Spring Cleaning with Kitchari

During the winter months, our bodies crave substance. Warm, creamy, carb-laden food are what gets us through the cold and dark. In addition, our modern lives often do not allow us to slow down and take the rest that we also crave in winter. For many of us, that means we emerge in spring feeling tired, bloated and heavy.

Ayurvedic medicine can help! Ayurveda is big on preventing illness with good nutrition and digestion. One of the most recommended dishes in Ayurvedic cooking is kitchari. Kitchari is essentially a spiced vegetable and grain stew, and it's quite tasty, too!

This meal taken as a cleanse or monodiet will heal your body, especially your intestinal tract, as it's considered to be the most wholesome to put in the yogi’s body. I learned to make this when I studied Ayurvedic Medicine, and it has helped me immensely over the years. Here is my recipe. Feel free to adapt the ingredients to fit your needs. This is a great way to do some spring cleaning…from the inside out!

A note about choosing vegetables: Pick a few of your favorite sattvic veggies: most mild veggies are considered sattvic. Sattvic means “pure” or “balanced” in terms of Ayurvedic eating. Meaning, foods that are not aggravating, irritating, heating, or heavy and weighty. Avoid pungent veggies like hot peppers, shallots, leeks, garlic, onion, gas forming veggies such as mushrooms and/or potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 2 cup brown rice (or mix rice & quinoa, or pick your favorite whole grain)
• 1 cup red lentils
• 3 carrots
• A big bunch of kale
• 1 zucchini
• 1 head of broccoli
• 3 ribs celery
• Ghee (clarified butter) ((or coconut or olive oil))
• 2 T. powdered turmeric
• 2 T. ground cumin
• 2 T. ground coriander
• 5 cups water
• Cooking oil of your choice: coconut, olive oil or ghee
• Sea salt
• Fresh cilantro
• Golden raisins if desired

Method: 

Put rice and lentils into a big pot with the 5 c. of water. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook until tender.

Wash and chop your veggies into bite sized pieces. I like to do different shapes for each, just for fun. 

Heat a big pan or wok with coconut oil, olive oil or ghee. Add your vegetables in order of how long each takes to cook. For the vegetables I have listed, I use this order: carrot, zucchini, broccoli, celery. You may need to add a bit more oil or water as you stir fry the vegetables. 

Heat a small skillet with a big spoonful of ghee or your oil of choice. Add turmeric, cumin and coriander and stir for a minute or two.

Pour this into the pan with the veggies and mix, then mix veggies with grains in the big pot. If you cooked the grains and veggies together, just pour the ghee and spices into the pot and mix. There will be leftover ghee and spices in the pan-- take a spoonful of grains to soak it all up and place back into pot.

Serving Suggestions:

Scoop a portion onto a plate, add a dab extra ghee in for taste, sprinkle sea salt on top if you choose, garnish with freshly chopped cilantro, add raisins if you wish...and enjoy!

Once kitchari in pot cools down a bit, place in glass tupperware for future eating. If you’re doing a monodiet cleanse, eat kitchari as two meals per day (check with your physician before embarking upon any cleanse or radical dietary change). This recipe should last you about 5 to 7 days.

Golden Yogi Tea

Fresh turmeric root and turmeric powder.

The media is picking up on the many health benefits of curcumin, the active component of the common household spice, turmeric. Curcumin is a champion anti-inflammatory and unlike ibuprofen or other NSAIDS, it will not create digestive distress with long term usage.

The health benefits of turmeric are now being documented scientifically, but they have been known for millennia. I first learned about it when I was studying Ayurvedic medicine and Yoga therapy at the Metropolitan State University of Denver. While Ayurveda encompasses many modalities, healthy lifestyle and prevention are key to its philosophy. About halfway through our first year, I was surprised to be invited to a cooking class.

Fresh ginger root

Food as medicine? Count me in! We learned to make ghee and a variety of Indian dishes specifically formulated to different body constitutions and situations. Guess what ingredient was common to nearly every dish?

Turmeric. As it turns out, the ancients were right…turmeric is extremely beneficial and most easily absorbed by the body when heated and combined with a fat. Black pepper is another helpful addition. With this in mind, nearly all of Indian cuisine is naturally anti-inflammatory! Personally I love Indian food, so this is great news.

Recently, I decided to integrate more turmeric in my daily routine. I'm not always in the mood for Indian food, so I chose Golden Yogi Tea. This tea is recommended for daily intake by yoga practitioners by the Kundalini Yoga tradition. It combines the health benefits of curcumin with another powerhouse, ginger. Ginger is used for a whole host of digestive issues, to relieve pain and to reduce inflammation.

Golden Yogi Tea

Guess what? Inflammation is a major risk and causative factor for most disease! From cardiovascular issues to autoimmune conditions, it all starts with inflammation in the body. Inflammation comes in with injury, inactivity, poor diet, and unmanaged stress.

But back to Golden Yogi Tea - this is a great tool to combat inflammation as well as promoting healthy digestion. As it turns out, it's quite easily made. The medical study referenced above was performed using "powdered curcumin", but I don't know if they produced a powder from the extracted curcumin itself, or whether they used the commonly available powdered turmeric. Fresh is always best, so if you can find it, use fresh turmeric root.

Tip: Look for fresh turmeric and ginger root at your local international grocery store or Indian market. Triangle folks, Around the World Market has both fresh turmeric and ginger root for a reasonable price.  The ginger root (and most culinary spices) are much cheaper there than at your local supermarket!

Here is how I made my Golden Yogi Tea:

1. Slice up 1-2 inches each of turmeric and ginger root, leaving the skin on.
2. Place the root in a quart saucepan filled with water.
3. Bring to a boil.
4. Simmer for 30-60 minutes.
5. Cover and set aside overnight.
6. Strain out the root and store the concentrate in a glass quart jar.

When you are ready to drink your tea, dilute the concentrate to taste. I used about half concentrate and half water. You may drink it hot or cold. Sweeten with stevia or honey. 

Tip: If you use honey, be sure that you have purchased it from a reputable source. Some grocery stores stock honey from China, which can be contaminated with pesticides. Some honey on the market is also adulterated with corn syrup. The safest route is to buy it from a farmer's market or a beekeeper. 

Enjoy your Golden Yogi Tea in good health!