From a singer who took the Indian pop music industry by storm in the 90s until 2008, Anaida Parvaneh has gone on to become a chef, yoga instructor and healer.
“My mum was a powerful naturopath and natural healer,” says Anaida. “She was very at peace with it. I’ve always been around the subject and have been exposed to it. I was a ‘doubting thomas’ and studied everything just to argue it. But science has now caught up with spirituality. Sometimes, when everything else fails, the only thing you can think of falling back on is a more holistic approach. As I started taking it more seriously and trusting myself more, and once I got a hang of the Law of Attraction, I did not want to try anything else. I did a lot of courses—I did reiki, pranic healing, crystal healing, and I learnt them only so I have more ways of communicating,” she says with regards to becoming a healer.
Anaida created her magic soup because when she first came to India from Iran, there were not many options for her except for “Indian and Chindian” food. “My choice was very limited. I was travelling all the time, and kept catching a cold. So I studied and put ingredients that complement each other together. I thought of how I want it to be tasty, and also wanted to put something together that is nutritious and boosts immunity. I created it for myself originally and when friends started asking for it when they were ill,” she says. As the soup worked to cure her friends who fell ill, they started calling it “magic soup”. “A chef at a hotel in Pune fell ill and I made it for him in the restaurant kitchen. It cured him too,” says Anaida.
Also called Soup-e-Jadooi, Anaida’s magic soup has healing properties. It’s good for blood pressure, diabetes, skin and hair. Its ingredients are rich in antioxidants and have strong anti-aging properties. The dish is also an excellent meal for those suffering from a cold or flu, and related inflammations.
Anaida’s Soup-e-Jadooi:
Ingredients
- 30 gms baby onions
- 10 gms garlic, finely chopped
- 150 gms coriander, finely chopped
- 100 gms mushrooms, each chopped into four chunky pieces
- 1 carrot, diced in long, thin pieces
- 50 gms pearl barley
- 40 gms mixed sprouts
- 20 gms roasted vermicelli
- 2-3 spoons ghee
- 35 gms American corn
- 100 gms turnip, chopped to medium cubes
- 2 cubes of chicken stock
- 2 chicken legs (including thigh pieces)
* Anaida likes to include a largely shredded chicken breast piece to this (optional). She recommends replacing chicken with shiitake mushrooms for a vegetarian version.
Method
- Skin the baby onions and fry them in a spoon of ghee along with garlic.
- Once golden, add the chicken thighs and some spices (Anaida uses 3 times cinnamon, 2 times star anise, 1 time clove, half times blackpepper, white pepper and jeera and a few pieces of cardamom).
- Add the sprouts, corn, barley, carrots and turnips.
- Toss them slightly, and then add the chicken stock or stock cubes. Add water, cover it and let it cook.
- Once it is cooked, simmer for 10-15 minutes before serving. Add coriander, and then the mushrooms and roasted vermicelli (Anaida prefers the vegetables less cooked).
- Garnish and serve