Yoga Practice?


Sprout brown lentils for 2-3 days and use while just showing sprouts.
Cook one or more types of whole grain rice (here a mixture of red and brown rice) (I like to use a rice cooker).
Let rice cool. Mix rice with lentils.
Add some oil to keep the rice a good texture. I used sesame oil. You could use the oil recommended for your Ayurvedic type if you are familiar with the recommended oil for your type. Though this does not really resemble traditional kitcheree, the basic/unprocessed elements of the dish –the mixture of rice and lentils and the spicing — are the same.
Add a mix of spices. Here, too, you could vary the spicing according to your dosha if that is something with which you have experience. I used turmeric, ginger, clove, black pepper stirred into the salad mixture and then minced some green coriander seeds from the garden to sprinkle on top. I think a squeeze of lemon, had I had it, would have added extra zest.
Serve the salad on delicate, freshly picked greens–spinach and baby chard would be good, though I used lettuce because it was what needed most to be harvested.
On seeing me snap a picture with my phone of our shared view of the highway, homeless shelter, tax court, and an array of office buildings apparently designed in the school of Mies Van Der Rohe gone terribly wrong, my next door office mate asked, “are you taking a picture of what you will be missing while you are in India?”
“No, I’m taking a picture of a heart-shaped cloud. When I’m having a day as stressful as the one I’m having, I like to remind myself that there’s always a heart-shaped cloud out there to put things in perspective.” I held up my phone so that she could see the photo, as sometimes people don’t see the heart shape until I’ve photographed it.
“That’s pretty cool,” she observed.
She’s going to water my plants when I’m gone, and I’ll look for a little something from India for her that will make a hard day at the office a bit easier to take–perhaps a murti of Ganesha (the elephant god who is said to be the remover of obstacles).