Recipe of the Month – Mung Dal Kitchari (Vata)
This kitchari recipe was donated by Ayurvedic Practitioner Rachel Collins and can be eaten by all doshas but is especially good for Vata Dosha, want to know what we mean by that make sure to check out Ger’s Monthly Update! And although this dish may look like a bowl of scrambled egg it is actually quite tasty and comforting so don’t let it’s look deceive you.
Ingredients
1 cup Basmati Rice
1/2 cup Split Yellow Mung Dal
3 tbsp Ghee
1 tsp Black Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
2 pinches Hing (Asafoetida)
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1/2 tsp Salt
4 cups Water
Method
Wash the rice and mung dal well. If you have time let the mung dal soak for a few hours before cooking, as it helps with digestibility. If you have a particularly difficult time digesting beans, you may want to precook the beans for 20-30 minutes using the 4 cups of water.
In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the ghee and add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and hing. Stir a moment until the seeds pop.
Add the rice, mung dal, turmeric and salt and stir until well blended with the spices.
Add the water and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes uncovered, stirring occasionally.
Turn down the heat to low and cover, leaving the lid slightly ajar. Cook until tender, about 20-25 minutes
Recipe of the Month – Vegetable Makhanawala
This delicious recipe is adapted from Rick Stein’s India Cookbook. It is incredibly tasty and so easy to make. Using ghee gives the dish a real buttery flavour. Serve with homemade naan breads and/or rice.
Ingredients
800g mixed vegetables (chopped potatoes, sliced carrots, peas and spinach)
For The Sauce
Which fat is best for you? This is butter but not quite as you know it!
Which is the best cooking fat to use
Firstly what is ghee? Ghee is clarified butter, but simmered longer to bring out butter’s inherent nutty flavor. Traditionally made from buffalo or cows milk, the process of making ghee removes the water and milk fats, leaving a high-smoke point (meaning that it can be heated to a pretty high temperature before it starts to smoke). Plus, it’s nutritionally rich like coconut oil. In Ayurvedic medicine ghee has been recommended for its health giving properties for millennia and now it seems that modern science is backing this up.
So what are its advantages?
