Smoothie
Ingredients:
Coconut water / coconut buttermilk / almond milk – 1 cup
Flax seeds soaked – 1tbsp
Greens like Spinach / Kale / sunflower microgreens / Purslane etc - 1 cup
Fruit- Banana/Mango or ( any other fruit optional)
Preparation: Grind all the ingredients together.
Jowar Idli
Ingredients:
Urad dal - 1 cup
Whole jowar (soaked overnight) – 2 1/2 cup
or Jowar ravva - 2 1/2 cup(soaked for a couple of hours in water just to cover ravva)
Preparation: Grind uraddal as you would for any kind of idly.
In it put soaked whole jowar and grind coarsely.
If you are using jowar ravva, simply mix it in urad dal paste.
Set aside overnight for fermentation
Add salt just before steaming.
Pour the batter onto the idli plates and steam it for 15 mins.
Enjoy jowar idli’s with coconut chutney or tomato chutney or any chutney or seed, nut and herb powders (gun
powders).
In our house we enjoy with sesame oil or flax seed oil and curry leaf powder mix. It is also wonderful with
olive oil, salt and a little black pepper.
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Lemon-Tahini sauce
Ingredients:
Tahini – 50 g Lemon - one
Water -150 ml Red Chilli - 2
Garlic – 2cloves Salt and pepper
Preparation: Blend all ingredients smooth. This will stay fresh in the refrigerator for two to three days.
Coriander mint Sauce
Ingredients:
Coriander -100g Dried mango – 10g
Mint -50g Green Chillies - 2
Soaked dated – 30g or more Himalayan pink salt
Preparation: Blend them all together with a little water, if needed. This sauce can be used as a dip for raw
vegetables or steam vegetables. Great with jowar idlis, dosas and uttapams.
Spicy tomato Dip
Ingredients:
Tomatoes – 200g Red chillies - 2
Almond butter – 2tbsp Cumin – ½ tsp
Curry leaves – a handful Sesame oil – 1 tbsp
Garlic -2 cloves Himalayan pink salt
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Preparation: Make a tempering with spices in sesame oil. Add chopped tomatoes and cook together for
about 5 minutes. Grind up with almond butter.
Adjust spices and enjoy. Can be used for 2-3 days. Keep it refrigerated.
Almond choco balls
Ingredients:
Dates - 50g Cacao - 20g
Raisins - 50g Flax seeds - 10g
Almonds - 90g
Preparations: Dried moringa or microgreens powdered – 1tbsp , Process almonds, cacao, and flax seeds
coarsely. Add moringa powder and set aside. Grind dates and raisins smooth. Mix both together and made
balls.
Mango -Pistachio Balls
Ingredients
Dried mango - 70g
Golden raisins - 80g
Pistachios -100g
White sesame – 50g
Preparation: Process sesame and pistachios together until they are powdered well. Set aside. Process dried
mango pieces and raisins smooth. Mix them together and make small balls.
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Saddiannam
Ingredients: Tempering:
Cooked millets – 150g Coconut oil Mustard
Coconut milk – 350ml Uraddal Cumin
Yogurt starter Curry leaves Chopped green chilli
Ginger Hing
Preparation: Cook soaked millets in 7 times the water.
When the cooked millets come to room temperature, add warm coconut milk and set for fermentation. The
next day enough salt and make a tempering using the spices mentioned above along with green chillies. Top
with pomegranate seeds and enjoy with either lemon or ginger pickle or pickle of your choice.
Greens Tom Yum
Ingredients:
Coconut oil 2 tsps
Make a course paste out of
1 stick lemongrass
1 inch ginger
4 red chillies
Saute in 1 tbsp oil
Add kefir lime leaf
Add onion chopped -1
Add 1 cup chopped sweet potato
1 chopped tomato
Saute.
Add greens of your choice – 300g
Add milk from one coconut, basil and coriander leaves while blending the soup.
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Himalayan Rajmah soup
Ingredients:
Kidney beans (cooked) – 100g Rosemary – twig
Potatoes – 100g cubed Garlic – 4 cloves
Carrots – 50g diced Dried red chilli – 2 chopped
Zucchini – 100g diced Salt and pepper
Mushrooms – 50g chopped One liter water or more
Green beans – 50g 1inch cut Coconut oil -1tbsp
Tomato – 100g chopped Extra virgin olive oil -2tbsp
Onion – 1large chopped
Preparation: Saute onions, garlic, rosemary and red chilli in coconut oil.
Add potatoes and carrots. Cook for about 10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper. Once the potatoes
are half cooked, add other vegetables including tomato. Stir for 5 mins, add cooked rajmah and water. Cook
until all the vegetables are cooked but not over cooked. Adjust seasoning and you are done. Serve with a
drizzle of olive oil.
Salad meal with cutlet
Ingredients:
Cooked millets – 1 cup Green onion - 40g
Cooked rajmah – 1 cup Garlic - 4cloves
Cooked potato – 200g Chillies - 5
Carrots grated – 40g Mustard oil - 4tbsp
Cabbage grated – 40g Cumin powder – ½ tsp
Coriander – 30g Black salt - 1tsp
Amaranth puffs – 1cup Salt & Pepper
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Preparation: Mix all ingredients together except amaranth puffs and mash.
