Category: Lifestyle

With countless names such as Kitchadi, Khichdi, or Kitcharee—Kitchari is an ancient and traditional Ayurvedic recipe and a delicious staple of any yogis diet.

Kitchari means “mixture,” usually of two grains— basmati rice and yellow split mung beans with many flavorful, nutritious and healing spices, herbs, vegetables and oils making it not only a delicious whole food, but a diverse medicine known to heal the body of many ailments.

This easy, quick to make, and delicious one-pot food is a great meal on its own, or as an essential part of an Ayurvedic cleansing regimen to heal the gut, eliminate natural toxins and balance all three doshas.

Used by spiritual seekers to provide the essential nourishment to the body while keeping the mind calm and still which is needed for yogis in deep spiritual practice (sadhana), kitchari is known as the “yogis superfood” and will take the health of both your body and mind to the next level of health and Shanti.

THE GREATNESS OF KITCHARI

• Easy to digest:
  
  Yellow split mung beans are considered an ayurvedic superfood and one of the easiest legumes for the body to digest and do not produce gas. Digestion takes a lot of physical energy! Food that is quick to digest and easier to assimilate helps the body to focus its energy reserves on other tasks such as immunity, repairing tissues, balancing hormones and more.

• A great rejuvenator:
  
  Kitchari gives strength and vitality to the body by nourishing and rejuvenating all seven tissues of the body (Sapta Dhatus). An excellent meal choice during times of stress on the body such as during an illness, periods of stress, overwork, after traveling or a change of seasons.

• A balanced and whole food (especially great for vegetarians!):
  
  Nutrient-dense and a complete protein, kitchari provides all essential amino acids that keep you feeling light and clear yet grounded and full of energy.

• Excellent for all 3 doshas:
  
  Kitchari is considered tridoshic, meaning it can be deliciously prepared and suitable for all Ayurvedic mind-body types.

• An excellent “digestive reset”:
  
  To give your body a break after periods of stress, transition, overeating or overindulgence eating kitchari for 1-2 meals in a row can easily give the system a break and reset digestion.

• A staple in an Ayurvedic cleansing regimen:
  
  With cleansing, anti-inflammatory and rejuvenating herbs, a few consecutive days of a kitchari mono-diet (as advised by your Ayurvedic practitioner,) is a great method of Ayurvedic cleansing to enkindle the digestive fire (agni), eliminated toxins (ama) and build energy and vitality (ojas).

• Mind medicine—a highly Sattvic meal:
  
  Sattvic foods like basmati rice and yellow split mung beans make the mind calm, peaceful and content.

KITCHARI INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup basmati rice
• 1 cup yellow split mung beans (mung dal)
• 6 cups (approx.) water
• 2 tsp. ghee or coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp. whole cumin seeds
• 1/2 – 1inch ginger root or ½ tsp dried ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp. fresh turmeric root or powder
• 1/2 tsp. coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp. cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp. himalayan or sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly crushed black pepper
• 1 pinch asafoetida (hing) (optional)
• 10-15 curry leaves (optional)
• 1 ½ cups assorted vegetables (see below)
• Garnish & season with fresh cilantro leaves or fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice (optional)

KITCHARI PREPARATION

1. Soak the basmati rice and yellow split mung beans together overnight for maximum digestibility, or a minimum 30 min before cooking. Rinse well until water runs clear then drain excess water.
   
2. Prepare and finely chop all vegetables (keep separate for now) and place aside.
   
3. Add ghee (or coconut oil) into a pre-heated large pot. On low heat, add mustard seeds. When mustard seeds start to pop, add whole cumin seeds to release the flavors. After 1-2 minutes, add ginger, curry leaves, turmeric, cumin and coriander powders, salt and optionally, asafoetida.
   
4. Add the rinsed and drained yellow split mung beans and basmati rice into the mixture stir well to coat with the spices.
   
5. Add water and chopped vegetables. Bring to a boil for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to low, put the lid on the pot and cook for 20-30 minutes until rice and dhal become soft.
   
   Tip: To cook the vegetables evenly, add the most-dense (longest cooking time) vegetables such as carrot, sweet potato or green beans first. After 5 minutes add any medium density vegetables (such as broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini etc.) and after 5-10 minutes more, add the lightest, softest vegetables such as chopped kale, spinach, mustard greens etc.
   
6. Remove from heat, garnish with balancing herbs, flavors or spices for your dosha (see below) such as fresh cilantro, shredded coconut, lemon or lime juice, salt and pepper to taste, etc. and serve warm.
   
7. Enjoy your healthy, nutritious and delicious kitchari!

MODIFY KITCHARI FOR YOUR MIND BODY-TYPE (DOSHA)

While the main ingredients of kitchari are considered balancing for all doshas, some small modifications of the spices, vegetables and flavorings can be used to make your recipe even more beneficial and medicinal for your unique dosha type.

• For Vata: Favor the sweet, sour and salty tastes and include grounding, warming, and nourishing vegetables such as carrot, sweet potato, squash, pumpkin, green beans, asparagus and mustard greens.
  
  Use a generous amount of ghee to add more nourishment and add a big squeeze of lemon and salt to taste to boost digestion and reduce gas.
  
• For Pitta: Favor the sweet, bitter and astringent tastes and add cooling, soothing and nourishing vegetables such as zucchini, green beans, asparagus, spinach, kale, squash, sweet potato, cauliflower, broccoli, celery, pumpkin etc.
  
  Use fresh ginger instead of dried, omit the hing and swap the heating mustard seeds and black pepper for cooling fennel seed and add some shredded coconut, cilantro or fresh mint leaves as a garnish for a more soothing effect on the body. Use salt and black pepper sparingly and if a sour taste is desired, use a small squeeze of lime juice instead of lemon.
  
• For Kapha: Favor the pungent (spicy), astringent and bitter tastes. Use a higher vegetable to grain/dhal ratio to reduce heaviness after eating. Cook with lighter, more purifying vegetables such as asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, celery, chilies, corn, mustard greens, watercress, zucchini.
  
  Use ghee and salt sparingly for a lighter kitchari and add a pinch of cinnamon, clove and use black pepper generously for an added digestive and metabolic boost!

KITCHARI TIPS & TRICKS

• Choose organic ingredients if possible and whole herbs (vs pre-crushed or powdered) for maximum freshness, flavor and medicinal value.
  
• Be sure to use yellow split mung beans versus the whole mung beans (which are green) or yellow split peas (which are different) and much more difficult for digestion and have a much longer cooking time.
   
•  While Ayurveda recommends cooking and eating food fresh, to meet the needs of a busy modern-day life, a big one pot batch of kitchari can be made in the morning, refrigerated and reheated to last for the three meals throughout the day as part of a cleansing regimen.
  
•  A kitchari mono-diet while healthy and nutritious, may be low in fiber if taken long term. If while taking kitchari exclusively as part of a cleansing regimen constipation occurs, add oat bran or prune with your meals to ensure proper elimination.

READY FOR AN AT HOME AYURVEDIC CLEANSE?

Ayurveda is a very holistic and individualized approach to health and healing. Regular cleansing routines are essential for support your digestion, eliminating natural toxins that build up through less than ideal diet, lifestyle factors, environmental pollutants and stressors.

To learn more about how to use kitchari as part of an Ayurvedic cleansing regimen, or for support and personalized guidance to help you improve your health and happiness, check out our Ayurvedic Lifestyle Consultation where we’ll set you up with a personalized cleansing program.

May you enjoy this nourishing, balancing and delicious kitchari recipe. May it bring you balance, health and delight!

Ayurveda is an ancient, holistic science of health, well-being and inner balance of body, mind and spirit.

Also known as the “sister science of yoga,” Ayurveda is a vast and remarkable knowledge base that offers us incredible wisdom to not only be free from disease, but to experience optimal health, vitality and longevity.

One of the primary principles that Ayurveda teaches is that diet is considered one of the most important medicines to bring an individual into optimal health and balance.

Ayurveda suggests that not only is what we eat important, but where, when, why and how we eat essential for greater health, balance, and vitality— body, mind and spirit!

1. WHAT TO EAT?

Ayurveda teaches us that every individual is composed of a unique combination of the 5 elements: fire, water, earth, air and space, in varying proportions. This individual elemental constitution is also called one’s Prakruti— and is as unique as your fingerprints or DNA.

This is why— “One (wo)man’s food is another (wo)man’s poison.”

Ideally, one would eat certain foods that encourage bringing the inner elements into balance, and avoid certain foods that will aggravate one’s constitution and take their inner elements further out of balance.

Not only is what you eat important, but also where, when, why and how you eat critical for bringing the body, mind and spirit into happiness, harmony and health.

2. WHERE TO EAT?

The most ideal environments to eat in are those that are quiet, peaceful, clean atmospheres where you feel relaxed and at ease.

Here’s why: The process of digestion is regulated by a portion of the nervous system called the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS,) which governs the involuntary functions of the body, such as heart beat, secretions/hormone production, and digestion.

The ANS is divided into two parts: the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS,) and the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS.) The SNS is related to our stress states— directing the bodies energy reserves to “flight or fight” responses in the body. While the role of the PNS is “rest and digest,” bringing our body back into a state of balance, or homeostasis after period of stress.

Now, have you ever experienced indigestion, bloating, gas or a feeling of heaviness after eating a meal on the go, while working or in stressful, busy environments? It’s because your body’s energy reserves were being directed elsewhere in the body— not to the digestive system and process!

So, eat in environments where you feel relaxed, calm, and peaceful to increase your ability to digest, assimilate and absorb the nutrients from what you eat.

3. WHEN TO EAT?

Ayurveda teaches us to follow both the body’s and nature’s rhythmic cycles, which are accustomed to our digestive secretion patterns, to determine the most ideal times to eat.

As a foundational rule, eat when you are hungry— when hungry, the body’s digestive fire, or Agni, is very active, and digestive power is high.

Additionally, try to eat your largest and most dense meal midday, at around 12 o’clock. We are very attuned to the cycles of nature, and both the sun and the moon— like the sun, our digestive fire is biologically programmed to be strongest midday. We can also benefit from eating our lighter meals for breakfast and dinner when Agni isn’t as strong, and avoid eating after sundown or a few hours before bed.

Secret Ayurveda Tip: Eat when your right nostril is predominantly open, and drink when your left nostril is primarily open. This is a special teaching of Swara Yoga—a vast science that deals primarily with how the breathing rhythms are capable of affecting all other biological rhythms.

In our subtle energy body, when the left nostril is primarily open, the Ida Nadi (the current of the moon,) is most dominant. This has a cooling effect in the body, and has its counterpart in the SNS— “flight or fight” stress responses.

And when the right nostril is more dominate, the Pingala Nadi, (the solar channel,) is most active. This has a heating effect in the body and has its counterpart in the PNS – “rest and digest” homeostatic states.

Ideally, solid foods are taken when Pingala is more active, when the right nostril is open; this aids in digestion. Ps. It’s usually most dominant in midday— the best time to take the major meal of the day. And ideally, liquids are taken when Ida is more predominant, when the left nostril is open.

4. WHY EAT?

Why do you eat? To nourish and fuel our precious bodies, to sustain our physical health, to facilitate the healing and repair of our bodily tissues to remain free of pain and disease, to satisfy our hunger and to power our continued existence.

Enjoy your food, but avoid emotional eating, snacking out of boredom, or obligatory social consumption of food to be “polite.”

5. HOW TO EAT?

Here’s 10 simple tips to make the most of your meals and optimize digestion and overall health!

1. Express gratitude, pray or chant mantra before eating. Infuse your food with positive energy!

2. Include all 6 tastes in your meal— sweet, salty, astringent, sour, pungent, and bitter to feel truly satisfied.

3. Sit down when you eat, and sit with a straight spine. If you can face east/north when you eat, even better.

4. Eat with love & awareness.

5. Chew with your mouth closed to preserve your digestive potential, called Agni.

6. Eat at a moderate pace— not too slow or too fast.

7. Eat until satisfied, not full.

8. Be present when you eat. Minimize distractions. If possible, eat in silence. Make eating a mindful meditation while engaging all the senses— sight, smell, taste, sound and touch.

9. Avoid drinking too much with meals, especially cold drinks which dilute and distinguish the digestion fire (Agni)

10. Enjoy a gentle walk after meals to help stimulate digestion.

With knowing what, where, when, why and how to best eat, you’re well on your way to experiencing optimal health, vitality, balance and longevity— body, mind and spirit!

Food and diet play an essential role in the life of all spiritual seekers.

Yogic cooking, also known as Vedic cooking, reveals to us how we can transform the act of cooking into a divine ritual, the secrets and alchemical yogic practice of transforming food into medicine, and how to prepare food as a sacred service— an offering of love and healing to ourselves, our loved ones and the world.

In this article, you’ll discover the essence of Vedic cooking, 3 essential practices of Vedic cooking, plus sacred mantras and everyday rituals to transform your kitchen into a temple and your food into nectar for greater health, vitality and spiritual remembrance.

