Cozy Days Kitchari
What is Kitchari?
Kitchari is a staple dish used therapeutically for healing. It has been passed down through centuries of Ayurvedic practice as a simple and nourishing way to heal and nourish your body and mind.
It’s a combination of cooked white basmati rice (or another high quality white rice), split mung beans, ghee and spices. Its simplicity makes it quite effective in supporting and promoting healthy digestion. The condition of your digestion is one of the key factors that influence your health and vitality. With balanced digestion comes a clear mind, glowing skin, more restful sleep and greater enthusiasm for life.
Many people might call any dish where rice and legume are cooked together a “kitchari.” As I’ve been taught from my teachers kitchari is used as a specific Ayurvedic dish to support illness recovery and to rejuvenate compromised agni. When getting more creative and adding new components, I call it a Kitchari with vegetables, or Ayurvedic one-pot. Enjoy this kind of dish when agni is fairly balanced and symptoms are mild.
Why does kitchari heal?
Here are 3 main reasons why eating kitchari is a powerful way to heal naturally:
1. Kitchari is a balanced meal
Rice, mung beans, ghee and spices offer balanced nourishment for your body.
Kitchari is a balanced meal because it contains both augmenting and extractive foods. Rice, which is augmenting and is sweet is the primary taste. It builds body tissues, calms vata dosha, supports the digestion of the other food, and forms the bulk of the stool (thereby easing elimination). Mung beans are extractive and help the body naturally remove or scrape excess toxins due to their bitter and astringent tastes. For optimal digestion for an adult, include 60% rice and 40% mung beans in your kitchari (measurements follow in the recipes!).
Ghee plays a fundamental role in keeping agni - digestive fire - burning consistently which smooths the process of digestion. Ghee is the only oil that is augmenting, meaning that it deeply nourishes all of the tissues of the body, including the reproductive organs. The body actually digests and absorbs ghee more easily than any other oil, which makes it effective for calming vata dosha. Ghee supports agni whereas other oils challenge agni. It is neither heating or cooling and thus does not provoke any of the doshas. Ghee is also great for the complexion, the eyes, the nose, intellect and memory.
2. Kitchari is satiating
By including digestive spices, like ginger, turmeric, cumin, and coriander, the meal becomes cleansing, balanced and satisfying. When you are properly satiated on a regular basis, your food cravings and impulses to snack will decrease. This will allow your digestion to improve.
3. Kitchari is easily digestible
By gently cooking the ingredients together to a soupy consistency, your digestion doesn’t need to work as hard to break down and assimilate the food. This easily digestible meal gives your body a break to restore the natural strength of agni, the digestive fire.
SIMPLE KITCHARI
Serves 1
You’ll need:
● 1 Tbsp. ghee
● ¼ tsp. mineral salt (the amount of salt might vary a little based on the
type of salt)
● ½ tsp. fresh grated ginger root
● ⅛ tsp. turmeric, fresh or powder
● ¼ small strip kombu cut into small pieces
● ⅛ tsp. cumin seeds coarse grind
● ⅛ tsp. coriander seeds coarse grind
● ⅛ tsp. brown mustard seeds
● Pinch of asafoetida
● 1/16 tsp. cardamom powder
● 3 - 4 drops lime*
● ¼ cup (50 g) basmati rice
● ⅛ cup (25 g) split mung beans (if split are not available, use whole beans that have been soaked 6+ hours and cook thoroughly)
● 1 ½ - 2 cups (360 - 480 ml) water as needed for desired thickness
*Optional: Instead of lime, you can enjoy buttermilk with your meal in order to incorporate the sour taste.
For one serving: ¼ cup buttermilk mixed 50% with water, warmed with ghee and spices.
Here’s how:
Warm the ghee in your pot, add salt, ginger, turmeric and kombu. Simmer until the aroma comes up. Add the remainder of the spices and continue to simmer until the aroma is present and the mustard seeds start to pop. Then add the rice and split mung. Stir together and simmer for a few minutes. Add water and simmer for 35 minutes in a covered pot on the stove. This time may vary depending on your pot, cooktop and temperature in the room. If you are using a pressure cooker, bring to pressure and cook for 15 minutes, allowing the pressure to come down naturally.
Let sit for 5 minutes with the lid off so the tastes can become friends and the food cools a bit. Add lime or serve the kitchari with buttermilk on the side to include the sour taste for a balance of the six tastes. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley, cilantro (coriander leaf), dill or basil. Add up to 1 Tbsp. flax meal if desired. Serve warm and enjoy.
Learn more about Kitchari and Ayurvedic cooking from one of my favourite Ayurvedic chefs!
