Have You Heard of Kitchari? (+ recipe!)

Kitchari (or stewed rice and dal) has been a staple of Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years as a cleansing and healing dish.  The rice and lentils provide protein to support and nourish the body, while the soaking and cooking methods (as well as the use of warming spices like ginger and cumin) ensure that it is digestible enough to not deplete the body of Prana (life force energy). 

Kitchari is often eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner during an Ayurvedic cleanse, or given when a person is ill.  It is so nutritive and gentle on digestion, that it is even used as baby food in many parts of India. 

The use of grains and legumes may seem strange to those of us who have struggled with digestive issues in the past, but it is all in the spices and cooking method.  When prepared the right way, even I (whose digestive system has a sordid history with lentils) had no trouble digesting this dish. The end result should be a tiny bit soupy (like a good risotto), and not too tight or starchy. 

The following is a recipe I adapted from a more classic base, to best suit a healing or highly sensitive digestive gut:

𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍:

 𝟷/𝟸 𝚌𝚞𝚙 𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒 𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚎

 𝟷/𝟺 𝚌𝚞𝚙 𝚢𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚜𝚙𝚕𝚒𝚝 𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚜 𝚘𝚛 𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚜 

 𝟷 𝚃𝚋𝚜𝚙 𝚐𝚑𝚎𝚎 (𝚘𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚒𝚕)

 𝟷 𝚃𝚋𝚜𝚙 𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚑 𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛

 𝟷/𝟸 𝚝𝚜𝚙 𝚏𝚎𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚕 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚜

 𝟷/𝟸 𝚝𝚜𝚙 𝚌𝚞𝚖𝚒𝚗 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚜

 𝟷/𝟺 𝚝𝚜𝚙 𝚋𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚜 

 𝟷/𝟸 𝚝𝚜𝚙 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚞𝚖𝚒𝚗

 𝟷/𝟸 𝚝𝚜𝚙 𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 

 𝟷/𝟸 𝚝𝚜𝚙 𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚌 

 𝙳𝚊𝚜𝚑 𝚘𝚏 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚑-𝚌𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚙𝚎𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚛

 𝚂𝚊𝚕𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎 (𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚊𝚕𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚑 𝚘𝚛 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚌𝚔)

 𝟹-𝟺 𝚌𝚞𝚙𝚜 𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛, 𝚟𝚎𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚌𝚔, 𝚘𝚛 𝚋𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚑 (𝚖𝚢 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎)

 𝙿𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚊𝚏𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚗 (𝚘𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕)

 𝟷 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚔𝚘𝚖𝚋𝚞 𝚘𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚔𝚊𝚖𝚎 (𝚘𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕)

 𝟷 𝚌𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚒, 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚍

𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐:

 𝟷/𝟺 𝚌𝚞𝚙 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚑 𝚌𝚒𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘 

 𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚌𝚘𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚞𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚐𝚞𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚛 𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚐𝚞𝚛𝚝

𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚋𝚢 𝚜𝚘𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝟾 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜 (𝚘𝚛 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝). 𝙳𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚎 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕. 

𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚑𝚎𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚙𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚞𝚖 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚝. 𝙰𝚍𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛, 𝚏𝚎𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚕 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚜, 𝚌𝚞𝚖𝚒𝚗 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚎́ 𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕 𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚝 (𝟹𝟶 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚜 – 𝟷 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚝𝚎). 𝙰𝚍𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚎, 𝚕𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚊𝚝, 𝚌𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚝𝚎. 𝙰𝚍𝚍 𝟸 𝚌𝚞𝚙𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚛 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚝𝚘 𝚊 𝚜𝚒𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛. 𝙰𝚍𝚍 𝚔𝚘𝚖𝚋𝚞 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚊𝚏𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚗, 𝚒𝚏 𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐.

𝙲𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚒𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝟹𝟻- 𝟺𝟶 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚝𝚎𝚜. 𝙱𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚡𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚍𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚍𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚍 𝚊𝚜 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚎𝚍 (𝚝𝚛𝚢 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚝𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚘𝚛 𝚍𝚛𝚢 – 𝚒𝚝 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚙𝚢 ). 𝚃𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚍𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚊𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚕𝚝 𝚊𝚜 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚎𝚍.

𝚂𝚝𝚒𝚛 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚒 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝟻 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚝𝚎𝚜. 

𝚂𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚖 𝚝𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚌𝚒𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚐𝚞𝚛𝚝. 𝙸 𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚔𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚙𝚜, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚍𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝚏𝚎𝚠 𝚜𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚑 𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚍𝚘! 

𝚂𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝟸 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚕𝚎𝚏𝚝𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜.