Nourishment

After a long, demanding day, I sometimes need to eat some good nourishing food that is going to restore my energy levels and make me feel human again. I have included a couple of things I have found to really help my daily life:

GHEE

Ghee is clarified butter. i.e. it takes all the stuff you don't need out of the butter and leaves you with one of the best elixirs you can have.

In Ayurveda, Ghee is an elixir of life. It replenishes your 'ojas' - the underlying ingredient in helping to lubricate your insides and keep you healthy and your immune system working: joints, organs, you name it, it helps it work better. It also relights your fire (agni) and makes your digestive system work well. 

Not only can you use ghee to cook with, or spread it on your toast, you can also apply it as a healing substance to cuts, burns, scars and so on. My mother used to rub my bumps and scrapes with butter when I was a child and she didn't know anything about Ayurveda but she was certainly on the right track! 

Take a heavy bottomed pan or skillet and add a block of butter.

On a low to medium heat, melt the butter and let cook until the white froth that appears on the top turns yellowy brown. 

Carefully remove the froth and pour the remainder into a sterilised jar. Allow to cool. 

You don't need to refrigerate ghee. 

SPLIT PEA DAL

This was passed on to me by one of my yoga teachers, Sara Avant, and it so happens that one of my Ayurvedic hero's is Maya Tiwari (Mother Maya). The following recipe is from her Path of Practise book. Serve this with Basmati rice, which is the easiest rice to digest. I gave this to my daughter from a very young age and she LOVES it.

4 cups water

3 or 4 cups of split peas (mung beans)

4 bay leaves

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ghee or sesame oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 garlic clove, chopped

2cms piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

1 small bunch fresh coriander

1 cup shredded coconut

Boil the water and add the washed and drained peas. 

Add the bay leaves, turmeric and salt. 

Cover and simmer until the peas are cooked (follow packet instructions).

Heat the ghee in a small pan and add the garlic, ginger and cumin seeds until the seeds pop and turn golden brown. (About 1 minute).

Add to the dal and rinse the pan with the dal water to get everything in. 

Add the coconut and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Towards the end of the 10 minutes, add the coriander. 

Remove from the heat, cover and allow the dal to stand for 5 minutes before serving.