Curd/ Yogurt
Curd is the number one and the most wonderful coolant and it works. It can be part of your breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, dessert, you name it! Serve it sweet, salted, as it is, in curd form, make sweet Indian lassi or tangy buttermilk. Add it to your salad to serve a cool and satisfying lunch. Add fruits to the curds and toss a healthy dessert or make dips. There’s a lot you can do with curd.
Coconut water
Coconut is a fruit full of health and besides having super-cooling properties. It contains simple sugars, electrolytes and essential minerals, keeps our body well hydrated; coconut water, as research suggests has cancer fighting & anti-ageing properties.
Melons and Watermelon
Melons have 90% water content. It will keep you well hydrated during summers, have lots of them. Watermelons are another fruit that will keep you cool. Don’t ever go for cut, chopped, sliced watermelons sold by street vendors, as those may contain a risk of diarrhea infection. Besides keeping you hydrated it has antioxidants.
Cucumber
This one really helps you look and stay, as cool as cucumber. This crunchy finger food doesn’t cost much, is full of fiber, helps to keep constipation away plus water content keeps you hydrated. Add salt or Indian spices to make it tangy, add it to your salads, give it to kids as snack, use it in sandwich filling, whatever!
Mint
There’s something about Mint that everyone loves. It’s aroma to begin with is almost therapeutic. You can grow at home in a pot. It requires no maintenance and you can pluck it fresh, whenever you need it. Otherwise it is easily available that hardly costs anything. It gives a feel of cool in the summer. Its smell makes your summer easy to bear. You can add it to your curd or flavour any salad. Make dips or chutneys using it as well.
Green Vegetables
Though green vegetables are recommended all year round, it is especially good during the summer months because of their high water content. While cooking, you should make sure that you don’t overcook them as heat can cause loss of water therein.
Onions
Onions are known for their cooling and other medicinal properties like protecting you from heat wave & sun stroke etc, that help you to enjoy good health during summers. Add it to curries, pulses, dips, salads, chutneys to help keep you cool. Choose red onions over white as they are richer in quercetin, a natural anti-allergen. Onions can be eaten raw, cooked, half cooked, mixed with veggies, can be added to make breakfast. Eaten raw it leaves a foul smell in the mouth so it is advised that after eating raw onion you wash your mouth with lemon.
Lime water
Fresh Lime or lemonade, is not only refreshing, but also has health benefits. Have it sweet or salted. Give traditional sweet lime a twist by adding a dash of black salt and cumin powder, or if you prepare it a few hours in advance for guests, drop a piece of ginger in it and see how the twang changes! Have it chilled, or at room temperature as you like.
Ice creams
Any discussion on summers can never be complete without mention of ice creams. Add some fresh fruits to ice creams while indulging your kids to give this dessert a healthy twist. You can try making ice creams at home. It’s the best way to organically introduce children to cooking especially in summers, when you anyway are trying to figure out how they can utilize their summers.
An ice cream churning machine can work as a great game as it gives you an opportunity to spend quality time with your children. An ice-cream party for friends will teach them to invite, attend to, and serve people. These are small everyday essential life skills that you have to be teaching them anyway.
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