Ojas building porridge

This nourishing and warming bowl porridge is a wonderful way to start your morning, especially during the cooler months of winter. It's also a great way to increase your ojas. What is ojas you ask? Well, Aurveda teaches us that ojas is your vital essence, and it plays a direct role in your immunity, energy, libido and vitality. So if you feel like you're lacking in any of these areas it may mean your ojas has been depleted. A person who has good ojas will have loads of energy, be glowing and vibrant and will rarely fall ill.  

Porridge 

  • 1/2 a cup of oats
  • 1 & 1/2 cups of water 
  • 1 tbsp of chia seeds
  • 3 dates, pitted and chopped
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp cardamom
  • 1/8 tsp turmeric 
  • pinch of ginger
  • 1 tsp of almonds, roasted and chopped  
  • Honey to taste 

Stewed apples

  • 1/2 an apple, peeled and sliced
  • 2 cups of water 
  • 1/8 tsp cinnamon
  • 10-15 raisins 

Instructions

  1.  Place apple, water, cinnamon and raisins in a saucepan. Cooked on medium heat until the apple has broken down and stewed. Stirring and adding more water as necessary.
  2. Place oats, water, chia seeds, and dates in another saucepan. Cook on low to medium heat for around 20min.
  3. Once the oats have cooked, remove from heat and stir in ghee, cinnamon, turmeric, cardamom, and ginger. Mix well.
  4. Top the oat mixture with the stewed apples, almonds, and drizzle with honey.

Enjoy! 

Peace & love

Andrea xox

Lassi love!

Lassi is the famous drink of India! Luckily we don't have to travel all the way to India to get one. It's so easy to whip one up at home!

Ingredients

- 1 cup or water 

- 1/4 cup of yogurt 

- 1/2 tsp of raw sugar or jaggery

Blend all ingredients together until smooth using a blender or whisk. You can experiment by adding spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, cumin, fresh mint or coriander.

Best drank with or after lunch.

According to Ayurveda yogurt by itself can clog the channels of the digestive and elimination systems. However by thinning yogurt with water and blending it, the molecular structure changes, making it more digestible and actually aids in digestion! 

Drinking a glass of lassi can help relieve gas, bloating and constipation. It's also a probiotic which helps the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut and reduces the bad bacteria. Good for us and delicious! 

 

Kitchari!

Kitchari is one of Ayurveda’s most famous foods. If you’ve ever done any kind of ayurvedic detox or cleanse chances are you will have heard of it and most likely have eaten it. Kitchari is quick and easy to make and has many wonderful health benefits. It’s ayurveda’s choice food when detoxing the body and is consider a scared food in India, so scared that it’s often referred to ‘food of the Gods’. Made up of basmati rice, mung dal, ghee and spices, kitchari is perfectly balanced (friendly to vata, pitta and kapha’s), easy to digest, gives strength and vitality, and deeply nourishes all tissues of the body.

Ingredients: 

·         1 cup basmati rice (washed 7 times in cold water)

·         1 cup mung dhal (washed)

·         1 teaspoon turmeric powder

·         1 teaspoon cumin seeds

·         1 piece of ginger, finely chopped

·         1 very small pinch of asafoetida 

·         1 teaspoon ground coriander

·         2 tablespoons ghee

·         1 teaspoon mustard seeds

·         1 teasp. lemon juice

·         1 teasp. Salt

·         1 teaspoon fennel seeds

 

Preparation: 

1.       Wash rice and mung dhal in cold water 7 times and keep ready. 

2.       Heat up the ghee in a heavy bottom pan and add the mustard seeds. Fry on medium heat till they start to pop up.

3.       Add the rest of the spices and fry till they turn golden brown and give an aromatic smell (approximately 30 sec - 1 min). Do not allow them to burn.  

4.       Add rice and mung dhal, stir for a few seconds so that the mixture is coated with ghee, then add lemon juice and 4 cups boiling water.

5.       Cook with occasional stirring till all the rice and dhal are soft and mushy in consistency.  Add water as needed.

You can also thrown in any of your favorite veggies if you feel like it.

Enjoy!

*this recipe make 4 serves