Ayurvedic Cooking

What and how to eat

One of the foundations for living a balanced and healthy life is in our diet: the "what and how to eat". Food is truly a gift for balanced living.

At AyusVeda’s Ayurveda cooking classes, sharing Sattvic time is something essential to us. In a Sattvic environment, food maintains the body, spirit and mind in a balanced and healthy state. The Ayurveda cooking classes are vegetarian cooking classes where we have selected vegetables as organic, local, seasonal and fresh as possible. These 2hr 30min classes are held in small-group settings in the Metro Vancouver area.

Additionally, the class styles can be freely organized and customized according to the wishes of the participants. (For example, a class that starts from the process of choosing vegetables; a class that concentrates on the cooking without the preparation; a class that starts from learning the basics of Ayurveda, etc.)

The menu changes every time, so these classes offer different flavours each time and different cooking methods, even when using the same vegetables.

Kitchen remedy

Spices are called the kitchen’s remedies for a good reason: not only do spices enhance the natural taste of the ingredients themselves but they also help with Agni (digestion functions). Additionally, the combinations of spices are infinite and different flavours can be enjoyed each time.

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How to Eat According to Ayurveda

Balanced meal plan

AyusVeda’s Ayurveda Cooking Classes focus on three key points in our cooking. Per meal, we use 60% augmenting foods and 40% extractive ingredients to create a well-balanced meal. Augmenting foods nourish, nurture, and ground us, enhancing the body’s vitality. Extractive foods are cleansing in nature. This specific ratio is a part of a meal plan that makes the most out of Agni (digestive functions) and is universally compatible with any Doshas (constitution).

Guna

In the Ayurveda view, everything that enters the body affects the spirit and mind. That is because like food consumption, everything that enters our body channels through our sensory organs, essentially similar to processing food itself. Ayurveda considers the effect of the body, spirit, and mind holistically.

Guna is divided into three categories: Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas.

  • Sattva are fresh and abundant of Prana (life force)-rich vegetables, fruits, or freshly squeezed milk and ghee. Sattvic food keeps the mind and spirit stable and calm, influencing the state of mind toward harmony and balance. Sattva equates to being balanced in nature.
  • Rajas are extremely spicy, or salty foods and luxury items such as alcohol, tobacco, and chocolate. Rajas leave the mind and spirit in an aggressive, irritated and unstable state.
  • Tamas are frozen foods, canned foods, old vegetables and fruits, making the mind and spirit feeling heavy, dull, depressive, and inducing deep sleep.

Rasa

In Ayurveda, Rasa means to incorporate 6 flavours in one meal. Rasa makes us feel satisfied and wonderful after a meal. The 6 flavours are sweet, sour, salty, spice, bitter, and astringent. Each meal covers all 6 tastes. All green vegetables are bitter. A small amount of sea salt covers the salty. Spices cover spicy flavours such as ginger, pepper, or cayenne. Sour foods include lime or lemon. Astringent foods are beans and legumes. Finally, all grains, as well as milk or ghee are sweet.

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Recipe Example

Kale Rapini with Carrot

15mins/ Serves 4

Ingredients:

Kale Rapini

Carrot

Ginger

Fenugreek seeds

Coriander powder

Olive oil

Salt

8 brunches

2 (medium size)

1 tbsp

1 tbsp

¼ tbsp

2 tbsp

1 tbsp

  1. Heat olive oil on medium heat and add fenugreek seeds until they brown. Add coriander powder, ginger and salt.
  2. Add Kale Rapini and Carrot, add ¼ cup of water, reduce the heat and simmer with a lid until they soften.
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What is Ayurveda?

Ayurveda is a Sanskrit word that means "The Science of living". Ayurveda is both a nature-based science and an art of living.

Space, Air, Fire, Water and Earth. These 5 elements from the universal (cosmic) energies are created within the individual constitution. These 5 elements found in nature are also within us. We are a microcosm of the earth and all of nature.

Doshas

- Vata, Pitta, Kapha -

According to Ayurveda, health is a perfect state of balance among the body's three fundamental energies, and an equally vital balance among body, spirit and mind. Ayurveda prevents disease by keeping your doshas balanced. Your body will realign to nature’s rhythms and you will feel more creative and vibrant.

Five elements and three doshas

Five elements and three doshas
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