Simple, nourishing, and easy to digest. This soup is a perfect sister to kitchari for cleansing (or simply eating clean). You might think about trying a once a week kitchari/clean eating day or a seasonal cleanse–it IS fall seasonal cleanse time.
Cleansing is not about starvation, especially in the Vata season of later fall when the body is naturally struggling with dry, cold, and depletion. It’s about simple, easy to digest, and sometimes mono-diet meals to allow the digestive system time to rest and heal itself so that we can move into winter ready to supplement our bodies with super nourishment for immunity (Rasayana: the path that nourishes you).
Warm/cooked foods warm the body and bring moisture to the tissues. Be sure to include healthy fats (ghee) and digestive spices (ginger, cumin, coriander, hing, etc.) to your meals. Healthy fat carries the nourishment to the deeper tissues of the body, as well as being a nourisher itself. A variety of spices kicks up digestion and helps to reduce inflammation and the accumulation of gunk.
To Make:
1 cup mung beans (soaked overnight)
2 1/2 cups water
1 tsp grund cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
optional: seaweed blends/salts and/or astragalus root
Drain beans and add to crock pot with water and above spices. Cook on low for three to four hours. Add extra water if needed. (Stove top option: simmer 40 minutes on stove)
3 Tbsp ghee
1 tsp each: cumin seed, coriander seed, fennel seed, ginger pieces, & mustard seed
1/4 tsp asafetida (hing; always precook in ghee before ingesting)
1 pinch mineral (himalayan) salt
Heat ghee and fry whole spices until browned. Add asafetida until you can smell the spice-y aroma (just a few seconds). Add with mineral salt to crock pot.
Cook until beans are well cooked and will be easy to digest. Vegetables can be added at appropriate crock pot cooking time. (Stove top option: simmer ten more minutes on stove)
Modified from Sebastian Pole’s Discovering the True You with Ayurveda
Trillium Ayurveda 