Gurukula Blog

Gotu Kola
Centella Asiatica

Oh Gotu Kola, who are you?
Arriving on flat frog-foot shaped leaves and
Adorned in small hidden petals of pink and light blue
Herb of the Gods known as Brahmi too
Brain and Nerve tonic to the rescue
Creeping through marshy ground to save Mājja Dhātu
Choice of environment disguising your value
Oh Gotu Kola, who are you?
Arriving on flat frog-foot shaped leaves and
Adorned in small hidden petals of pink and light blue

Gloria G. Garrett
April, 2010

 

Heidi Nordlund

 

Spring, 2010

 

Ethnobotany with Dr. Vaidya

 

 

Ashoka Tree

At the time of dawn you opened to the drops of rain

Born as an Evergreen in the rain forest

Living throughout India and Sri Lanka

Rising straight in to the sky

Like a seeker raising the awareness into the abode of God

 

 

Ashoka Tree

Dressed in long leavesand dark brownish black bark

Blooming in the spring

Pink and yellow-orange flowers

Offering delightful fragrance to all

Turning red like the color of blood

 

 

Ashoka Tree

As a uterine tonic you heal the feminine

Bringing hope and joy to all women

Taking away grief and sorrow

You are Sacred

Dedicated to the God of Love

 

 

Ashoka Tree

Wild and free

Filled with Shakti power

Named like the female deities of the Jainas

Blessed for witnessing the birth of the Buddha

Blessed for witnessing the first meeting of Sita and Hanuman

You are loved.

The spade and the snow-shovel

The weather is tinged with enough warmth these days to coax the first early risers up from their beds, eager to look around. The muted shades of winter slowly giving way; the grays traded for greens.

The perennials come up proudly in defiance of the stubborn wind and snow. Spring is cool and shy, but many an eager farmer and flower are there to flatter her along.

The soil is broken, the first seeds planted.

..........

The packets of seeds laid out in front of me reminded me of my favorite youth hobby of collecting baseball cards. The glossy pictures on the front, the stats on the back. I swear I felt a bit of lust come over me.
Sadananda told me that every year he buys more seeds than he needs, and this year was to be no exception. It made me laugh to think that the most modest man I know, still has his indulgences. Sadananda is a sucker for all things beautiful.

The weather and other obligations had delayed my plans by a week or two. It seemed that when I was ready to work in the soil, the snow was ready to fall. In the early part of spring my car became a portable wardrobe. In the back seat were tee-shirts and jackets, boots and sneakers, wool hats and baseball caps. One day It would be snowing, the next I would be sweating.

Little by little I was able to trade the snow shovel for the spade. The first days of work had me cleaning out the old beds from last year. Uprooting the ghosts of last years tomatoes, and then mixing the soil with rich compost.
Now, I am not a destructive man by nature, but I must admit that I found great satisfaction in whacking and weeding my way through those beds- working my way foot by foot until nothing was left but a bare patch of earth.

Once the beds were cleared, and the soil mixed through with compost I got around to planting the seeds. The first thing to go in were the snow peas, Oregon Sugar Pod II's (Pisum sativum). Snow peas are so named because they can be planted even when there is still snow on the ground. In truth it would have been better to get them in a week or two earlier, but as it was, April 1st seemed like as good a day as any.
That next day I put down the radish seeds. The radishes(Raphanus sativus) were in the same bed that used to house the tomatoes, alternating rows with the snow peas. We planted 3 types of radishes, Sparkler White tip, Icicle short top, and Champion.
That same day April 2 we planted our beds dedicated to our greens. Nestled safely between two of the 3 bee hives tucked to the left of the shed I planted a mix of lettuce greens, mustard greens, arugula, and spinach. Half of the seeds were saved for the second wave planting.

With the first seeds planted I breathe a deep cool breath, lay out my warm boots for the snow storm that is on it's way for tomorrow, and make plans for the "double-digging" that will take place over the weekend.

- Shaw Lathrop (Alandi Ashram groundskeeper)   

Channa Halva
Gluten free, nutritious, supports breast milk production.
Good for vata, pitta, kapha (occasionally), rakta, sthanya.
Besan flour, also known as gram flour, is made from channa dal (deshi channa or bengal gram) a close relative of chickpeas. Its golden colour speaks to its high antoxidant content. Channa has a low glycemic index.

