Ayurvedic Healing & Cleansing ~ Kichari & Oatmeal Recipes

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Ayurveda a holistic form of medicine from India that is over six thousand years old and is known as the Sister Science of Yoga. It can be utilized for optimal health through daily lifestyle habits, diet, and activities tailored to the individual's unique needs.  It recognizes that each person is different and that ways to stay healthy and happy are not a one-size-fits-all kind of thang.  Ayurveda honors that each individual can make small changes in daily habits to balance for their unique prakruti (individual constitution).  I’ll share more about Ayurveda another day. Today I want to focus on how according to Ayurveda, good digestion is of high importance, so I’m sharing two simple recipes to get your inner fire awakened. Great for cleansing the liver, boosting the immune system, stimulating digestive fire, absorbing nutrients, and super yummy!

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Your digestive fire, or agni, is directly related to balance or imbalance in the body.  In Ayurvedic cooking, Kichari is an easily digestible meal that you can have for lunch and dinner (so for dinner it is easily digested before you go to sleep -things that are difficult to digest may end up sitting in your stomach all night and turn to ama or toxin).  This is also great for cleansing in a healthy, grounding way.  

The magic is in the spices…

If you’re doing a Kichari Cleanse:

Start by doing this as a mono-diet for 2-3 days.  Eat as much as you like, taking in only kichari for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacking in between.  Kichari is simple, fast, and delicious - and the benefits are huge.  It is used to aid in digestion, cleanse the liver and blood, facilitate healthy weight loss, balance metabolism, and help the body to eliminate toxins and become better able to absorb nutrients.

Kichari cleanse will help strengthen your agni and is also used to aid in being able to digest heavier foods after the cleanse is over.  

~ Kichari Ayurveda Style ~

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of basmati rice (make more if you’d like to use for 2 full days)

  • 1 cup of yellow mung dhal (yellow split mung beans)

  • Spices mentioned below

  • fresh ginger

  • carrots, yellow and/or green squash, spinach (optional)

  1. Soak basmati rice (can soak the night before if you like) and yellow mung beans separately.  Add to water and cover.

  2. Heat ghee (or oil) in a separate pan for a minute or two until hot.  Be careful not to burn ghee. Add fresh ginger and cumin seeds (they will pop) or powder, coriander seeds/powder, cardamom, turmeric, (these spices are good for grounding and inflammation), black pepper, sea salt.  Cinnamon (only a little if pitta dominant). Infuse the ghee with these spices for two minutes (do not burn). If you’re a quick chopper, chop veggies during this part or chop before warming ghee/oil so as not to burn it.

  3. Chop veggies into small squares and add to ghee/oil/spices for optimal absorption/digestions. Carrots can go first as they take longer to cook. Squash next. Spinach optional last.

  4. After rice/beans have cooked for a few minutes, get rid of froth as rice/beans are cooking as needed.   Optional to add infused veggies into the rice/beans mixture halfway through cooking rice/beans or keep them separate.

~ Oatmeal Ayurveda Style ~

Ingredients:

  • Your favorite oatmeal - I love Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal.

  • 1 teaspoon of Ghee or Olive Oil

  • 3-5 Almonds

  • 7-10 Raisins

  • Spices mentioned below

  1. Heat ghee in a pan for a minute or two until hot. Be careful not to burn ghee. Add thinly chopped fresh ginger, almonds, raisins.

  2. Add Spices: a little cumin seeds or powder, coriander seeds/powder, cardamom, turmeric, (these spices are good for grounding and inflammation), a little cinnamon, salt, black pepper. (not too much cumin or cinnamon if you're a Pitta).

  3. Add stone ground oats (Red Mill makes a great grounding Scottish Oatmeal) and stir for a minute or so.

  4. Add hot or boiling water and cook for 8 mins or whatever package says so oats are well-cooked. Ideally, this is a daily breakfast - grounding, easy, and delish! 

  5. Vatas and Pittas may like to sweeten with maple syrup or agave. Kaphas may like a wee bit of honey after the oatmeals cools a little (honey is known as medicine when raw, toxin when boiled). 

  6. Substitute oatmeal with couscous or farina or quinoa and use carrots and peas instead of raisins if you’d like to change it up. Enjoy :)

Comment below and let me know how it goes. Om Santi!

peace and love,

Deanna Sidoti

Ayurvedic Health Consultant | Dhyana Yoga Arts Founder|More on Deanna here.


PS. If you have further questions about Ayurveda, let me know in the comments.

(NOTE: Edited to add veggies on June 3, 2022)