Take advantage of Herbal Remedies in your cooking

Published: 04/10/2014 - Updated: 08/14/2019

It is well known that plants and herbs provide us many medicinal benefits. Each plant has different properties and it is the edible one that, besides being able to be used to cure many illnesses and ailments, we can use to prepare delicious dishes and thus help improve our health. Knowing what is favourable or what ingredient to use can make a difference when choosing which dishes to cook and bring to the table. Learn today how introducing some herbs into your cooking could help you: 

Indian style rice with cloves

Cloves: intestinal infections, anesthetic cardiovascular system.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of rice
  • 2 cups of water
  • 2 Cloves
  • 2 cardamoms
  • 1/4 tsp. of cumin
  • 1/2 Onion
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1/4 tsp. of turmeric
  • 1 tsp. of butter
  • Salt (sufficient amount)

Preparation

  1. Wash the rice to remove excess starch, place under running water until the water runs clear, drain and reserve.
  2. Place rice in a saucepan with water and add some spices (cloves, cardamom seeds and salt) to cook with.
  3. Boil the rice and lower the heat to finish cooking – The rice should be soft.
  4. Heat a teaspoon of butter with a little oil in a pan; add the previously threaded or finely chopped onion.
  5. Add the rice and sauté lightly.
  6. Add the remaining spices (turmeric, garlic and cumin) to the rice.
  7. Season to taste and, if necessary, add more spice to the final dish.

Fish skewers with Jamaican sauce

Jamaican flowers: For digestive, diuretic and laxative problems.

Ingredients

For the kebabs

  • 350g of Grilled fish (sea bass)
  • 1 Onion
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 green pepper
  • 1 cup of cherry tomatoes
  • Salt (sufficient amount)
  • 3 tbsp. of oil
  • Black pepper
  • sticks to skewer

For the sauce

  • 1 cup of Jamaican flower
  • 2 cups of water
  • 1/4 cup of sugar
  • Olive oil
  • 2 tbsp. of Lemon juice
  • Salt & Pepper (sufficient amount)

Preparation

For the kebabs

  1. Cut the fish fillets into regular cubes about 1.5 cm or bite size. Place the fish in a pan, add a tablespoon of oil and season with salt and pepper.
  2. Cut the red peppers in the same way, first removing the seeds, and place in a bowl.
  3. Slice the onion into quarters or bite-sized chunks.
  4. Place the onion in a bowl, along with the cherry tomatoes and peppers.
  5. Add 2 tablespoons of oil, salt and pepper and mix lightly to flavor vegetables.
  6. Take skewer sticks in water to moisten and alternate inserting pieces of vegetables and fish onto the skewer.
  7. Place on the grill and cook until the fish and vegetables are cooked.
  8. Serve with Jamaican sauce.

For Sauce Jamaica

  1. Boil the water and add flower of Jamaica leaves to infuse for 10-15 minutes.
  2. Strain and pour into a pan with hot oil.
  3. Add the sugar and let the sauce reduce until thickened.
  4. Add lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

Lavender Biscuits

Lavender: soothing and cleansing properties.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup of milk
  • 2 tbsp. of Lavender flower
  • 2 cups of Wheat
  • 1 ½ tbsp. of Baking Powder
  • 1/4 tsp. of salt
  • 1/2 cup of Whipping cream or cream
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 90g of butter
  • 3 eggs

Preparation

  1. Preheat the oven at 180°C.
  2. Mix the dry ingredients (salt, flour and baking powder) in a bowl and sift.
  3. Infuse the milk with dehydrated lavender flowers and let stand for 20 minutes.
  4. Cream butter with sugar and add eggs little by little.
  5. Add cream and milk to the butter and egg mixture.
  6. Add flour and whisk lightly until blended.
  7. Pour into a greased and floured pan.
  8. Bake at 180°C for 30 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

About the author
  • Nayeli Reyes

    Nayeli is an expert cook, with the title of Chef by the International Culinary School of Guadalajara (Mexico), where she obtained the honorable mention for her great talent and dedication. In Biomanantial.com she presents her best recipes so that we can prepare them easily.

6 Replies to “Take advantage of Herbal Remedies in your cooking”
  • Jeremy says:

    Wow those recipes are so great, even though I am young and that I do enjoy the old remedies for soothing symptoms that may affect you daily, like stomach ache and things like that, and of course this is a lot way better than relying of common medicines that we normally use.

  • Henry says:

    I have heard about cookies made with anise and that kind of herbs but this is new and highly nutritious for the body!! and the mind as well! you can solve many things affecting your life just adding some spices to your cooking, so, my question is, why not??

    • LESTER says:

      IN MY OPINION YOU CAN TRY ALL OF THOSE RECIPES SINCE COOKING IS A SCIENCE AND YOU CAN EXPERIMENT WITH IT!

  • CARL says:

    I THINK I WILL PREPARE THE JAMAICAN SAUCE TO DRESS OTHER STUFF, OR MAYBE THE SAME DISH BUT PREPARED WITH POULTRY OR MEAT, I AM INTO THAT MORE THAN FISH, BUT THE SAUCE SEEMS LIKE SOMETHING I MUST TRY!!

  • Stacy says:

    all great looking recipes. And lavender biscuits?? Who would have thought!! I’d like to see some more information regarding the recipes’ medicinal properties though…didn’t seem like there was much information regarding the uses for the recipes. I’d like to try them some day though!

  • Emily Grace B says:

    The lavender biscuits sound delicious! Lavender ice cream is also a personal favourite of mine and of course, the soothing properties of lavender are incorporated into the cream, making a great healer for a sore throat.
    Plants and herbs offer a wealth of remedial properties which many people are not aware of. If you are looking to read more about this, I recommend a great book by Bartram, called the Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine.