Sattvic food is simple, light & in balance with nature. Asian food can fit the yoga lifestyle very well. It’s perfect to make simple dishes with a lot of veggies that are shortly stir-fried so rich of prana. Take these noodles. I boiled them for 4 minutes and meanwhile in a wok-pan I fried red pepper and paksoi. Then I added the noodles and some soy sauce.
I think this whole dish took me 8 minutes to make and was simply delicious. As you can see by now, I don’t use any (heavy tasted) union or garlic. After eating Sattvic for many years, the tastebuds can change and one does not need a lot of herbs, salt or sugar anymore. Like this, you can enjoy the natural taste much better and that is very delightful to experience. My food is 100% sugar free and I use only a little bit of Himalaya salt. I like herbs a lot though, but not too much. With too many herbs a dish gets Rajasic very quick. -Moderate- would be a good word to describe the ancient Sattvic cooking. Certainly light, not heavy; and it gets lighter and simpler each and every day.
It looks like we become more aware of nature, living this lifestyle for a longer period of time. Because of light food (with a lot of prana), we become lighter and we get closer to our inner Self, or JivAtma (which is light prana too, and particles of the same attract). We learn to listen to our intuition better. We can feel the effort that Mother Earth has put into letting all the beautiful fruits and veggies grow, to give them her Prana Shakti. You get closer to your Real Self; the Mother or God by eating prana-rich food. By becoming light, you melt together with light. You are filled with prana, you are more aware of prana and you become prana, so basically, you become Her; she is prana.
Realizing this, you learn to appreciate nature and energy a lot more and that means you always want to re-use leftovers and never waste any of this beautiful food. But dishes that are heated twice are definitely Rajasic or Tamasic (in other words: very unhealthy because you cook away the precious prana energy). So what can you do with leftovers?
For example the other day I made this super nice pasta; I loved its simplicity. Fresh organic spinach from the marketplace, stir fried for just a couple of seconds in coconut oil, finished with cream and a little bit of Himalaya salt, mixed with organic spelt-pasta. The leftover I safed in the refrigerator and the day after I added a little bit of olive oil, fresh lime juice, pepper and salt, to eat it as a cold salad! Served with some healthy nutritious raw food like cucumber and tomato, this was a perfect Sattvic summer dinner: full of vitamins & prana, not heated twice and the leftover made a whole new very nice and delicious dish.
The total spend time in the kitchen with these 2 meals together, was less than 20 minutes and the organic ingredients were very cheap, but of very high quality. If you don’t have to spend, then don’t; it will keep you in balance with the energy of our natural resources. Season veggies that are cheap at the moment, are the ones that have to be eaten according to our Mother at this time of the year: ripe means perfect to eat. She knows, she made them, especially for you.
Almost every heated dish, you can magically change into a nice cold salad the next day; noodles, pasta, curry & rice and potatoes. Even soup we can eat cold if we wish to, with some avocado and bread, it makes a delicious summer dinner. ‘Eating with love’ means balanced with nature, the wallet and of course your own physical needs. The simplicity makes it very healthy, easy and with good energy vibes. Less is more.
Namasté.
YOGA LIFESTYLE 