Oh the Food!

Alright, it’s time for a post just about the amazing food lovingly prepared by our team of chefs. Each day we are fed the most beautiful veggies, delicious dals, fabulous fruits, and glorious grains (okay, I know that sounds a bit overboard, but I’m not kidding. I’m getting hungry just thinking about what surprise is next!)

Every day after sunrise yoga, we are given a plateful of fresh fruit–just one variety: papaya, lychee, pomegranate, mango, avocado w/ flax seeds and honey (OMG), bananas, always with a side of dried fruits like amla berry, dates, or figs. I love it all.

In Ayurveda, fruit is eaten separately from grains and dairy, as taking them together can create fermentation and digestive malaise. Waiting at least 30-45 minutes allows for fruit to digest before adding the dairy that can cause fruit to ferment in the stomach and digestive tract (so all of you yogurt w/ fruit kinda folks, this one’s for you!). For those of you interested in a little primer on food combining and what foods don’t play well together, check out Dr. Vasant Lad’s site here:

Once we finish our fruit, some of us like to take a walk through the tea and the little village of Hulical, which takes exactly 30 minutes and gives just enough time to work up our appetite as we huff up the driveway to the retreat and arrive just in time for our grain breakfast. Phew! This morning after our morning jaunt, Annie, Molly and I circle back to the dining room to have breakfast. We are warm after our walk and decide to eat outside under the ficus tree in the shade. Mahalakshmi brings us each a bowl of the prettiest porridge I’ve ever seen. It is decorated with rose petals, pepitas, and almonds. She returns a minute later with a little silver dish of jaggery (unrefined dark brown sugar) for a little sweetness. Karin joins us at our little table, and together the four of us savor every bite. I look into my bowl to see a rose petal heart.

Some of the other breakfasts include quinoa puma with roasted chickpea chutney, or maybe a poha with cilantro mint chutney and cashews. Some days it is millet with veggies, and other times it’s a green mung bean dosa with coconut chutney. (Did you say “you had me at coconut chutney?” Me toooo!). Sorry, no dosa picture–I ate it before I could document that one.

Lunch each day consists of a vegetable sabji, some kind of amazing dal soup, packed with protein, a chapati, and a little salad of either greens, beets, or a mix of veggies, often dressed with lime, sesame, and honey–soooo good! Clearly, John’s delight tells you how delish this beet and coconut salad is. And btw, no one gets as humongous a pile of cabbage sabji as John. Somehow he’s got it in with he kitchen! Most of us ask for a side of ghee to pour on our piping hot chapatis, and with a little pink rock salt, voila! It is a heavenly lunch!

Here are a couple more pics to whet your appetite! That funky-looking puckered vegetable is called a Chocho, or a Chayote, and it’s often used in curries and coconut sabji like the one on the left. On the right is a lentil dal, steamed beet greens, fresh green salad with sprouts, and always lime with everything!

Dinners are meant to be a bit lighter than lunch, so while the lunch has a dal (lentil) soup with lots of protein, dinners have a lighter veggie soup, steamed veggies, and some kind of light grain like mint rice, millet with chopped veg, and sometimes (like last night) sweet potatoes with herbs. In Ayurveda we eat the biggest meal in the middle of the day while the digestive fire (Agni) is high, and later as the sun goes down, we eat a lighter dinner that’s easier to digest before we sleep. The meals are all made with lots of love, and it’s really fun to see how many of the veggies come right here from Mountaintop’s own garden: pumpkins, lettuce, cauliflower, gourds, bananas, beets, carrots, and so much more! Thank you Indrani, Mageshwari, Mahalakshmi xoxo

For now, I’m off to bed with a full belly and an even fuller heart. With love from India,

~Katie