Flaxseed may not ever figure in your thoughts, except for ‘Blearrghh!’, but these tiny little seeds have the potential to be your body’s best friend. And we are not exaggerating. For women, in particular, flaxseeds are your solution to hormonal weight loss, PMS, depression and mood swings. That apart, they go a long way in preventing diabetes and heart diseases. So hold onto those little critters. That being said, most people are put off by the idea of eating flaxseed, eating seed actually, like a bird. Let me tell you, it’s not bad. Flaxseeds taste toasty and nutty, kinda like walnuts. So I am quite happy to include it in my diet. And while I am perfectly fine just stirring in a teaspoon of flaxseed into water and drinking it up, I understand that it is not to everybody’s taste. So here’s some yummy ways of including flaxseed in your daily diet.
Image and Recipe via JL Goes Vegan
1.Sprinkle ground flaxseed on top of salads. The nutty toasty flavour of this ground seed actually enhances the salad flavour.
2.Grind it along with your breakfast smoothie. You won’t even realise that it has flaxseeds.
3.Add it to your paratha stuffing. Your parathas will come out softer.
4.It’s a great addition in baking. Include flaxseeds in your bran muffins or your baked crackers for healthier treats. In fact, since flaxseed has natural oil, you can cut down on the oil you use for baking. Use one cup of milled flaxseed to replace 1/3 cup of oil.
5.Flaxseed is a vegetarian’s boon as it is a great substitute for egg. Combine 1 tablespoon of flaxseed meal and 2.5-3 tablespoons water and allow it to sit for five minutes. This mixture can replace one egg in baking recipes or in pancake batter.
6.Flaxseed is very similar in taste to walnut. So it works as a great substitute in brownies and your brownies will turn out moist and dense in texture and flavour.
Image and Recipe via Pea Soup Eats
7.Incorporate it in your morning cereal for all-round nourishment. It particularly tastes good with oatmeal and banana.
8. Make a raita with flaxseeds which you can serve with masala bhaat, pulao, biryani and parathas. The addition of mint and chillies to it will just make you lap it up.
Image and Recipe via Indian Healthy Recipes
9. If you love south Indian foods like idli, vada and dosa, then check out this recipe for flaxseed chutney powder. This is really gunpowder, which you can roast and grind with spices and then just mix with a few drops of oil to go with your dosas. And it’s super yummy too.
Image and Recipe via Deliciously Ella
10. You can combine ground flaxseed, with nuts and other ground seeds along with pureed dates and cocoa powder for some delicious chocolatey laddoos that are way more healthier than chocolate, but just as yummy.