“Food is not only essential for survival.
It is part of the sacred awakening of consciousness.”

– Amma Sri Karunamayi

THE ESSENCE OF VEDIC COOKING

The ancient texts reveal to us that not only is what we eat, but how we eat important. And not only how we eat, but how we prepare the food essential in nourishing our bodies, minds and spirits.

Vedic cooking is a spiritual approach to cooking that views both food and cooking as a medium for sacred transformation— a way to elevate both health and consciousness. Cooking is seen as a humble and selfless service— a contribution to the peace and healing of ourselves, our loved ones and the world.

Food is medicine and diet is a pathway to balance, vitality and longevity— essential for a yogi to pursue their spiritual practices for the noble purpose of spiritual realization.

3 ESSENTIALS TO VEDIC COOKING

To prepare food in a sacred way, we need three things— clean kitchen, clean hands, clean mind.

1. CLEAN KITCHEN

Yogis transform their kitchen into a temple— a sacred space to nourish the divine within us, and in those we love.

It should be well organized, uncluttered, free from dirt and distractions.

Our cookware, utensils, dishes, dishcloths also must be absolutely clean and reserved for Sattvic, vegetarian service.

You may wish to dedicate a space in your kitchen for a small altar to transform your cooking into a meditative practice or devotional offering of love and nourishment. Here you can include an image or statue (murthi) representing your own unique understanding of the divine, light a candle or oil lamp, and perhaps offer some incense to your altar to sanctify the space and nourish love before you cook.

“Cooking is a spiritual practice.”

– Amma Sri Karunamayi

2. CLEAN HANDS

Our hands represent our actions or karma. We wash our hands thoroughly, tie back our hair when we enter the kitchen to handle food. Ideally, we are freshly bathed in clean clothing.

Clean hands isn’t just referring to physical hygiene— but mental and energetic hygiene also.

Vedic cooking inspires us to set aside all other worldly actions, preoccupations, and distractions for the time being, and dedicate ourselves wholeheartedly to the present act of cooking.

If we are interrupted during food preparation, we rewash our hands and reset our attention before continuing.

3. CLEAN MIND

A clean mind refers to our sacred intention and full, one-pointed awareness. Our hearts and minds should remain fully focused.

One of the main features of Vedic cooking, is the understanding that thoughts are energy, and energy is not separate from matter— therefore thought-forms energetically influence the foods we eat.

Most of our food is exposed to many different conditions before we receive it and impurities can enter the process of cultivation, transport, sale or even cooking, when our minds are distracted, disturbed or busy.

TRY THIS: Repeating a mantra (specific configurations of positive sound vibrations from the ancient Sanskrit language,) while cooking or listening to pure Sanskrit chanting creates a supportive atmosphere, purifies and neutralizes any unfavourable energetic elements in the food, blesses the food, and tunes the mind and heart and awakening great love and gratitude which infuse and inform our cooking.

VEDIC MANTRAS TO BLESS OUR FOOD, OUR WORLD & OURSELVES

Many cultures around the world have some form of gratitude or reverence for food— from prayer, ritual, offerings, to the simple expression of “thank-you” and beyond, there’s no doubt why gratitude and food go together.

Yogis too have their own way to bless and give thanks to the food, the elements of nature which conspired to grow that food, the hands which prepared it and the body to assimilate it.

Chanting a mantra before your meal prepares the body to receive food, blesses your food with positive & healing energies, and transforms your food into a divine substance to nourish the body, mind & spirit.

VEDIC FOOD BLESSING RITUAL

Before your next meal, we invite you to try this simple but powerful ritual:

1. Become present
2. Take 3 deep breaths
3. Express gratitude, pray, or chant mantra over your food
4. Eat mindfully with love & gratitude

Any mantra you like that connects you to a feeling of love and devotion will do, however, the ancient texts recommend particular mantras to transmit the blessings of good health and peace into the food for the benefit of those who consume it.

Prayer of Gratitude & Blessings | Annapurna Mantra 3x

Om sri annapurnayai namaha
Om sri sada purnayai namaha

Powerful & Purifying | Sri Gayatri Mantra

Om bhur bhuvah suvah
tat savitur varenyambhargo devasya dhimahi
dhiyo yo nah prachodayat

By preparing food as a sacred service to ourselves and loved ones, transforming food into an offering of love, transforming our cooking into a spiritual practice and surrendering the fruits of our actions to the One Love that unites us all. This is the very essence of Vedic cooking— as love and nature intended.