A few weeks ago we went to Nordstedts publishing house to interview a doctor named Dr. Rangan Chatterjee for our podcast. Dr. Chatterjee is one of the UK’s most talked-about family doctors and is the author of the book “The 4 pillar plan”. According to him there are four components of your life that must be in balance to find health balance in life: stress, food, movement and sleep. The goal is not to strive for perfection and do everything in a single category but instead about creating balance between all four and doing a little of each.

Dr. Chatterjee also says that even very small changes are enough to achieve results – he is singing our song! Here are a few of the many concepts he has introduced to the mainstream – daily rest, five different vegetables each day and a gratitude game at the dinner table, because research shows that feeling gratitude automatically increases our quality of life. The gratitude game is played as followed: you go around the table and ask each person 3 questions – what is something kind that you did today, what is something kind someone did for you today and what have you learned today.

What a lovely dinner topic! According to Dr. Chatterjee, the game has been rewarding for everyone, not least the parents. A few days later we decided to try it. We looked at one of our children and asked cautiously if he had done something for someone else today, after which he immediately replied, “no, I have been at home sick”. We said ok and then asked if someone else had done something kind for him, whereupon he replied, “No, you never got water when I asked for it”. Lastly, we asked if he had learned something during the day, he answered “no”.

When we laid our heads on the pillow that night, we thought that perhaps the gratitude game wasn’t something for us. But… fortunately we gave it a few more tries. And now, after almost a month, we have not only become more aware of everything we have to be grateful for but the level of conversation and the mood around the table have been positively influenced. We humans certainly have a tendency to focus on the negative, but thanks to Dr. Chatterjee we go from the table most days now with a chipper feeling.

And tonight when we come home and get the question “what is something kind that you did today?”, we will proudly say that we shared a recipe for the best mango stew to all of our readers.

Family Mango Stew
(4 servings)

1 yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 inch piece fresh ginger peeled
1 1/2 tablespoon ground turmeric
1 tablespoon cold pressed coconut oil
1 can crushed tomatoes
¼ cup tomato paste
¾ cup natural cashew nuts (preferably soaked)
1 can of coconut milk
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 mango (or 250 g frozen and thawed)
1 package solid natural tofu (about 270 g)
1 small package of plum och cherry tomatoes
a handful of baby spinach
1/2 package of fresh cilantro for garnish

Peel and chop onion and garlic. Heat the onion, ginger and turmeric in a pan with the coconut oil over low heat. Pour into a blender along with everything on the recipe list up to the mango. Pulse several times until combined (still slightly chunky).

Pour the sauce into a pot, and heat until it is warm. Cut the mango and tofu into pieces and add to the stew. Split the tomatoes and garnish along with the spinach and cilantro. Serve with boiled durra, quinoa or buckwheat.

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