Indian ginger, chilly and papaya - what I like to eat

   When I started this blog, the main idea was do describe my life in Chandigarh. It included everything from what I do personally to how people live in the city. Today I am starting a new part of posts about Indian food, which was not familiar to me anyhow before I came here. I didn't know that vegetables could be so tasty, same as I never knew that there were so many more spices!
  My husband D, as a true Indian, likes spicy food. However, in my first months in India I couldn't share this love, because almost all the things I tried were unbearably spicy for me so that I couldn't eat them without pouring water in my mouth constantly. Now, after 2 years spent here, I am in love with spicy Indian dishes.  One of the main spices of India is chilly pepper. I knew about it of course, but we don't use it Russian dishes much.
 I used to order lunch from some dhaba (small Indian cafe). Besides the main course, there were always 2-3 chilly peppers, prepared in a way that they were not really hot. So, once I got how it was done, I decided to try it at home.  I made a small amount of chilly pepper in a jar day before yesterday.

 All you need is 10 chilly peppers, salt and crushed cumin seeds (Hindi "jeera" or "zeera"). You have to add salt and cumin  into chilly pepper halves and then keep them in a jar for few hours. Chilly becomes salty and loses it's excessive spiciness and you can eat it the same day (or evening).
One more very important ingredient of many Indian delicacies is ginger (I am not taking here about ginger tea). Ginger is an incredible spice and a very good remedy for many health problems. Ginger is a root and it indeed looks like this, what you can see in the picture below (there are also chilly pepper pods):

  I like availability of such products in India, because they are healthy and tasty too. I have started drinking ginger water in the morning, straight after getting up. It is said to have good influence on overall organism. I prepare it since evening by grating it and adding in a glass of water. Water becomes a bit spicy by the morning so now I will be adding half of a spoon of honey to it.
 Another thing I discovered when I came to India was that you could buy almost any kind of fruit in the market, be it exotic or an "ordinary" one, and it also won't be costly. I adore this fact! So, only yesterday we were helping ourselves with papaya - juicy, delicious! And the colour is awesome too, so summery!

Papaya has very interesting seeds, my husband read in Wiki yesterday that they are spicy in taste and can be used instead of black pepper. We haven't tried whether it is so, but we trust a reputable source of information :)

Summer on your plate! Many people here like to eat papaya and other fruits adding some salt and cumin for example. I prefer a pure taste of fruit. Mmmm, so tempting even in the picture!

"We are what we eat"... well means I am a spicy ginger fruit! :) Hehe :)
                                          <<< Have a nice week ahead, eat healthy food!>>>