Ingredients
Serves up to 12
3 cups besan flour (available at Indian grocery stores)
1/2 cup ghee
1/2 cup slivered almonds
3/4 cup chopped pitted dates
1 cup raw cane sugar (turbinado)
1 can coconut milk
2 cups hot water (or as needed)
1 tsp cardamom seeds


Directions
Heat ghee in heavy bottomed pan.
Add besan flour and roast until golden brown but not burnt.
Add almonds and dates and fry for a few more minutes.
Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.  Simmer until it thickens into a loose dough.
Serve warm as a breakfast or dessert.






 

Gluten Free Vegetable Dalia

Gluten free, vegetarian, suitable for ekadashi, suitable for Passover (Buckwheat is not a grain).

Good for kapha, rakta, sthanya.

to Note|See All Photos

This is a modification of a recipe from http://www.indobase.com/recipes/details/vegetable-dalia.php

Dalia is a popular Indian breakfast dish and can also serve as a light supper or lunch with the addition of koshimbir (Indian salad). Dalia is given to nursing mothers to support milk production. It is prepared with cracked wheat (dalia) which is nutritive and building. To create a gluten free version, we used buckwheat kasha instead of cracked wheat. Buckwheat is light and rough, ideal for kapha, yet also supports breast milk production. Buckwheat also helps lower cholesterol.

Ingredients:

 

• 2 Cups buckwheat kasha
• 2 Carrots
• 250 gm Peas
• 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 2 tsp Ginger-garlic paste
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp mild red chili
• 1 tsp Garam masala

1 tbsp ghee

 

 

Peel and chop the carrots into cubes.

Peel the peas.

Boil the vegetables and buckwheat kasha together, in 3 cups water.

Add ginger-garlic paste, fry for 2 min and then add salt, garam masala and red chili.

Mix well and add the boiled vegetable dalia mixture.

Stir in ghee

Mix well and serve.

The texture should be moist and loose like porridge .If it is heavy and sticky, add more water.

 

High fructose corn syrup...number one dangerous sweetener . Our body can handle fructose in fruit, where the fibre from fruit slows its absorption; but we are not designed for industrial sweeteners.  Sweeteners high in fructose are implicated in metabolic syndrome. Watch a great lecture about this from an expert endocrinologist at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

A supposedly beneficial sweetener has also emerged as unduly high in fructose. To make matters worse, this sweetener is being marketed to diabetics and people with metabolic syndrome as having a low glycemic index. Yes--agave nectar isn't all it's made out to be! At 70-90% fructose, agave could be more deadly than white sugar.

Ayurveda recommends natural sweeteners that are not industrial products, such as jaggery, (shown in the picture) raw local honey and mishri (natural rock candy). Even these should be used in moderation and with attention to prakruti, (constitution) as well as vikruti (current imbalance).




 

Related articles by Zemanta

• Agave Nectar: Healthy or Hype? (naturalbias.com)
• Dr. Joseph Mercola: Sugar May Be Bad But This Sweetener Is Far More Deadly (huffingtonpost.com)
• The Deadliest Food Additive (lewrockwell.com)
• Food sweetener could be 'fuelling' childhood diabetes, study finds (telegraph.co.uk)
• Fructose is Raising Blood Pressure in Men (healthadel.com)

Asparagus cashew rice pilaf (Armenian)

Gluten free, vegetarian. Vata, pitta, anna,  rasa, sthanya. Asparagus is said to enhance milk production for nursing mothers and is a good source of folate for pregnant and nursing mothers.

We adapted this recipe from the website allrecipes.com. See original at http://allrecipes.asia/recipe/635/asparagus-cashew-rice-pilaf.aspx

Ingredients

·        ¼ cup butter

·        2 ounces uncooked rice spaghetti, broken 

·        ½ teaspoon minced garlic

·        1 ¼ cups uncooked jasmine rice

·        2 ¼ cups vegetable broth

·        salt and pepper to taste

·        ½ pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces

·        ½ cup cashew halves, fried in ghee 

DIRECTIONS

1.      Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Increase heat to medium, and stir in spaghetti,

cooking until coated with the melted butter and lightly browned.

2.      Stir  garlic into the saucepan, and cook about 2 minutes, until tender. Stir in jasmine rice, and cook about 5

minutes. Pour in vegetable broth. Season mixture with salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover, and

cook 20 minutes, until rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed.

3.      Place asparagus in a separate medium saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and cook until

tender but firm.

