The Apples of My Eyes

Kids are the apple of everyone’s eyes, not just for you and me. They add to the joys of our lives. So when these lovely god-made creatures are in pain, you too cannot stop yourself from getting carried away by their pain and sorrow. When my sons Aryan and Ayaansh are in pain, especially when the monster called 'cough invades their lives,' my life goes topsy-turvy.  Rosaries, prayers, abstinence, penance, fasting and so on, become my way of life for some time, not to mention the researches on the internet for home-made Ayurveda remedies for cough treatment.  What I found from all these browsing and researching is that apart from Ginger and Tulsi syrups, it’s really important to add honey in all your preparations. Besides honey, I also use jaggery in generous proportion, considering it’s cheaply available.  In fact, I have replaced sugar with jaggery and sugar candy in almost all the dishes I cook for them. My mom-in-law, in fact, gets panam kalkandam from Kerala to add them in their milk and other dishes. For the starters, Panam Kalkandam is a crystallized form of palm sugar having medicinal values. It’s believed to have the power to liquefy phelgm from the lungs and is widely used in curing sore throats and bringing down cholesterol levels. All these measures help keep cough in check for some time for my sons. But then this monster raises its ugly head every now and then.

Some of the recipes I use jaggery exclusively for my 11 month old Ayaansh are as follows:

Oat meal

Saute required quantity of oats in ghee. Add milk and water in equal proportions and pressure cook it. Once it’s done, add jaggery to it. If your kid can't have in this form, mix it in a blender.  

Suji halva

Saute suji in Ghee. Once it turns light in brown, add milk and water to it. Keep stirring. Once the mix comes to a semi-solid state, add jaggery to it.   

Wheat halva

Sauté required quantity of wheat in spoonfuls of ghee. Once the mixture turns light in brown and oozes aroma, add milk and water to it. Keep stirring. Once the mix comes to a semi-solid state, add jaggery to it.

These are quick recipes and, in fact, can be made in a couple of minutes. And the best part is, Ayaansh has it easily without any sort of fuzz. In fact, there are many other recipes, wherein jaggery, or for that matter sugar candy can be easily replaced for sugar. For the uninitiated, sugar adds to cough, so it’s advisable to stay away from it.  

And before I forget, I need to add that, both my sons have started having turmeric milk in the morning blended with sugar candy, given that winters are around the corner. Sometimes turmeric is replaced with Saffron (kesar).   Saffron is hot, they say. It also helps fight cough. If you know about any home-remedies that help fight cough, do let me know in the comment box below.