Just one cup of this super veggie packs 34 percent of your daily need for folate (which can help lower levels of heart-threatening homocysteine), 15 percent of potassium (which reduces blood-pressure levels), and 27 percent of manganese (which helps maintain your bones).

Makeover

To bring out the vegetable's natural juices, peel and grate. Camouflage the strong flavour with meat, other veggies and spices. Another option: mash boiled beet with salt, chillies and a little carrot, then deep-fry the mixture after coating it with breadcrumbs. Deep-frying masks the flavour and breadcrumbs add texture.

Dishes: Borscht (Beet and Meat Soup) and Beet Chops.

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Karela (bitter gourd)

This bitter veggie is a good source of vitamin C, helps regulate blood-sugar levels, tackles hypertension (as it is low in sodium and high in potassium) and is rich in iron. Plus, eating karela at the beginning of a meal helps activate your digestive juices.

Makeover

Before cooking the veggie, apply salt to drain out the bitterness. Cook karela with some sweet veggie such as potato and pumpkin to mask the bitter taste. You can even prepare it in the Andhra style - sweet, sour and hot flavouring hides the bitter taste.

Dishes: Chochori and Andhra Karela.

Spinach

Popeye had the right idea: Thanks to high levels of beta-carotene, vitamins B2, B6, C, and K - plus generous amounts of manganese, folate, and magnesium - spinach is possibly the healthiest vegetable in the world.

Makeover

Cook or bake spinach with paneer (cottage cheese), processed cheese or corn to mask its metallic taste. Tomatoes add more flavour.

Dishes: Palak Paneer and Baked Spinach.

Lauki (Bottle gourd)

The high water content of the veggie makes it cooling; it also contains vitamins C and B complex, and protein. Lauki is a diuretic, it prevents the excessive loss of sodium, helps in preventing fatigue and combats constipation. Its high alkalinity cures indigestion.

Makeover

Lauki is a very bland veggie so it takes the flavour of whatever is added to it. You can have it as a raita, add it to dal or even use it to make kheer.

Dishes: Lauki Raita, Lauki Dal and Lauer Payesh.