1K, NuSi, and Payay

   This past weekend, FewPaleoThoughts recorded one thousand hits since its inception in May 2012. The blog was picked up in China, UK, and Germany. Here is a snapshot from Google Analytics:

Pageviews by Countries      Entry Pageviews United States 947 China 30 United Kingdom 24 Germany 12 Russia 6 South Korea 5 Ukraine 5 Canada 4 Australia 2 Latvia 2

   The purpose of my blog is to explain the paleo concepts to my friends in easy layman terms. It is also a good learning experience for me and I am really enjoy the research. Hopefully, I will continue to provide information that maybe of some use. Thank you for reading. The blog has given me an idea to write a book and I have started my research on the book. I plan to research until about next summer and then start writing the book sometimes in the fall of 2013.

   I want to draw your attention to a valiant effort that was just launched, NuSi (Nutrition Science Initiative) www.NuSi.org. The NuSi organization is co-founded by Gary Taubes, the author of "Why we get fat and what to do about it", and its purpose is to fund studies to dispel bad science around the nutritional field. They are going to be like the myth busters for the nutritional science. So please support them by donating. Gary Taubes and Peter Attia, founders of NuSi have recruited great talent in the medical industry and have formulated a sound strategy to tackle the conventional wisdom like grains are wonderful, the famous food pyramid,  saturated fats are bad, and our energy imbalance is causing obesity in the United Staes. So check out their website. A good grass root level effort.

   In one of my earlier posts I mentioned cow feet soup that my wife makes once or twice a month and it is really delicious, nutritious, and of course, totally paleo. I am going to give the Pakistani version of this recipe. The Pakistani version is called payay. Cow feet are called "payay" in Urdu. Payay is very popular in Pakistan and is commonly consumed as a breakfast item. In Pakistan some of the best payay are sold by the street vendors who usually cook them all night long. The payay recipe does call for white flour to thicken the soup, but you can leave out the flour and the soup still remains delicious. My wife makes it with out flour. So here is my wife's payay recipe:

Ingredients
3 Cow feet (payay)
3 table spoon clarified butter or coconut oil
1 medium size onion
1 table spoon turmeric powder *
1 table spoon red chili powder
1 table spoon salt (Add more later to taste)
1 large black cardamom *
1 table spoon garlic paste
1 table spoon ginger paster
1 table spoon Garam masala *
1 green chili peppers
1 large piece of fresh ginger
1 small bunch of cilantro coarsely chopped
*(You may have to visit your local Indian grocer)

Preparation
In a 8 quart pan place cow feet (payay) and add water until submerged.
Crush the black cardamom and add to the liquid. (This is her secret ingredient)
Cover the pan and place it on slow heat over night.

After about 8 hours the meat will separate from the bones. The liquid will have plenty of fat floating from the meat and the melted bone marrow.

In a different pan add 3 table spoons of clarified butter and onions. Lightly brown the onions.
Add ginger paste
Add garlic paste
Add salt
Add red chili pepper
Add turmeric powder
Keep stirring and make sure the spice mixture does not stick to the bottom of the pan. Add cow feet and the meat without liquid. You may want to use a strainer to pick the bones and the meat from the liquid. Save the liquid for later. Keep stirring the bones and the meat until they are coated in the spice mixture. This needs to be done for about 15 minutes to fully coat the bones and the meat in the spice mixture.

After stirring for 15 minutes add the remaining liquid back in the pot and bring to boil on high heat. Once boiled, reduce heat and simmer for another 15 minutes.

Add Chopped cilantro, chopped green chili pepper, and sprinkle garam masala on top of the liquid and serve.

   The above recipe is paleo and very nutritious. It has plenty of fat and proteins. The bone marrow and the meat from the cow feet are melted nicely in the soup. The gelatinous texture of the soup is flavored with wonderful spices. I usually eat two or three bowls in one sitting and save the rest and eat throughout the week. Enjoy.