I received a copy of this book to facilitate my review.  As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

All right, now if you’re not already familiar with Ayurveda, hear me out before you wig out and jump to conclusions about some weird spiritual thing and run!

What is Ayurveda?

Ayurveda is the traditional healing system of India.  Yes, that does mean it often “goes together with” Hinduism — because that’s the traditional religion of India — but the two are not one and the same, any more than allopathic medicine is secular humanism.  So, with that said, we can keep the health insights without having to compromise our Christianity.  I just wanted to get that out of the way for those who have just vague enough a notion to be nervous.  Now onto the good stuff…

All traditional healing systems — include those in the western world before the rise of patent drugs — take into consideration differing constitutions.  They all break it down a little differently, but the underlying concept is the same.  Ayurveda is built on the idea of three constitutional types, called “doshas.”  These are vata (which is dry), pitta (which is fiery), and kapha (which is moist).  That’s a bit of an oversimplification, but that’s the gist.

Everyone is created as one of these “types,” or some combination of the types.  What that means is that your greatest natural tendency is toward that dosha’s distinctives.  You also are likely, much of the time, when you get out of balance, to get out of balance in that way.  Kapha people, for instance, are more likely than others to struggle with respiratory problems, due to excessive moisture (in the form of mucus) gathering in the respiratory passageway.  These are not absolutes!  They are merely tendencies or “trends.”

Being mindful of these tendencies is beneficial, because it can give us great insight into how best to maintain balance.  The second major distinctive of Ayurveda is the six tastes.  Although I imagine these were/are largely intuitive to those who grew with them, they aren’t all (in my opinion) exactly intuitive to us in our culture.  (Some are.  Some aren’t.)  The six tastes are sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent.  Ayurvedic physicians understand each of these tastes to push the body toward a particular dosha or doshas — in other words, eating the “right” foods can help keep you in balance or restore balance, while eating the “wrong” foods can knock you further out of balance.

The Book

That is the philosophy on which The Essential Ayurvedic Cookbook is based.  The first section of the book goes into much greater detail than I just did about what Ayurveda is and how it works.  The second section of the book is, of course, filled with recipes.  These recipes are all designed to be balanced, so they aren’t unbalancing for any doshic type.  Many include suggested modifications for specific doshas.

As is the case with all of the Robert Rose cookbooks, this does a great job of organizing a lot of information in minimal space.  It isn’t fancy — the pages are all in black-and-white, with several sections of color plates spaced throughout the book.  However, it’s well-formatted for actual use.  Each recipe is on a single page, as a rule.  (One or two are very long and spill over to a second.)  They begin with a brief description.  Then there’s a sort of “header” area that specifies special diets the recipe is appropriate for (gluten-free, soy-free, vegan…).  Sidebars include the number of servings or yield (depending on what’s appropriate for the particular recipe), tips, variations, etc.  The main portion of the page, of course, holds the ingredients and instructions.

I have a couple of especially tasty recipes to share from this one!

Amaranth Crepes with Pomegranate Syrup

Truffles

Truffles

Lois A. Leonhardi

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Dessert

Cuisine Gluten-Free

Servings 30

Ingredients

  

• 1/2 c. organic heavy or whipping cream 35%
• 5 tsp. unsalted butter
• 1 c. chopped gluten-free dark chocolate 85% cacao
• 1 tsp. raw liquid honey
• Suggested Toppings:
• sifted unsweetened cocoa powder Pitta-Kapha
• unsweetened shredded coconut Vata-Pitta
• ground toasted almonds hazelnuts, cashews, or pecans (Vata)

Instructions

 

• In a small saucepan, heat cream and butter over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. When the mixture reaches just below boiling (you will see tiny bubbles starting to form), remove from heat and add chocolate, stirring with a flexible spatula until melted and smooth. Let cool completely, then stir in honey.
• Transfer to a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours or until ganache is firm enough to roll into balls.
• Place desired toppings on plates. Scoop out 1 tsp. ganache and mold into a small ball using the palm of your hand. Roll ball in a topping. Continue making balls, placing them in a single layer in an airtight container.

Recipes and images are used with the permission of the publisher.