I came down with colds a few days ago, and so of course, I had a stuffy nose. To get some relief, I wanted to make soup. There were not a lot of ingredients I could choose from in the fridge, so I decided to try my luck on a Japanese curry mixture.
I've always made my curry quite saucy and thick, but since I didn't have much left of the mixture, I made it light that time. I couldn't find any fresh vegetables in our fridge, so I sliced a piece of onion and put it in I didn't expect much from my curry soup, but lo and behold--it did the trick! It was quite delicious and cleared my stuffy nose almost immediately.
I was pleasantly surprised with the quick relief so I did some reading on the web. Curry is indeed a wonderful cure for a stuffed nose! It's because spicy food contain capsaicin, a chemical that causes inflammation in the nerves and increases the production of mucus in the nasal membranes. Spicy food will basically make your nose run... which means you won't have a clogged nose!
I know they say that chicken soup is all you need when you've got colds or the flu, and in all fairness to the well-celebrated chicken, I did try making chicken soup the next day after my curry mixture ran out. But you know what? The curry soup did the job better. So I braved traffic and rain yesterday afternoon and went to the supermarket to buy more of my trusty curry mixture. Since my nose was especially stuffy tonight, I made this:
To make the soup, I used S&B Golden Curry Sauce (a Japanese curry mixture I discovered while I was in Japan and have been using ever since; this should be available at a local supermarket), put in some onions, tomatoes, and included a bell pepper because of its Vitamin C content (it has more Vitamin C that citrus fruits). To amp the heat factor, I sliced two cayenne peppers and added them in. And just because I love experimenting in the kitchen, I threw in a handful of whole wheat fusilli pasta and some Chinese cabbage as well.
I have to admit that the pasta did not quite fit (LOL), but the rest of the ingredients worked perfectly! I am now quite happy that I have finally found a remedy for annoying stuffed noses. This concoction does need a bit of courage if you are afraid of hot and spicy food, but do try it the next time you get a cold. It works wonders!
