Medicated Porridge (Karkkidaka Kanji) as a Healthy Seasonal Food—A Review

Abstract

: Health requires healthy food. Healthy foods are those that provide the nutrients needed to sustain the body’s well-being and retain energy. Food is the substances consisting essentially of protein, carbohydrate, and fat used in the body of an organism to sustain growth, repair, and vital processes and to furnish energy. Ayurveda, the science of life, provides a clear context for food in healthy, as well as diseased, persons. Ayurveda explains the influence of food in different stages of a disease, such as in aetiology, manifestation, and treatment, as well as regimens to be followed. There are so many categories of healthy food explained in Ayurveda science. Most of them are of plant origin. Medicated porridge is a medicated rice soup, which is an important dietary regimen discussed in the Ayurvedic medicinal system. A special medicated rice named “Karkkidaka kanji” is usually included in a seasonal food regimen in Kerala, especially in the monsoon or rainy season (June to August). This medicated gruel contains more than 25 herbs, 9 pulses, and cereals that help in boosting one’s immunity. It acts as a detoxifying agent, as well as a remedy for rheumatic disorder, and mainly occurs seasonally. The ingredients of “karkkidaka kanji” include shashtika shali (red rice), chandrashoora (garden cress), dasamoola churna (root of 10 medicinal plants), trikatu (3 pungent herbs), dasapushpa (10 herbal flowers), methika (fenugreek), jeera (cumin seed), coconut milk, jaggery, and water. The properties of these herbal medicines make this gruel a delectable, nutritious, and medicated food. The therapeutic effect of these drugs includes the prevention of respiratory ailments; relief from arthritis pain and swelling; enhanced digestion; reduced constipation; and antipyretic, analgesic, and stress relieving effects, etc. Through the literary search related to these ingredients, one can establish the therapeutic effect of the traditional medicated porridge, “The Karkkidaka Kanji”.