Quinoa’s spectacular Indian cousin: Amaranth

There’s a lot of talk about superfoods like kale and quinoa. Are there any Indian alternatives of these two foods?—Prashant Babani

Superfoods are lower in calories, higher in nutrients. People spend exorbitant amounts on imported superfoods without understanding their nutritional benefits. Quinoa’s less popular but equally spectacular Indian cousin is amaranth. Both belong to the same family and have similar nutrition content. Quinoa is known for its protein, and high fibre content, calcium, phosphorous, and iron. So is amaranth. And you can get it at about a fraction of the cost. You can easily incorporate it in a variety of Indian dishes like halwa, kheer, rotis, chikki, etc.

Kale is the multi-vitamin wonder from the West. It contains cancer preventive-nutrients, high amounts of micro-nutrients like vitamin A, C, K, and manganese. But it’s an acquired taste: slightly bitter, and quite a force-fit in Indian cuisine. It has many Indian relatives that we take for granted. Cabbage is one of them, and offers many nutritional benefits of kale. It also helps reduce cholesterol. Kale has an excellent flavonoid count that no other single vegetable can compete with but you can easily get it from vegetables like tomatoes, okra, eggplant, etc. You can also try using other Indian alternatives while cooking like amaranth leaves, radish, dill leaves and shepu.

Pooja Makhija, Consulting nutritionist and clinical dietitian

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Mail your queries at: dnahealthpage@gmail.com; you can contact Pooja at: pooja@nourishgenie.com