Roasted Rice with Dates, Cinnamon and Cardamom

In Ayurveda, cooking rice and dates together creates a dish that is considered deeply nourishing, grounding, and restorative. This combination is favored for its taste, digestibility, and rejuvenative properties, offering a host of benefits across all three doshas, especially Vata and Pitta.

Bhudha Bowl with Carrot Ginger Dressing

 

This bowl is easy to assemble, store, and serve. It is very gratifying as a light supper or as a hardy breakfast.

Ingredients for 4 servings: 

• 1/2 pound of rice or quinoa

• 2 red bell peppers, roasted and sliced

• 1 cup of carrots, shredded

• 1 cup of zucchini, cut with a Julienne peeler as noodles

• 1 avocado, sliced

• 3 green onions, diced

• 1 tbsp of sesame seeds

• 4 sheets of toasted nori

Colombian Coconut Rice

In my native country of Colombia, we have a traditional coconut rice recipe. We usually use fresh grated coconut to make a milk which is quite light in comparison to the ones commercially available.

The natural oils of coconut do wonders for the Pitta dosha in terms of cooling the system and addressing Pitta-related imbalances, such as inflammations and ulcers.  Coconut kills fungi and yeasts that cause candidiasis, ringworm, athlete's foot, thrush, diaper rash and other infections. It also expels or kills tapeworms, lice, giardia and other parasites. Coconut is high in fiber, potassium, selenium, magnesium, phosphorus and vitamin C.

The sweetness and nutritional value of coconut oil provide a quick source of fortifying energy.

Makes: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

½ cup coconut milk

1 tsp camu camu powder 

1 pinch salt

1 tsp mustard seeds

2 cups water

1 cup basmati rice

½ cup grated coconut

Directions:

If you are using canned coconut milk, open the can and sauté 2 tsp of the milk, until the milk is light gold in colour and forms sticky granules. We call this ticote.

Add the camu camu, salt and mustard seeds. Roast for 30 seconds, then add water. Add the rest of the coconut milk. Let it boil. Add the prewashed basmati rice and let it cook until the water evaporates a bit (around 8 minutes).

Lower the heat and cover for approximately 5 minutes.

Separately roast the grated coconut for about 3 minutes. Add the roasted coconut to the rice at the end. You can garnish with toasted pine nuts or slivered almonds.

Roasted eggplant with fennel

This recipe is sensual, easy and fast. It is good for pittas, pitta-vattas, pitta-kapha, kapha-vattas, and kapha-pittas. Enjoy it !

Eggplant is rich in fiber, Vitamin A and Potassium. Eggplant is low in calories. It only has 38 calories in one whole cup. Eggplant lowers cholesterol, it's good for the nerves, and protects the fat in brain cell membranes. They are nightshades so excessive consumption produce dullness.

Pineapple Curry

Fully ripe  pineapples are great for pitta doshas or for pitta agravations. This 2 minutes curry is an ideal side dish. You can serve it for in many occasions including breakfast. I particularly like it over fresh basmati rice.

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe pineapple (peeled, cored, and chopped into 1-inch pieces)
• 1 tbsp. coconut  oil
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 2-3 dried red chilies, torn

Cocoa the Sexy Spice

Scientific studies are now revealing that cocoa beans can impact the health of your heart. Perhaps this is why people have intuitively associated chocolate with love and pleasure.
I enjoy not only combining cocoa in traditional dessert recipes, but also in daily cooking. When I am blending spices, I consider the depth of flavor, bitterness and astringent effect that cocoa beans can give to the recipe. Cocoa is one of the ingredients that serve as a connector to the other spices. It really is like the heart beat of the blend. Cocoa without the sugar has a bitter astringent taste but it also has a nutty fat flavor, which gives weight and a certain consistency to the blend.

Cauliflower Dahl

I am not sure how I missed this soup for the winter season. Cauliflower has a delicate and sometimes bland taste, and you need to be precise in the use of spices, oils and herbs. 

 

I found the richness of the coconut milk very nourishing during the winter months. However, coconut being a cooling milk, we need to add warming spices like ginger, Cayenne, curry powder or hot paprika.

Red Hot Coconut Curry

different curries for you to select.

The red curry paste aids the digestive fire to be activated in a soft way. You can replace tofu with large cubes of squash or sweet potatoes. Add hing to the recipe if you want a garlic flavor.

