“Pick a country” …. that’s the question I’d always ask when we can’t decide which restaurant to eat. Most of us live in cities that we can access almost any cuisine in the world within a 30min drive or less. It’s fantastic I love it. It feels like travelling without moving, even though Malaysia is already a foodie paradise by its own right. On any given day we can be eating Japanese, Italian, Indian, Malay, Chinese, Thai, French, Fusion, Korean, Chemical Gastronomy, American Diner food, Aussie modern cuisine, street food, Western bistro, you name it. Globalisation has spoilt us with an unimaginable feast of fantastic cultural choices, but it has its price. As with many ‘advances’ in society over this single lifetime, our body is the last to be able to evolve in a manner to cope with lifestyle changes, and usually suffer the most. Our bodies have not structurally adapted to the current modern human lifestyle, not even to standing upright as often as we do, hence the ever prevailing back and neck issues, in this case, it is our digestion. We eat in a way so far ‘evolved’ than any human species did before us and it has its consequences.

I love to experiment new things, as a matter of fact its almost a hobby, I thrive on it. I make it a point to travel to a new city each year, do something I haven’t done before or try a new restaurant whenever I have the opportunity. When I expand my experiences I expand my mind and unfortunately sometimes I expand my belly.

Kitchari with mustard greens, ghee & fresh coriander

Our digestion struggles to keep up with producing the copious amounts of different enzymes to breakdown all the different food items we throw in there. And it needs a rest from the energy required in just recognising what is thrown in there. This is when a mono-diet comes into play. A mono diet is when we eat the same thing for several days. It is not meant to be done for a long amount of time. The Kitchari Cleanse is an Ayurvedic mono diet for 3 days for the purpose of resting your digestive system by eating the same easy to digest ingredients for 3 days.

Kitchari is a carbohydrate heavy dish made of rice, lentils, vegetables and spices. No starvation involved in this cleanse, so it is an easy introduction into cleansing. The cooked rice, lentil and vegetables are easy on the digestive system and is sufficient sustenance for the day, whilst the combination of spices are meant to balance our constitutions of vata, pitta or kapha. According to the world’s the world's oldest healing systems developed over 3,000 years ago in India, Ayurveda states everyone is made of five elements found in the universe: space, air, fire, water, and earth. Various combinations of these elements in our body forms our consitutions. These life forces or energies, called doshas. They control how your body works on every level from structural, biological, emotional and even behavioural.

Ayurveda Doshas by Eat Taste Heal - An Ayurvedic Guidebook and Cookbook for Modern Living

Vata dosha = space and air

Pitta dosha =fire and water

Kapha dosha = water and earth

Everyone is naturally born with different mix of the three doshas. But one is usually prevalent than the others. I won’t dive in to the world of Ayurveda or doshas, but we basically are always looking to balance our doshas, our elemental constitution. Balance is the key to health in both body, mind and ultimately spirit. This is the same concept from which the Chinese derive Yin and Yang. Eastern methodology to healing, is to focus on prevention and not cure. Prevention is about bringing in more of what we lack and less of what we have excess or natural tendency to gain…. finding balance.

So 2 full months into lockdown as the world try to heal from its own pandemic suffering, I decided I too need to heal my digestion. And embarked in a 3 day rest of the most important system in my body, a system that determines 80% of all our chronic issues.

Easy to store refrigerator portion-sized kitchari

You can cook all 3 days worth of kitchari at one go and refrigerate. Any excess can be frozen for 3 months and eaten at anytime, kitchari is a great healthy meal to have independently weekly and not necessarily part of a cleanse. I found 2 servings a day was sufficient and when required I had a banana or apple and drank mostly water or caffeine free herbal teas throughout the day. Each day I changed the vegetables to keep it interesting. Bear in mind according to your dosha you you can choose your vegetables and teas. But to keep it simple and accessible, any mix of vegetables and caffeine-free herbal teas during the 3 days will be sufficient. Although it is quite possible to buy ghee at most places, I suggest you make your own, it is way more cost effective, cleaner and mega easy to do.

This particular time I found myself with a headache thought most of the second day. So although an easy introduction to cleansing, the 3 day kitchari cleanse is no doubt a powerful one. So if you are needing a reset for any reason try it out.

Kitchari Recipie

6 servings

Prep time: 20mins / Cook time: 45mins

Ingredients

Kitchari Base

3 cups White Basmati Rice
3 cups Split yellow lentils
3 Sweet potato peeled and chopped (Good for Vata and to stay grounded)
12 cups Water
6 tbsp Sesame Oil or Coconut Oil
3 tbsp Fennel Seeds
3 tsp mustard Seeds
3 tbsp Coriander powder
2 tbsp Ginger paste
3 tbsp Tumeric powder
Sea salt
Lime juice
Fresh coriander
Ground Flaxseed (optional)

Kitchari with steamed carrots & broccoli

Vegetable Options

Grilled asparagus with sea salt and lemon
Steamed carrots and broccoli
Blanched spinach or mustard greens
Sauté pokchoy
Baked cauliflower

Ghee

1 block of unsalted butter

Homemade Ghee:

1) Melt the block of butter in a small sauce pan.

2) Let all the milk solids sink to the bottom and remove the white foam collecting on the surface.

3) After the clear liquid turns into a nice golden brown in 1-2mins remove from heat.

4) Using a fine mesh sieve or strainer bag, carefully pour out only the clarified ghee into a sterilised glass jar, leaving the milk solids behind.

5) Store in a cool place and use to drizzle before serving each meal.

Kitchari with spinach, homemade ghee & ground flaxseed

Kitchari Base:

1) Wash rice and lentils until water is clean.

2) Place rice, lentil and sweet potato into a large stock pot with water. Bring to a boil and cover to simmer.

3) In a large saucepan heat oil and add cumin, fennel and mustard seeds for 3mins before stirring in coriander, ginger and turmeric powder. Mix well.

4) Add the cooked spice mix to the rice, lentil and sweet potato mix and cook for another 30mins on low heat.

5) Cook chosen vegetables for the day. Leafy greens can be cooked in 5-8mins and heavier vegetables such as carrots, asparagus, broccoli can be cooked for 20-25mins. During this cleanse do not eat raw vegetables, for the purpose to keep digestion easy and simple. The quantity of vegetables is entirely up to you.

To Serve mix in cooked vegetables, drizzle homemade ghee, add fresh coriander, a dash of lime juice and salt to taste. Sprinkle ground flaxseed on top.

If reheating kitchari from refrigerator add a 1/3 cup water to saucepan base and warm over medium heat stirring to prevent sticking to base.