian Restaurant

Wow, awesome find! We’ll be checking this place out in coming days. It’s right around the corner from us.

I am from South India and wish to clarify about the health impact of the food Mark ate. The plain dosa, cheese dosa and idli are made from the same batter combining white rice and a type of lentil called Urad Dal soaked overnight, mixed and ground to a paste, left to ferment and then cooked. The dosa varieties are cooked on a flat griddle with very little oil (a tablespoon), while the idlis are steamed.

The food combination of starch (rice) and legumes (lentils) gives the complete essential amino acid spectrum (protein) that non-vegetarian meals provide (chicken, fish, eggs etc.). Ancient Indian philosophers/scientists/???? discovered that this combination is good enough to get the complete protein requirement.

The lentil used contains both soluble and insoluble fiber. This is also important because the oil present in the meal (from the griddle or in the curries that accompany the dosa/idly) causes the liver to excrete bile to digest it. This bile, instead of being reabsorbed into the body through the intestines is attached to by the insoluble fiber which prevents reabsorption. Now understand this… the body needs mostly the LDL (bad cholesterol) to make bile. Since the bile that was excreted by the liver is NOT reabsorbed, the next time bile is needed, the liver takes LDL from the blood reserves, thereby reducing your LDL levels and so lower cholesterol.

https://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/cardiovascular/cholesterol/foods-that-lower-cholesterol2.htm

The above foods are fermented. Scientists today are “discovering” the benefits of fermented foods. Just google “fermented food health” to know more. Its not like we didn’t know the benefits of fermented stuff like… oh… I don’t know…. Beer! Wine! 🙂 (all fermented). Or even probiotic yoghurt like Activia (hell! All yoghurt is fermented). Or Jameed even.

There is an optimum ratio of carbs, proteins and fats in the dishes above to satisfy a nutritional requirement.

Regarding the other foods, the batter for curd vada is made entirely from fermented urad dal (see above). It is then DEEP FRIED and slathered with yoghurt and some garnishing. Benefits are not the same as the previous dishes, but nonetheless, the fiber content in it is high enough. But yes I do admit the frying factor makes it a less healthy option.

To make Poori Bhaji and Porotta, you need basically white flour and ghee/oil. Poori is deep fried, while the dough for Porotta mixes flour and oil. At first glance, these seem very unhealthy. But what people again don’t realize is that if on an empty stomach, if you were to eat just a plain white flour product, it gets digested VERY fast, and so the sugars from this gets into your bloodstream VERY fast, causing your pancreas to work VERY hard to deal with the spike in blood sugar and I am VERY sorry to say you may get diabetes eventually. We don’t just eat these poori or porotta alone. Look at the pics Mark has taken. Poori comes with bhaji (ingredients – potatoes, onions) and chickpea curry. The porotta comes with the same curries. The dosas come with sambar (vegetables cooked in a shorba adas like liquid) and coconut chutney. All these side curries have enough INSOLUBLE fiber to slow down digestion of the white flour so that the sugars are gradually absorbed into the bloodstream and therefore do not overload the pancreas for insulin.

The type of payasam Mark had is made from white rice, sugar and milk. Health-wise I admit its not great for the body but then again, we South Indians have half a cup of this maybe once a week. And the taste is heavenly…

The point is at any meal, if you have a significant amount of foods that contain soluble and insoluble fiber, you are protecting yourself. Knowing how the ingredients and nutrients interact will also aid you (but might take the fun out of eating for a while – it happened to me).

For centuries, South Indian food was very healthy (Porotta is an import). In the last few decades, our eating habits have changed. In some cases, there is a shift to western fast foods and the associated health problems that come with those. Additionally, secondary and tertiary ingredients used for cooking have changed to suit economical models.

For those of you who have reached this far in reading my comment/rant, I salute you! 🙂