Flax Seed Podi (Alsi Podi)

 

Flaxseed (alsi) is warming and unctuous by nature, making it a wonderful ally for Vata — its healthy fats and mucilage soothe dryness, ease joint stiffness, and calm the nervous, ungrounded quality Vata types often feel. For Pitta, flaxseed's cooling omega-3 content can help temper excess heat and inflammation,

The Wonder of Chilli Peppers

-->VK reducing P increasing

I don’t know about you, but I always get intimidated when I experiment with strong flavors in the kitchen - like the bitterness of oregano, the stink of hing and the strong heat of chilli peppers.

Follow the blending rules.

It is through experience that I have made peace with these flavors. I just need to realize that if I use them for my daily cooking I need to use them at 10% of the spice blend. Following the simple formula of making strong flavors only 10% of the blend, you will be successful in your cooking.

Root Stew

When I don’t have much time to play in the kitchen, stews are my alternative. This grounding yellow lentil stew can warm up any Vatta imbalance and give you an instantaneous sense of home. 
 Serves 4 people 20 minutes

Quinoa Porridge with seasonal fruits

 

Quinoa is a highly nutritious seed, rich in complete protein, dietary fiber, and essential minerals such as magnesium, iron, and zinc. It contains all nine essential amino acids, making it especially valuable for plant-based diets. Quinoa is also naturally gluten-free, supports healthy digestion, and provides sustained energy thanks to its low glycemic index.

Cocoa salad dressing

How to use cocoa every day:
Cocoa goes well with naturally sweet vegetables like carrots, sweet potato and beets.
Cocoa blends well with the following spices: orange peels, pink peppercorn, vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, camu camu, lucuma, mustard and of course sweet chili.
Check your dosha chart to select the proper spice for you.


Here is one of my favorite sexy salad and vegetable dressings using cocoa:
5 tbsp of walnut oil
1 tbsp tamari
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp nutritional yeast
½ tsp cocoa power
½ tsp ginger
½ tsp sweet chili
½ tsp camu camu
½ tbsp vanilla
Mix all ingredients well and use over green salads, rice, beets, carrots or roasted sweet potatoes.

Avocado and Parsnip Salad

Vatta reducing

Pitta increasing in excess

Kapha increasing

For 2 people

I enjoy doing this 10-minute fresh salad at the end of the fall. The parsnips are collected from the garden after the first frost so they are tender and sweet. The parsley is at the peak of its flavor and the avocados are surely a creamy and comforting addition.

Turmeric: the divine golden king to health and unity.

Turmeric is one of the main spices in Satya blends. All doshas can benefit from the wonders of this rhizome. Turmeric grows in tropical climates, and is harvested annually.

Turmeric is originally from southern Asia, where it was domesticated and used prominently for both medicinal and religious purposes. Turmeric is no longer found in a wild state, but it is believed to have been developed from the continual selection and cultivation of wild curcuma.

Balsamic Citrus Dressing

Balsamic Citrus Dressing

Orange and lime can no go wrong over any salad, rice or roasted vegetables. The secret of this simple blend are the qualities of the orange and the balsamic vinegar. For Vatta dosha you can add a pinch of ginger, and for pitta add 1/2 tsp of fresh fennel.

Ingredients

1/4 cup (60 ml) organic balsamic vinegar
3 medium oranges, peeled, halved
3 green onions, white part only or 1/4 cup chopped

Cauliflowers with Coconut, Red Peppers and Peanuts

Nothing like a shredded fresh coconut, it has the fresh enzymes that pitta need to cool down and the right amount of fat to pacify vatta. This recipe is a colorful addition to a rice of quinoa dish, and of course it is a great companion to any fresh salad. If you are not that friendly to peanuts, you can use almonds, walnuts or sunflowers seed to add a little crunchy texture to this dish.

For vatas you can add a little more ginger, for pitta more coconut and for kapha more chilli. Customize your dish for where you are at.

Sun flower seeds with spices

15 minutes
Treats and snacks can not be more simple that to roast for a couple of minutes seeds.Sunflower seeds roasted with spices and ghee is nutritious and appropiated for all doshas. . It's really simple and can be combined with salads, rice, or vegetables. ... and so yummy and delicious. For vatta you can add other type of seeds that had being resting in water for a couple of hours.

6 taste salad

This delicious, satiating salad incorporates all 6 tastes of Ayurveda. This dish is lovely served with fresh basmati rice with mustard seeds. Friendly to all three doshas.

The paste can also be used as a salad dressing.

The chlorophyll in the celery aids digestion and gives fiber to the colon to support healthy elimination. Celery contains a lot of water, supporting Vatta and giving Pitta a break from heavy oils. The pumpkin seeds are excellent for parasites. 

Serves 4 people

15 minutes