Two Delicious Recipes for Looking After a Dry Throat
Having a sore throat calls for two treatments: rest and home-cooked comfort food. Everybody has their own special recipes that they rustle up when they have a painful throat and want something easy and comforting to swallow. If you’re looking to add to that repertoire, then the aromatic tea and spicy noodle soup below could be exactly what you need.
Caring for Your Throat
Throat care when you have a cold, or the flu, is important for stopping the area from becoming further inflamed and more painful.
It can also speed up the recovery from any bacteria or viruses that may be residing in the throat and the ability to eat, drink, and swallow freshly cooked nutritious food will help give you the strength to fight off the infection in the rest of your body and get on with your day.
A top tip for helping get the vitamins you need despite having swallowing problems is to use a food and drink thickener. Good quality thickeners like SimplyThick gel can be added to thin liquids and pureed foods to make them easier and smoother to swallow and should be considered with anybody suffering from a sore throat alongside long-term dysphagia.
Dry Throat
- Ginger, Lemon, and Honey Tea
The first recipe could not be simpler: tea.
The United States might not yet have the tea culture of Pakistan, China, or Britain, but their mantras that tea can solve most problems are most certainly welcome here in the US if it soothes a sore throat as this recipe does.
Ingredients:
- Boiling water
- 1 slice of lemon, cut into half-moons
- 1 spoon of honey, or more to taste
- 1 inch of fresh ginger, sliced into sticks
Instructions
- Add the ginger to the boiling water and leave to brew for around 5 minutes.
- Strain the ginger if you wish or leave it in for a stronger tea.
- Stir in the honey, add the lemon, and serve.
- Spicy Ramen – Toppings Up to You
The second recipe is much more versatile, filling, and open to your creativity. Whatever ramen toppings you prefer (some suggestions are listed below) are perfect, so long as they are soft and gentle on your throat.
As this broth is spicy, it is better suited to curing cold or flu infections than aiding saliva problems –spicy food helps fight infections and the light burn will provide comfort to inflamed throats, but it may not work as well on dry and irritated mouths.
Ingredients for one bowl:
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 5 tbsp sriracha
- 25 cups dried porcini mushrooms
- 2 scallions, sliced
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 nest of egg noodles
- Toppings optional: Soft-boiled egg, bok choi, shiitake mushrooms, chili oil, corn
Instructions:
- Add garlic, porcini mushrooms and the whites of the scallions to a saucepan, preheated with the sesame oil. Sauté for a minute.
- Add broth, tomato paste, sriracha, and soy sauce. Simmer covered on low heat for 10 minutes.
- Prepare your toppings.
- Add extra soy sauce to taste, and extra sriracha if you would like it spicier.
- Cook egg noodles as per packet instructions, strain and add to broth.
- Serve and add toppings.
