Soothing Pumpkin Kitchari
Hello everyone
Oh man. This recipe. It is so divine. It is incredibly soothing for the entire digestive & nervous system & is very nourishing for the mind-body; particularly the energy body. It is using very sattvic/balancing or peace-promoting foods that help to elevate mood and the prana (life force energy) in the body & mind & spirit.
It’s funny actually, the day that I made this I was feeling really angry & upset. I had a very large Pitta energy imbalance (for those not familiar with Pitta, it is the energy that governs all fire processes in the mind-body so excess imbalance of this can cause a lot of heat, inflammation, anger, frustration, agitation - all the qualities associated with too much internal fire). I was flustered in the kitchen & I was HANGRY. All of these are not a great combo when trying to step into the kitchen to create a mindfully prepared, delicious meal. Have you ever heard that saying that goes something like, “never eat an angry mans food because it will give you diarrhea”? Well this speaks to the fact that there is an innate energy transfer when cooking - from the person who is cooking the food, into the food itself. Another example is, you know that old notion of the secret ingredient to your grans amazing mac ‘n cheese (or insert childhood nostalgic dream meal) being love? Well there is truth to that. Food is receptive to the energy that you bring to it, because intention is so powerful: intention directs attention and therefore, by extension it channels & directs energy. So essentially, the more intentionality you meet your cooking processes with, the more benefit you will reap from the food that you eat on an energetic level.
Have you ever seen those scientific videos that show you how receptive water is to energy frequency/thought/vibration? Well, then this makes perfect sense. If food is made up largely of water, the energy quality we bring to it will naturally effect it, as water is so sensitive to energy. And in turn, it will effect your own mind-body. So, the moral of the story: cook with good energy, infuse loving thought & healing feels into the food you prepare and it will come right back to you & nourish you on a deep cellular level as well as a mental-emotional-energetic level.
So now, knowing this, you can imagine my surprise when some alchemical divinity took over & this magic pot of wonder was created despite me being in a foul mood. And boy am I so thankful for that because it soothed me completely and re-balanced my Pitta & Vata doshic imbalances almost instantly. It’s amazing how certain action steps or external input can create such a direct and immediate shift in your being - especially the more tuned in with yourself you become. The more intuitive you become with your eating, sleeping & lifestyle habits (through activities or practices that bring you to stillness because it is in stillness that intuition speaks), the more you notice the places in your life where you are doing things that are further creating imbalances. This meal was one of those moments where I saw how immediate and direct the effects of the things we eat, think & do have on our relative state of balance. As soon as I ate this meal, I could immediately feel myself drop into that parasympathetic nervous system state (the state of rest, digest, heal & slow down). It helped me to soften to all of the residual edges from what was otherwise a rather intense day. As such, this recipe has since been my go-to meal when I need to calm my nervous system & soften those inner edges.
This brought me to back to a powerful way of understanding food & energy that I learnt about when I was studying to be a Whole Food, Plant Based Chef in Austin, Texas. The crux of it was this: that you can use food, create food, and eat food in accordance to HOW YOU WANT TO FEEL after you have eaten it. How phenomenal is that? When you have an understanding of the innate energetic qualities of particular foods, you can use these understandings to bring about the desired mind-body effects that you would like to experience during and after the meal you have eaten. This knowledge completely changed the way that I came to understand & work with food to bring about specific energy qualities/effects and deepen my healing practices in my everyday life in a very tangible and practical way. I am in fact writing a book about this currently - it’s a slow process for now, but I am hoping to share more with you on subject because it goes SO deep & is truly profound.
One of the biggest gifts this knowledge afforded me was the ability to begin understanding food through the lens of ENERGY instead of as calories/macronutrients/energy input & output etc. Instead of using food as a means to find some sense of control in my life through obsessing over what I did and didn’t eat I started to understand that in fact it all comes down to energy.
There are a variety of factors that influence these energetic qualities of the food you are eating. But some of them are:
THE ENERGY YOU INFUSE INTO THE FOOD WHILE YOU ARE MAKING IT
THE INNATE ENERGY OF THE FOOD YOU ARE USING TO CREATE YOUR MEAL (example: ginger is warming & coconut is cooling)
THE ENERGY YOU BRING TO THE EATING EXPERIENCE (mindfulness & gratitude which open you up to becoming more receptive to the nourishment) &
THE ENERGY OF THE PARTICULAR COOKING METHOD USED (example: steaming creates an uplifting, expansive energy quality while roasting creates a more dense, contractive energy).
All of these things can be consciously used & harnessed in a way to change your mood, your own subtle energy & even your overarching attitude towards life. Because in my opinion, true healing & balance comes from ENERGY MANAGEMENT. In order to manage your energy, you need to understand the different energetic qualities of things in life & how they effect YOU and your current state of balance or imbalance.
How they effect you will shift moment-to-moment according to your current state of balance. And balance, as we know, is an ever-changing, dynamic & completely fluid thing. It changes every single moment and is greatly informed by our external input: the environmental stimuli we are exposed to, the interactions we have, the thoughts we think, the activities & work that we do, and so on and so forth. Every single thing in our life effects our current state of balance, and because of that, we need to learn how to listen & take action from that inner listening in practical ways in everyday life through what we eat, how we eat, what activities & things we decide to do so that our choices truly support our highest expression of health.
When I made this the other day on my Instagram stories, people responded with so much excitement and many people messaged me asking to share the recipe - especially during this lockdown period where people are gravitating towards more nourishing, soothing, healing foods. So, as promised, here it is!
Ingredients
3/4 cup of basmati rice
1/2 cup of red lentils
1 large onion or two smaller/medium ones
3.5 cups of filtered water
1 cup of unsweetened soy milk or almond milk
3 cups of diced pumpkin
1 tomato
1/2 stock cube
3 tablespoons of soy sauce
1/2 lemon
1/3 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon whole fennel seeds (or ground if that’s all you have)
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of olive oil
1/2 cup flaked coconut
Method:
In a medium sized pot place one tablespoon of oil & bring to heat. Place the onion in and cook until fragrant, tender & translucent. Then, make a little hole in the middle of the onion mixture & place the remaining 1 teaspoon of olive oil, let it heat up & then place the mustard seeds into that 1 teaspoon of oil & let them sizzle & turn grey (this is them “activating”). Next, add in the remaining spices, let them spread out & make contact with the heat so that they also activate their aromatic & healing properties.
Then mix it all together well & add 1/2 cup of water so that none of the spices or onion burn under the heat. Now rinse & drain the lentils & basmati rice. Add them along with the pumpkin and chopped tomato to the pot. Add the remaining water (preferably boiled water) and the soy milk. Now add in the soy sauce, lemon juice, stock & salt. Let it come to a rumbling boil and then once boiling, turn the heat down some so that the contents come to a steady simmer. Cook like this for a further 25-30 minutes with the lid ajar, stirring regularly.
In a small saucepan, toast the flaked coconut & set aside.
Once cooked, serve with coconut & a fresh side salad if desired. ENJOY!
