Day 1: A Divine Offering

Añjali means divine offering. When you bring together your palms in front of your heart, a common greeting for Buddhists or Hindis, that is called anjali mudra.

The scoop is this: when cooking, the volume of food that you can hold in two hands is called an anjali.This is Nature's way of determining the appropriate amount food you need to consume.

"In the Vedas, the hands and feet are referred to as "organs of action." By using our organs of action, we engage in the moment-to-moment remembering of the five elements of our nature. Our hands are vital extensions that enable us to touch, and be touched with, creation. Ayurveda exhorts us to use our body as the ruler and measuring cup for our needs...

In keeping with this principle, you need to become comfortable using your hands and eyes for all measuring. In Sanskrit, the term anjali refers to the volume that can be held by your two hands cupped together. An anjali of grain or vegetables from your own hands is designed by Nature to fill your stomach...

Likewise gauge your spices or accents with your own pinch. Like your handful, it is tailored to provide a suitable amount for your own personal needs. Angula refers to the distance between the jointsof each finger. This unit of measure is cosmically designed to gauge spices and herbs, such as cinnamon sticks and ginger...

Use only those tools that are absolutely neccessary. As soon as possible, give up using measuring cups, spoons, and useless kitchen paraphernalia. These adjuncts are distracting and interrupt your direct energetic exchange with the food."

From Ayurveda: a Life of Balance by Bri Maya Tiwari

Many of the recipes and food preparation instructions here will be measured by hands, digits and approximations. This is to enhance our connection to the sensual world we live in; as well as to build our intuitive strength when preparing foods.

So, I left you last with more than a whisper of Spring; a time of rebirth, of renewal, of burgeoning sexuality and of completing the projects from Winter, so we can move forward, freshly and open to the creative juiciness of this season. Nature is so intelligent, that when a season comes around, the appropriate foods which are readily available at that time are the ones we should consume more of so that we can maintain good health. Spring is a season of dampness, coolness and heaviness; the earth is cool and richly soak with rains. In Ayurveda these qualities are the ones of Kapha. Kapha is a physiological process consisting of earth & water. To balance kapha we should include more foods (see Grocery List for Kapha Season) and lifestyle practices of a pungent (spicy), astringent (pucker/drying), bitter (clearing) nature. Mung beans are one of the few legumes that can balance the effects of all seasons. It produces little gas, cools the blood and supplies high amounts of protein. When cooked and seasoned with warming spices, it is a wonderful food for the Fall/early Winter or vata season. (In general sprouted legumes should be used sparingly or warmed if you have a more willowy, thin boned, cold body type, or are experiencing a lot of dryness or spaciness (vata constitution)). Sprouting mung in the Spring and Summer makes these legumes alkaline, making them rich in minerals and chlorophyll to clean the blood. It's pretty exciting; this is truly a living food!

These are mung beans, available whole, split with skin & split without skins. Use the whole bean for sprouting. In San Francisco, Rainbow & Nijiya groceries carry the whole bean variety. Ayurveda teaches us that the whole food is the better food because by nature it has everything we need in order for it to be fully assimilated.

My methods for sprouting mung beans have been experimental and without any fancy sprouting equipment. You only need a pot or ceramic bowl with a lid on it. The first step in preparing the beans is to soak them overnight. Measure out 2 1/2 anjalis of the dry bean into a colander to serve 2-3 people (over the course of 4 days, or 4-6 people over the course of 2 days)

Rinse and sort out any foreign matter.

Place beans in a pot or bowl and cover with water in a 1:2 ratio. Place lid on the pot; go to bed.

Keep posted:

TOMORROW The big rinse and Mung Bean Pancakes. We will continue with day 2/step 2 of sprouting the beans and begin using them in recipes. Yummm, pancakes...