Kitchari

When we got back from Chicago/San Fransisco (so much traveling in March!) we were sick of eating. We had eaten so well and so richly that we sort of wanted a break from food...

So kitchari, is India's cleansing-food. It is extremely nourishing, with a lot of spices, and is fed to anyone who is sick or unwell as it is simple to digest, yet stimulates digestion. It is like America's chili because it is a thick, spicy stew that you can add every ingredient and the kitchen sink, but it is very light and easy on the body.

We went on a weeklong kitchari cleanse (kinda) as a nice reprieve for our tummies.
This recipe is vegan and gluten free :)

You will need:
3 cups of dried split muung dal (I normally use yellow and black, but I was out of black for this photo sesh)
2 cups of dried brown rice
6 cups of broth+ extra water
Ghee or coconut oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 carrots, chopped finely
8 cloves of garlic, minced
1 finger sized fresh ginger, peeled and minced (*or ground, if you only have it dry)
+Any vegetables you want to add (bell peppers, spinach, kale, green onions, peas, potatoes etc)
**in this one I added zucchini, bell peppers, and green onions
1/2 tablespoon black pepper
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds
1/2 tablespoon+ fenugreek seeds
1 tablespoon Mustard Seeds or ground mustard
2 tablespoons turmeric
1/2 tablespoon garam masala** optional, I like mine to have A LOT of spice-flavors
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 dash of ground cayenne

Garnish:
Fresh cilantro
Squeeze of lime
Tamari
Sriracha
A dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt

Start by prepping your veggies and tracking down all of your spices (there are a lot)

In your ghee or coconut oil, saute onion, chopped carrot and all whole-seed spices (mustard, cumin, fenugreek) until the onions and carrot soften a tad, about 5 minutes.

Add your dal, rice, all other dry spices and broth and cook on a medium boil for 1 hour, stirring frequently. **if you use potatoes, add them here, too!

After one hour, add other tender vegetables (green onions, peppers, zucchini, etc.) and cover with more water, and continue to simmer (covered) for another 30 minutes, stirring frequently--- the kitchari will absorb all of the liquid and you may have to add more to get it to a consistency that pleases you.

After 30 minutes, taste your kitchari. The beans and rice should be soft, the broth should be almost completely absorbed and the overall flavor should be spicy (but not hot, unless that was what you were going for) but not salty. Since it is a cleansing food, kitchari isn't normally salted. I however, like to add tamari over the top when I am ready to eat it.

Serve with fresh cilantro, lime juice, tamari, hot sauce and a dollop of plain yogurt if you'd like!

xoxo

Tom Kha Soup (with Rice Noodles)

Tom Kha soup, also known as the most delicious, creamy, flavor-explosive soup known to man.

Know stories this time, let's just get down to business:

You will need:

**This recipe is completely gluten free and vegan EXCEPT** for the fish sauce, which you can leave out and replace with tamari, if you decide. However if you are ok with ingesting animal products, I highly recommend the very pungent saltiness of fish sauce over the tamari, it really is much fuller flavor.

The broth:

32 ounces of veggie stock

2 fifteen ounce cans of organic coconut milk (full fat)

2 lemongrass chunks as long as your middle finger and as fat as your thumb, cut into rounds and crushed with the butt of your knife

1 thumb sized piece of ginger, cut into chunky pieces (you don't have to skin it)

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and cut into chunky pieces

5-7 kaffir lime leaves (these are sometimes hard to find, either fresh in the herb section or dry, when I do find them I buy bulk and keep them in my freezer)**if you can't find them, quarter a whole lime as a replacement in addition to the other lime for the broth

1/2 of a lime, cut into chunks, skin on

2 butts of yellow onion (the useless part of the onion that you use for broth)

1 heaping tablespoon of brown sugar

1 heaping tablespoon of chili-garlic paste or srirachi

1.5 tablespoons of fish sauce (**or tamari)

4-6 cremini or button mushrooms, washed and cut into thin half moons

3 green onions, chopped (both white and green part)

Toppings:

7 ounces of firm tofu, cut into bite-sized slices

1 lb of rice noodles

1/3 of a red cabbage, sliced in thin shavings

2 handfuls of bean sprouts

8 baby tomatoes, quartered

Garnish:

1/3 of a bunch of cilantro, chopped

wedges of lime

First, prep your broth flavorings. You really want to bruise and smash the lemongrass and the ginger with the butt of your knife to help release the flavor.

In your soup pot, add a tablespoon of coconut oil on medium heat and lightly saute all of the broth ingredients to release the flavor-- about 3 minutes. Add the veggie stock and the coconut milk. Cover the pot and let the ingredients simmer  on medium low in the liquid for at least 45 minutes to an hour.

While the broth is getting flavorful, simmering away, fry the tofu in coconut oil. I spiced mine with garlic salt, cayenne and turmeric. Set aside once they are complete.

At this point, start the water boiling in a separate pot to cook the rice noodles for the soup.

After the broth has simmered for at least 45 minutes, strain the chunks out of it with a strainer or with a colander, and then return the liquid back to the stove. Over medium low heat, add the brown sugar, the chili sauce (or srirachi) and the fish sauce (or tamari).

Allow the broth to continue to simmer on low, meanwhile prep all of your veggies (if they aren't already).

And add your rice pasta to the boiling water, cook 6-8 minutes, until soft but still chewy.

Add the chopped mushrooms and green onions to the broth to let them get soft and soak up the flavor of the soup, they need to be in the broth on medium-low heat for about  7-10 minutes to get to that
"perfectly delicate" texture.

Finish prepping whatever is left (you'll want tomatoes, cilantro, lime wedges, red cabbage and bean sprouts)

Drain your rice noodles:

Now start building your soup! Noodles, veggies, tofu, broth, topped with bean sprouts, tomatoes, cilantro and a wedge of lime squeezed over the whole thing.

When AJ took this photo, the kitchen smelled so much of mouth-watering lemongrass coconuty-ness, and I said to him a moment before he snapped the shot "Can we just eat now, please?"

Enjoy!!!!!!!!! xoxoxo