The spices in this dish all support the digestive tract and increase your nutritional uptake from the rice and mung dal.
Ready for my best restorative breakfast recipe?
It’s called “kitchari.” I like to call it, “Ayurvedic Re-set.”
Easy to digest, nourishing and easy to make.
I learned to make kitchari from Dr. Vasant Ladd in 1996 while doing a 10-day panchakarma retreat at the Ayurvedic Institute. I felt so light and healthy after eating kitchari for 10 days. Now it is a regular part of my diet.
Kitchari is especially good for times when you may not feel well, or are recovering from a cold. Or maybe you’ve overindulged and it’s time to take it back a notch.
On my self-care days when I’m taking things a little easy or doing some herbal bathing, I like to eat lightly, and kitchari is the perfect meal.
Kitchari is an amazing re-set. It’s easy to assimilate nutrition. It is easy on the digestive tract, so it gives your gut a little rest, but you are being fully fed.
I love the simplicity of kitchari. It’s not full of a ton of flavor, but it’s one of those foods that you know you are taking good care of yourself when you eat it.
Start with some basmati rice, but don’t get tripped up on what kind of rice to use. Use whatever rice you like. Next find some split yellow mung dal (mung beans). An easy to digest legume, they are light, and you never feel heavy or bloated when you eat them. They don’t cause gas like many other legumes do.
Make sure you soak the rice and mung dal over-night in water and a little apple cider vinegar, which makes them even more digestible.
The spices in this dish all support the digestive tract and increase your nutritional uptake from the rice and mung dal. One of the main things about the spices is their carminative effect. Carminative spices help increase the flow of blood, oxygen and energy to the digestive tract, so you can digest your food better.
The cardamom pods are moistening and soothing and add a mildly sweet flavor to the kitchari.
Mmmmmm, can you smell the spices? I am getting hungry! Watch the video and let me walk you step by step through making this delicious, nutritious, nourishing breakfast or lunch.
Ayurvedic Re-Set Breakfast
Ingredients
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 1 cup yellow split mung dal
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 6 cups broth or water
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 10 crushed cardamom pods
- 1 pc bay leaf
Instructions
- Rinse rice and split mung beans twice
- Put rice, mung dal and apple cider vinegar in bowl and soak in twice as much water overnight
- Rinse rice and mung dal beans again
- On medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon ghee in a pot
- Add turmeric, ginger, cardamom and bay and cook for 1-2 minutes until spices release aroma
- Add rice and mung dahl and mix everything together well
- Add water or broth
- Bring to a boil, then turn down to lowest heat and let cook on lowest heat until liquid is gone (about 25 minutes)
I’ve always learned that you need to add black pepper with turmeric, but I see in your recipe that you do not add it. Is there a reason you didn’t add it?
Hi, the constituents in black pepper help some constituents in turmeric to be more absorbable. However, there is much more to turmeric than what black pepper activates and it is not the only way to benefit from turmeric. Also, many people react to the heat in black pepper and don’t do well with black pepper in formulas and food. So, the black pepper is not for everyone.
Thank-you from the bottom of my heart for your generosity, knowledge, caring and taking the time to share a free video to actually see nutritious food being made! You make it doable and give us hope. Your passion for herbs is contagious. I will make and pass on to family and friends. Thank-you!
Thanks for this I find breakfast is hard for me as I don’t like cereal and the other junk on the market. Will definitely try this
I am curious to know why the rinsing of the beans and rice is 3 times. What is it we would be rinsing off.
You rinse beans and rice so they are more digestible
I’m not familiar with mung dal. What is it?
They are yellow mung beans…very easy to digest.
Thank you so much for explaining and teaching this !
Going to make this week end…thank you
Black or green cardamom pods? I have both and done understand the difference…although I like the taste of green better,
Whichever one you prefer
I’ve started the soaking process so I’ll have it for supper tonight. What else would you suggest eating with it for breakfast? I could not find the yellow dal so I checked online & apparently red lentils are the closest substitution.
Yes, red lentils are a wonderful substitute, and I usually just have this for breakfast without anything else.
I don’t have any cardamom pods, but I do have some ground cardamom? Is that an ok substitute?
Sure, you can adapt the recipe to suit your tastes and needs.
Hello , if I do sub in dried cardamom how much would you reccomend starting with ?
The general guideline is 1/2 dried in place of fresh. (Dried is more potent due to less water.)
Sounds yummy Kami! I can’t wait to try this. I get so bored with the same choices for breakfast every day. What a good sounding change.
Thank you, Kami! My nearly 90 year old mom0000 has been having digestive issues the past couple of years. Her drs do everything, except examine her diet. It’s much easier and dismissive for them to prescribe that little purple pill. She has normally eaten ‘regular’ healthy foods, but it seems like nothing agrees with her now. She has cut back on so many ‘problem’ foods, that I feel her nutrition suffers. Your recipe sounds like it may be worth a try…rather bland, but really nutritious…so I may prepare it for both my parents, and see if my mom is able… Read more »