10 Home Remedies you can Find in your Kitchen

Besan Kheer for Cold

What better way to treat a cold than with a steaming hot sweet treat? Eaten during festivals, the Besan Kheer is a delicious dessert that also happens to be a very good remedy for cold. If you’d like to try it, find the recipe here!

Hot Toddy Drink for Sore Throat

Toddy has very warming properties. This is the reason it is consumed to warm up the body when it is cold. This toddy drink sends heat down your throat and works wonders for a sore throat. Here’s the recipe!

Lemon and Ginger Juice for Stomach Infection

This lemon juice with ginger extract is great for those pesky minor stomach infections that spring up from time to time. All you need to do is crush some ginger for its juice and add the extract to your lemon juice and gulp it down.

Turmeric as an Anti-Bacterial

Turmeric is well-known for its anti-bacterial properties. In case of minor cuts, bruises or scratches, a little turmeric applied on the spot is guaranteed to make sure it does not get infected and heals faster, even though it might sting a bit first.

Roasted Garlic for Gas

When your stomach aches or bloats because of gas, don’t worry. You can get rid of it by eating a few cloves of garlic roasted over a fire. If you’d prefer something sweeter and less pungent, you can add raw garlic to a little bit of milk and let the concoction reduce and thicken before taking it off the stove.

Cumin and Asafoetida for Indigestion

Cumin is known as Seerakam in Tamil (which literally translates to ‘clean or clear the insides’). So it is no surprise that Cumin powder added to some water or buttermilk will help when you have indigestion. A perfect way to take it is to add some cumin powder along with asafoetida to some curd or buttermilk and drink it instead of a meal.

Roasted Bengal Gram (Pottukadalai in Tamil) for Fatty Foods

If you’ve gone a little overboard with the fried foods or bacon, and feel uneasy with all that greasy food floating around in your stomach, a good way to stop that fat from lining your stomach is to eat some roasted Bengal gram after the meal. You can wash it down with some warm water too.

Clove for Toothache

Okay, you’ve probably known this one for a long time. Toothache caused by cavities can be quite a… pain in the tooth (Because that does seem the worst pain EVER). But if your dentist is too busy to give you an appointment, the age-old remedy of biting a clove will temporarily put you out of your misery.

Plantain Stem Essence for Kidney Stones

We take back what we said about toothaches being the worst possible pain. Anyone who has had a kidney stone will agree that abdominal pain caused by kidney stones are just incomparable. If you’re suffering with that, hang on for a moment, and drink some Plantain stem essence (called Vazhathandu Saaru in Tamil). Slowly but steadily, this will break down the stone into fragments that can travel down the ureter more easily. Find recipes for three variations here.

Water – For EVERYTHING

Cliché as it may be, we really can’t live without water. Lots of it. Drinking 1.5 to 2 litres of water every day is a necessity. Water removes and washes away all the toxins in our body while keeping us hydrated. Drinking 2 glasses of water before bed and after waking up does wonders for our body.