At the Monastery, we have been experimenting with new recipes that follow the Ayurveda tradition. While it may be new to some of us, this way of eating goes back 5,000 years! There are many websites that can introduce you to this approach, should you be curious to try it. But speaking from an Awareness Practice perspective, it is rich territory, indeed.
When we start messing with long-standing "likes and dislikes" around food, we are bound to arouse the rantings of conditioned mind -- which is, of course, reason enough to do it. I cannot adequately describe the freedom of sipping cream of spinach soup made with unfamiliar spices with an unfamiliar consistency and hear ego yell, "What is this stuff!?" all the while placidly experiencing the soup itself. When we stop reacting to ego's reactions to the food choices we make, we are free to realize the actual benefits (or lack thereof) of what we eat. In my experience, when that happens, a new day has dawned in true care for the body, in the depth of one's practice, and in the pure enjoyment of food itself.
By the way, the soup was really, really good -- thin and best enjoyed drinking it from a cup in my humble opinion, but good.
Here is the Cream of Spinach soup recipe we used in case you want to give it a try!
Gassho,
Rebecca
Everyday Cream of Anything Soup
from The Everyday Ayurveda Cookbook by Kate O'Donnell
Everyday Savory Spice Mix
(makes 1/4 cup)
1 Tbsp whole coriander seed
1 Tbsp whole cumin seed
1 1/2 tsp whole fennel seed
1 Tbsp turmeric powder
Dry roast the whole spices in a frying pan for a few minutes, just until they release their fragrance and you can smell them. Let them cool completely. In a coffee grinder reserved for spices or, alternatively, by hand with a mortar and pestle, grind to a uniform consistency. Transfer to a small mixing bowl and stir in the turmeric powder.
Using a teaspoon, a funnel, or a postcard folded in half to make a V-shape chute, pour into a shaker jar with an airtight lid for storage
Cream of Spinach Soup
4 cups water or vegetable broth
4 cups chopped spinach (in this case)
2 tsp Everyday Savory Spice Mix
1/2 tsp turmeric
1-inch piece fresh gingerroot, peeled
2 tsp ghee (we substituted olive oil)
1 cup almond milk
In a medium saucepan over high heat, bring the water or broth to a boil. Add the vegetables, spice mix, turmeric, and gingerroot to the saucepan, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, for about 10 minutes. The longer you let it cook, the creamier your soup will be; less time means the soup will have a thicker texture and vegetables will be more al dente. Fresh greens, such as baby spinach, take only a few minutes to wilt, whereas for harder vegetables, such as celery and carrots, I'd recommend the full 10-minute cooking time or even longer. If you like your soup very creamy, simmer your greens and the hard vegetables, such as carrots, an extra 5 minutes.
Transfer the vegetables in their cooking liquid to a blender carafe. Add the ghee (or olive oil) and the almond milk -- the latter will cool the mixture down to keep your blender from getting too hot. Blend on medium to start, then high until smooth. Alternatively, use an immersion hand blender and process the soup right in the saucepan, along with the ghee and almond milk, until smooth.
The soup should be warm enough to serve right away.
Serves 2.