One with Nature !!!

Health is wealth. And if the thought has dawned upon you that you should discard those junky food habits at least now to keep the newly coined 'like-style diseases' at bay, think not twice before you choose the green path.

Cooking without heavy masala these days is unheard of. But if both good taste and sound health is your primary choice, here is a hot spot right in the heart of the city of Kozhikode, Kerala which I notices during my days in The New Indian Express. Where they have everything to suit your needs. 'Pathayam,' the naturopathy restaurant located on Railway Station Link Road lets you go by the saying, 'Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.'

The eatery has been functioning at its current locate for the past eight years, though the establishment has been attracting nature food lovers through its minor branches in various parts of the city for more than a decade. Pathayam has a cosy village ambiance with mud floors and bamboo huts and the typical veggie stuff served in banana leaf appeals to your senses. "We focus on giving a natural feel to our customers. We have no compromises when it comes to hospitality and cooking pure stuff, which is completely devoid of any kinds of masala, oil, red chillies, chilli powder, asafoetida or any type of dal," says Bhaskaran K, charioteer of Pathayam, who adds that the concept was developed by his friend.

"In a city well- known for its rich and splendid non-vegetarian assortments, my friend Gangadharan Chiningath had no doubt about how a naturopathic eating house would grab the attention of food lovers. However tasty those meaty recipes would be, its impossible to stick on them for a long period without opening doors to lifestyle diseases. To go the healthy way, alter your food choices and opt for the green road," he adds. Pathayam follows some srict norms in its kitchen. Sugar is something they have simply banned.‘’We use jaggery and honey instead,’’ says Bhaskaran.

In the same way, lemon is used instead of tamarind and ample amounts of ginger and green chillies are used instead of masalas and chilli powder. The five-member chef team adds that the vegetables used for cooking are collected exclusively from organic farms. But, some vegetables like beetroot, carrot and cabbage are purchased from the local vegetable markets as we won’t get a regular supply of these from our organic farms. Before commencing cooking, all these vegetables are boiled in hot water for at least an hour," adds Lalitha, from the chef team. It’s believed that naturopathic style of cooking preserves proteins and the nutrient content in the meals, which is much more important than the taste. The menu at the eatery follows the same slogan.

When the doors open at 8 am, Pathayam will be ready with its typical naturopathic breakfast, which includes millet puttu, wheat puttu, coconut milk-rice kanji, vegetable kanji, green gram puzhukku, tapioca puzhukku and coconut chutney, to cite a few. But the exclusive dish in the menu is nothing but ‘chappy’. ‘’This special health drink is prepared from a fixed ratio of fenugreek seeds, coriander, cumin seeds, cardamom, dried ginger and jaggery with coconut milk. Tea and coffee are substituted with chappy at our place,’’ says Bhaskaran. One hundred and fifty grams of packed chappy powder can be purchased for Rs 35 from Pathayam.

From 1pm, a board is put up displaying the meal menu. The meals are served for Rs 40 and the varieties are just stunning. A bowl of fruits comes first in the line to flag off your meal. After that, sprouted green grams or horse grams are served as starters. Then comes ‘thoran’, two types of vegetable curries, vegetable salads and chutney served with two rice varieties which could be either the normal husked rice, vegetable rice, coconut rice or the lemon rice. The meal concludes with delicious payasams.

‘’Every Saturday, we offer the ‘dasha ila thoran’ (fry prepared from 10 varieties of leaves like bean leaf, pudina, colocasia, green spinach, moringa, pumpkin, amara, coriander leaf, etc) and fruit payasam,’’ he adds. The visitants will also get an opportunity to try out the half-cooked vegetable dishes and the vegetable curries prepared from ingredients like spinach, pumpkin seed, cucumber and colocasia leaf. Further, ginger chutney, pudina chutney and mango chutney are not to be missed out. If you really care for your health, visit this cosy green restaurant for a complete natural meal.