Ayurvedic Recipes
Thank-you to Rebecca and Sascha for these recipes
To make ghee, use unsalted and good quality butter. Place the butter
in a pan and let it melt and simmer on the lowest possible heat. In
the beginning it will make a lot of noise, the butter will look thick
and cloudy, and a foam will appear on the top. In the first five minutes
occasionally give the liquid a stir to allow all the water content
to evaporate, and then leave the liquid to continue simmering for
a further 15 minutes. Slowly particles will sink to the bottom, the
foam will settle on the top and in between the pure butter oil will
become clear.
The moment the sediment on the bottom starts to turn brown, remove
the pan from the heat, skim off and discard the foam, and strain the
liquid through a very fine sieve or muslin into a jar.
Don't store ghee in the fridge: it doesn't go rancid and will keep
for months. Use it for cooking (ghee doesn't burn as quickly as butter
does) and you can always add a teaspoon to your food. ENJOY!
Mung beans are less gas producing than other beans, remove toxins
from the body and when cooked with the suggested spices, stimulate
the digestive fire.
Soak the mung beans either over night or for
at least one hour before cooking. Heat olive oil or ghee in
a pan and add a teaspoon of turmeric powder, 2 pinches asafoetida
(to take the gas quality out of the beans) and two bay leaves.
Discard the water from the soaked beans and add the beans into the
pan with fresh water. To one part mung you need at least three to
four parts water. Leave to bubble away for one hour adding water as
necessary (if you have a pressure cooker, cook for 20mins under pressure).
Slowly the beans begin to soften and break up. Continue to cook until
all the beans are soft.
Whilst the beans are cooking heat some oil or ghee into another pan
and add one heaped teaspoon of cumin and coriander seeds
plus any other herbs or spices (except chilies) such as garam masala,
black pepper. Sauté briefly and then add a finely chopped onion,
some fresh root ginger and 2-3 cloves of garlic. Sauté
until the onions turn golden brown and then remove from the heat.
Once the beans are soft add the onions and some salt into the pan
and continue to simmer for a further few minutes. Don't add salt until
the end as this makes the beans tougher and they would therefore take
longer to cook.
Serve with brown basmati rice, fresh coriander leaves and ghee.
Khichadi is a simple stew of rice and split mung beans which is easy
to digest and stimulating to the digestive fire. It is a good meal
to take when returning to eating after a fast or an illness. Khichadi,
is highly nutritious and is ideal for gradually preparing the body
to digest normal food again, for replenishing the tissues and for
increasing the speed of the healing process. Three different types
of khichadi are mand, peya and vilepi. They are the same recipe except
different amounts of water are used. For more information see Ayurvedic
Cleansing Fast.
Soak the mung beans for at least one hour before
cooking.
Heat ghee or olive oil in a pan and add cumin or coriander
seeds. Then add some finely chopped onion, root ginger
and garlic and sauté until golden brown. Stir in 1 teaspoon
turmeric powder, half a teaspoon asafoetida, some black
pepper and a few bay leaves.
Take a cup and fill half with mung and the remaining half with
brown basmati rice. (One can also add any chopped vegetables
that you have such as carrots, pumpkin, green beans,
courgettes, asparagus etc.)
Add the beans into the pan with your chosen amount of water.
- For mand use 14 parts water to 1 part rice, beans and vegetables
- For peya use 6 parts water to 1 part rice, beans and vegetables
- For vilepi use 4 parts water to 1 part rice, beans and vegetables
In a normal pan you will need to cook it for about an hour, adding
more water (top up to original height). In a pressure cooker it will
cook within about 20 minutes after coming to pressure.
When it's ready, ie. the beans have become completely soft, add a
little salt and serve the dish with ghee and freshly chopped herbs.
Experiment with different vegetables and spices to create different
flavours.
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