“Eat your veggies child!” is something that you’ve probably heard about ten thousand times while you were growing up as a Sri Lankan. Vegetables, love them or hate them, are amazing sources of nutrition that grandmothers and mothers would forcibly feed down children’s throats. While some, like jackfruit are easy and tasty to eat others like bitter gourd is the bane of existence of many a child. So, now that you’re all grown up and considering going all healthy, here are the best of the best Sri Lankan vegetables to have.

Bitter Gourd

“Yuck!” you would say first, but after hearing its amazing health benefits you’ll be like “wow!” Bitter gourd or karawila as it is called in Sinhala belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family. Even its appearance is so unappealing as it’s green leathery skin is covered with wart-like bumps. But this magic veggie provides rich sources of phytonutrients like minerals, dietary fiber, anti-oxidants, and vitamins. Karawila contains a phytonutrient called polypeptide-P which is a plant insulin known to lower blood sugar levels. This is why it’s good for Diabetes patients. Now, don’t be repulsed, but eating bitter gourd raw is the best way to make sure you get all those health benefits.

To make a raw bitter gourd salad, slice bitter gourds into tiny half moons and soak it in salt water for at least one hour. Salt reduces the bitter taste to a degree where you can eat in raw without any uneasiness. Scrape some coconut, dice up some shallots, tomatoes, green chillies and mix together with the bitter gourd and coconut. Season with salt, pepper, lime juice and add some ground Maldives fish for a crunch.

Spinach

Of course, you already knew this from Popeye the Sailor Man! Though you won’t get bulging muscles in a second, you will get plenty of amazing benefits like reducing the risk of cancer, lowering blood pressure, improving blood glucose control in diabetics, lowering the risk of developing asthma, improving bone health, and much more.

Just one cup of spinach is said to contain immune-boosting vitamin A, bone-building vitamin K and a gram of filling fiber. However, cleaning and washing spinach is quite a bore as you need to make sure you carefully remove all the dirt from each leaf. But, supermarkets like Keells Super have spinach already cleaned and packeted, so all you need to do is toss it straight to your nivithi (spinach) devilled or your parippu (dhal) curry.

Onions

It will make you cry in pain but onions are a veggie wonder! The nutritional benefits of onions are just like its layers-many in number! They are said to contain antioxidants that can fight against cancer. However, to get these you will need to eat onions raw. Just toss it into all your sambols or just eat it alongside rice, just as it is.

Intrigued by history, art and food, Lavinia Woolf is a writer who is passionate about the extraordinary and writes of the exhilarating and enchanting. Google+