Form cutlet shapes and crust with amaranth puffs and pan fry them in mustard oil.
Serve with a garden salad.
FOODS THAT ARE GOOD FOR YOU
CEREALS& MILLETS
Brown rice/brown basmati rice
Red rice/Black rice
Foxtail (korra)
Bajra
Ragi
Jowar
Barley
Buckwheat
Amaranth grains
Quinoa
PULSES
All kinds of lentils like Mung dal, Toor dal, Chana dal etc.,
Kidney beans/Rajma
Lima beans/Double beans
Black eyed peas/Lobia
Chickpeas/Channa (all colors and sizes)
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FRUITS
Banana, papaya, pomegranates, sweet lime, chickoo etc., are some of the all-time
available fruits.
Pay attention to the seasonal changes to the fruits available.
Try to avoid buying imported fruits which were found to have less nutrition as they are
picked up much ahead to their maturation.
OILS
Sesame oil (cold pressed)
Coconut oil (cold pressed)
Olive oil (extra virgin oil)
Rice bran oil
Avocado oil
Helpful Information
Soaking and sprouting grains, seeds and nuts will improve the nutrient content of the
particular food item.
Soaking the nuts and seeds also helps in releasing the enzyme inhibitors thus helping
the body to absorb the maximum amount of nutrients present from them.
Soaking time of the various foods items is different. Generally, the denser the food
product, the longer the soaking time. Ideally, soaking should be done at the room
temperature.
Soaking time of commonly used grains, nuts and seeds are given below:
Brown rice/red rice/Jowar rava: 1-2 hours
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Quinoa: 3-4 hours
Almonds: 8-10hours
Walnuts: 4 hours
Lentils/millets/mung beans/barley: 8 hours
Amaranth seeds: 8 hours
Cashews: 4 hours
Buckwheat: 4 hours
Fenugreek seeds/ flax seeds/pumpkin seeds: 30 mins
Sesame seeds/chai seeds: 20mins
Seeds like flax seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds etc. should not be roasted or
exposed to heat as the good fats turn rancid (Tran’s fats). Hence just add them in their
raw form to the preparation to get better nutrition.
Procedure to cook beans:
First, sort and wash the beans. Discard any shriveled or broken ones.
Soak beans in three times their volume of cold water for six hours before cooking.
And then transfer them in a large pot and turn it on heat. And check for water level to
come an inch or two over the beans. Do not add salt.
Bring the beans to a boil i.e. till the foamy appearance is seen, and then throw the water
off.
Add fresh water and start cooking it again until the beans are tender. This kind of
cooking procedure would help in proper digestion and also reduces the gas formation.
Procedure to cook brown rice and other grains:
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Rinse rice 2 to 3 times before soaking.
Soak brown rice for minimum of 1 hour or better yet overnight before turning on the
heat. This is needed to cook brown rice as the grains are a bit more tough and stiff.
Soaking in water before cooking the brown rice helps to soften the grains, Through off
the soaking water.
The proportion of water to be added to cook brown riceis in 1:2 or 2 ½ ratios depending
on the rice variety. This means that you add 2 to 2 ½ cups of water to 1 cup of brown
rice.
Set the heat to maximum, and bring the rice/water to a boil uncovered. Then put the lid
ajar, and reduce the heat to low/simmer. Let the rice simmer for 20 to 30 minutes all
the water is absorbed.
Turn off the heat, and let the rice sit in the covered pot for another 10 minutes.
Use Himalayan rock salt or sea salt in the preparation in moderation instead of regular
table salt.
General Guidelines for Eating Well
Increase your raw food consumption. Ideally, 70% of your nutrients should come from raw
foods and the remaining 30% from cooked foods. This may seem hard but remember that
all fruits, vegetable juices, sprouts, soaked seeds and nuts are raw and count towards the
70%, as do cold-pressed oils. Ideally, it is best to consume mostly raw food for one meal
and cooked food for the other. If this does not work for you, look for sensible combinations
of raw and cooked food and watch your body’s reactions to it.
Treat your grains right. Grains have a protective layer that contains phytic acid, which is
known to be an enzyme inhibitor and this makes them hard to digest. They need to be
soaked, drained and preferably sprouted and slow cooked for better digestion and
absorption.
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Get the most out of your beans. Dried beans like chickpeas and kidney beans also have
enzyme inhibitors on their outer surface. They should be soaked overnight, rinsed and
boiled in a fresh batch of water. Once the water boils and the froth (which contains the
enzyme inhibitors) appears, they should be drained and slow cooked in another fresh batch
of water till done.
Be sure to include fermented foods in your diet. The fermentation process aids the
production of good bacteria in the gut, making it easier for our bodies to digest the food
and assimilate its nutrients effectively.
Make sure you are eating the right oils and fats. Get healthy fats from seeds, nuts and
cold-pressed oils. Oils like coconut oil and sesame oil withstand heat better and are more
appropriate for cooking. Olive oil, on the other hand, must not be exposed to heat and is
best used to finish dishes or in salad dressings.
Look beyond sugar to add sweetness. Use natural sweeteners as much as possible. Some
examples of these are dates, raisins, apricots, figs, unpasteurized honey, jaggery, palm jaggery
and coconut jaggery.
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