·        Mix asparagus  into the rice mixture, and serve warm

·        Offer cashew halves on the side as a garnish

I would have enjoyed this recipe more if accompanied by Armenian/Persian pickles or tourshi. Recipe for tourshi is at http://shahrzaad.wordpress.com/2008/11/25/iranian-recipe-torshipickle/

 

Creamy Almond Pudding

Gluten free, Casein free, Soy free, vegan,  parve

Good for Vata, Pitta, mamsa, sthanya, ojas

Building, may promote lactation.

Sephardically, this recipe is suitable for Passover.

Adapted from Lord Krishna's Cuisine, the Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking by Yamuna Devi, Bala Books. We adapted a GF CF version.

Allow two hours almond soaking time!

Serves 6

2/3 cup slivered almonds

1 cup boiling water

6 cups coconut milk

2 tbsp Cream of Rice

¼ tsp saffron threads

1/2 tsp crushed cardamom seeds

½ cup turbinado sugar

2 tbsp toasted slivered almonds for garnishing

Place almonds in a bowl, add the boiling water, and soak for 2 hours. Pour nuts and soak water into food processor and process until smooth. Slowly add one cup of coconut milk and process again until smooth.

Put the rest of the coconut milk into a heavy bottomed pan and bring to a boil. While stirring constantly, sprinkle in the cream of rice, then pour the blended almond mixture in. Turn down the heat, add the saffron, cardamom and sugar. Simmer, stirring attentively, until the pudding is reduced to one third of its original volume. Remove from the heat and beat with a whisk to smooth the texture. Serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with toasted almonds.

The original recipe called for cow's milk instead of coconut milk. It is thus like a thickened version of ojas drink and would be even better for ojas, sthanya and mamsa. However, when made with cow's milk it should be taken alone rather than as dessert  or it would present food combining issues.

 

For Friday lunch this week we made this recipe, which we adapted from a great website, Fat Free Vegan Kitchen http://blog.fatfreevegan.com

Mexican Pumpkin Soup
Serves 4
Gluten free, Casein free, soy free, parve.
Good for pitta, rakta, artava.

1 cup pinto beans, soaked overnight
1 medium pumpkin or two acorn squashes
4-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
4 cups vegetable broth
5 medium red potatoes, diced into 1/2 inch cubes (DO NOT PEEL)
1 tablespoons oregano
1 tabelspoons mild chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/3 cup rice milk
salt, to taste
chopped cilantro for garnish

 Drain the soaked beans and pressure cook for one hour. Meanwhile, bake the pumpkin or acorn squash, scoop out the flesh and puree, discarding  the seeds. Heat the oil in a large pot, add garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Add in the broth, pureed pumpkin, cooked beans and potatoes. Stir in the oregano, chili powder and cumin. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer.Simmer for about 30 minutes (longer at altitude or for a larger quantity), until potatoes are tender. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the rice milk, add salt to taste, and serve immediately garnished with cilantro.

Gurukula members who are not casein sensitive added khefir as a sour cream substitute and we put out picante sauce for those who wanted a spicier taste.
The potato skins are a good source of iron and the beans supply folate. Pumpkin/winter squash is a good source of beta carotene. We used acorn squash as pumpkins were not available. 

 

When you have flu, it is important to fast while you have a fever. If you don't fast, the body will not be able to burn toxins and you will get additional problems.While fasting, you can drink some of the following tasty and healing teas. These teas can be taken 3-4 times daily.

 

Vata Teas

Use these if you are Vata or if you are cold, shivery and dry.

 

½ tsp ajwain

1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

Simmer 5 minutes in boiling water

Strain and drink with a little sesame oil.

or 1 tsp tulsi

1 tsp fresh ginger

½ tsp liquorice root powder

Simmer 5 minutes in boiling water

Strain and drink.

 

or 1tsp fresh ginger

     1 tsp fresh or dried turmeric

Simmer 5 minutes in boiling water

Strain and drink.

 

Pitta Teas

Use if you have a high fever, sore throat, and burning eyes.

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp sandalwood

1 tsp rose

steep 10 minutes in boiling water

Strain and drink lukewarm for a high fever.

 

Or 1 tsp fresh ginger

1 tsp fresh or dried turmeric

1 tsp liquorice root powder

Simmer 5 minutes in boiling water

Strain and drink,especially for a sore throat.

 

Kapha Teas

Use if you have a low fever and a lot of thick , sticky  phlegm.

 

1 tsp dry ginger

1 tsp tulsi

1pinch black pepper

Simmer 5 minutes in boiling water

Strain and drink.

 

or 1tsp dry ginger

     1tsp turmeric

     1 " piece of osha root

 Simmer 10 minutes in boiling water

Strain and drink.

 

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