Shahi tofu and The Dangers of Soya????

Hi there.... I am back again with a tofu delicacy.... Tofu is like an eternal part of my monthly grocery.My hubby loves it and as we dont like to use paneer much we shifted to using tofu.
Just yesterday i got a mail from a friends of my explaining the bad effects of tofu and other soya products......specially on women consumers. I dunno how true is this.... but just wanted to share the mail with u all here. If anyone else specially the doctors among the food bloggers.... please kindly certify and let me know wts the truth........its real scary..... here is the main......

" DANGERS OF SOYA - VERY IMPORTANT FOR LADIESTHIS ARTICLE IS THRU THE KIND COURTESY OF MS SUREKHA RAMCHANDANI ONE WOMAN'S STORY ON SOYA... All Males - PLEASE pass this info to all your female friends... It may save their lives!Something to take note of. This is my true story, nothing altered.These are facts, as they relate to my experience, my opinions based on what I have read and felt. I am relating them to warn other young health-conscious women who are unwittingly harming themselves.In 1989, I graduated from high school in Texas and couldn't wait to hit the big college city. One of the changes I wanted to make was to eat healthier.Once I moved to health-conscious Austin , Texas , I began to fortify mybody with the best and healthiest foods I could find.Tofu was the main ingredient in every healthy dish and I bought soya milk almost every day and used it for everything from cereal tosmoothies or just to drink for a quick snack. I bought soya muffins,miso soup with tofu, soybeans, soybean sprouts, etc.

All the literature in all the health and fitness magazines said that soya protected you against everything from heart disease to breastcancer. It was the magical isoflavones, the estrogen-like hormones that all worked to help you stay young and healthy. I looked great, I was working out all the time, but my menstrual cycle was off. At 20, Istarted taking birth control pills to regulate my menstrual cycle.In addition to this I began to suffer from painful periods. I began toget puffy, it was as though I was losing my muscle tone. I began to suffer from depression and getting hot flushes. I mistook all this forPMS since my periods were irregular. By the time I was 25, my periodswere so bad, I couldn't walk.The birth control pills never made them regular or less painful so I decided to stop taking them. I went on like this for another two years until I realized my pain wasn't normal. At 27, my gynecologist found two cysts in my uterus. Both were the size of tennis balls. I went through surgery to have them removed and thank God they were benign. The gynecologist told me to go back on birth control pills.I didn't. In 1998, he discovered a lump in my breast.

Again, I went through surgery and again it was benign. In November 2000 my glands swelled up and my gums became inflamed. Thinking I had a tooth infection I went to the dentist who told me thatteeth were not the problem. After a dose of antibiotics the swelling still did not go down. At this point I could feel a tiny nodule on the right side of my neck. I told my mother I had thyroid trouble. Shethought I was being silly. No one in the family suffered from thyroid trouble. Going on a hunch I saw a specialist who diagnosed me withPapillary Thyroid Carcinoma.

After a series of tests he told me it was cancer. My fiance and I satstunned. We were not prepared and I was so scared. We scheduled surgery right away. The specialist told us that it would only be after the operation that a pathologist would be able to tell us for sure if it wascancer. They found a tumor in my right lobe composed of irregular cells and another smaller tumor growing on the left, so the entire thyroid was removed.They told me that after undergoing radioactive iodine I would be safeand assured me that I could live a long life. After treatment I began to search for the cause of all these problems. I never once thought it could be all the soya I had consumed for nearly ten years.After all, soya is healthy. I came upon a web page that linked thyroidproblems to soya intake and the conspiracy of soya marketed as a health food when in fact it is only a toxic by-product of the vegetable oilindustry. This was insane, after all, the health and fitness magazineshad said nothing about soya being harmful.I visited a herbalist who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 1985. She informed me that soya was the culprit. She had a hysterectomy dueto cysts and other uterine problems. A few months later another acquaintance who had consumed soya came down with thyroid cancer.

A girl in England I met through the Internet in a thyroid cancer forum had just undergone surgery and she was only 19.What was going on???? Breast cancer is linked to estrogen. What mimics estrogen in the female body, SOYA!But I never suspected soya because until now I never once found a single article that stated soya could be dangerous. Women who took soyaprior to thyroid problems will continue to take it after if they are not aware of what soya actually does, what it contains and how itreacts in the female body. I think this is the reason that women withthyroid cancer often develop breast cancer later.My co-worker is big into soya and I see her losing hair and gaining weight despite a walking workout during her break and after work, and apples and oranges for lunch. She just had cysts removed from heruterus too.I warned her to stay off soya. I referred her to websites but until it is on the evening news on all four networks, women will suffer. Since the thyroidectomy, I do not touch soya, haven't for two years.

Dear readers, please use my story in any way you can. There are so many young girls who are consuming soya because they think they are taking care of themselves, and women taking soya because they want to behealthy.It is so unfair that the information about the dangers of soya isn't more widely circulated. It is sad. There are many out there who feel this way and it is a terrible blow when you realize you are not ashealthy as you thought and that the information that you depended onwas wrong."

Hmm this really scared me... i cant calculate how much tofu i must have had till date.... hehhe.... well i now leave this to our co blogger doctors... who will let us know the facts....rt?

Anyways this was a paneer recipe...which i exchanged with tofu....

This is how u can make it....you can use paneer here too...

Ingredients:

Tofu / Paneer - 2cups
ghee or butter - 3tbsp
onion chopped into strips - 1
ginger chopped fine - 1/2 " piece
green chillies chopped fine - 2
tomatoes chopped fine - 4
Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp (optional)
cardamoms crushed -2
beaten curd - 1/4 cup
red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
garam masala - 1/2 tsp
salt to taste
milk - 1/2 cup
tomato sauce -2 tbsp
grated tofu - 2 tbsp
chopped coriander - 1 tbsp

Method:

Chop the Tofu into 2" fingers. Pan fry the tofu in little oil till they r slightly brown on both the sides. In a big pan heat half the ghee. Add onion, ginger, green chilli and cardamom. Fry for till the onions are transparent. Now, add tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes, covered.

Now, add curd and cook for 7-8 minutes.Add 1/2 cup water let it boil and then off the gas and let the mixture cool. Blend this in a mixer till smooth.
Heat remaining ghee, add gravy and other ingredients except milk and paneer. Boil till you get a very thick gravy and the raw smell from the gravy goes off. Now add the milk to it and let it cook for 5 - 10 minutes.Just before serving add the Tofu fingers and boil for 3-4 minutes.Garnish with chopped coriander and grated tofu.

Serve hot with chapati or naan.