Cravings are the ultimate love/hate relationship if there ever was one! But did you know that cravings are our body’s way of private-messaging us? Letting us know we need more soma, more agni, more marut! Perhaps you have noticed that you crave sweets (full of soma thus heavy) when you are stressed out? Or you crave spicy (agni) when you feel down and out and sluggish? Or you crave crunchy salty snacks when you are hungry and vata is going out of balance? Of course, it’s a little more complicated than this – but you get the idea!
Vaidya Mishra used to say very sweetly – no puns intended: “it’s ok to crave sweets, don’t try to control the craving; instead, eat good sweets.” Well, we know: it is a “good sweet”? Something that does not contain preservatives and flavorings, healthy sugar and fat, and also preferably, made fresh. But it’s hard to find desserts that meet all these preconditions, so: why not make your own? If it only takes a couple minutes? Here are a couple of recipes to satisfy your sweet tooth and bring more balance and bliss to your life – because that’s what it always is about! Enjoy…
Cacao Ladoo-s
Here is another recipe that uses Madhur Masala, or sweet masala, a SVA mixture to be used ideally with sweet foods in order to counter-balance their clogging soma-genic heavy property. The pink peppercorns add a special twist to the recipe and also help counterbalance the clogging effect of chocolate as they belong to the pepper family. However, some people may not like the fruity and slightly pungent taste.
The step-by-step recipe below will make 10-12 bite-size laddoos – a traditional Indian sweet made without baking. The laddoos will also keep well in the fridge for up to 2 weeks – that’s if they last that long and don’t get eaten up with the hour!
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons Vegan Protein Powder
4 tablespoons organic Quinoa flakes or grind your own quinoa flour in a coffee grinder
6 tablespoons organic brown sugar
3 tablespoons slivered almonds (blanched or non-blanched)
1 tablespoon organic Cocoa powder – unsweetened and alkali free
3 tablespoons melted Mom’s Ghee
15-20 organic green cardamoms – crushed
10-15 organic pink rosebuds
1 teaspoon Madhur Masala
1 teaspoon whole or crushed pink peppercorns – optional
1 pinch of Soma Salt – optional
Preparation:
Mix the Protein Powder and Quinoa flakes/flour and slowly dry toast on a dry pan. This is the longest part of your recipe, make sure you keep mixing the powder so it toasts evenly. When the color turns a golden light brown, put the mixture into a mixing bowl.
Next add the cocoa powder to your mixture.
At this point, add Madhur Masala.
At this point, crush the cardamom pods and add along with the rose buds to a pan, add your ghee
and melt the whole thing stirring frequently. You may cook this on low heat for 1-2 minutes to
better infuse the ghee with the cardamom and the rose.
In the meantime, add the sugar to your dry mixture and mix every thoroughly.
Now add the sugar to your dry mixture.
Next pour the hot melted ghee through a tea filter over your mixture evently and with a spoon
make sure all your dry mixture is nicely and evenly blended.
Now you can add in the dry toasted and sliced almonds and mix the ingredients a little further
You are now ready for your final step of shaping your mixture into little balls or laddus. You can
use an ice cream scooper to make sure you are picking up the same amount every time and your laddus will be of the same size. Flatten the mixture in your hand and squeeze tightly to bind all the ingredients together and then gently roll from palm to palm (see the video) and your laddoo is ready.
Repeat this step until you finish all the mixture.
To top it off, you can shred some pink peppercorns on top with a pepper mill to add a twist of flavor.
Enjoy!
We had another fabulous knowledge-filled session discussing the wisdom behind making any dish SVA with Carol Nace, certified SVA expert and educator. Recent SVA Marma graduate Jacquie Relkoff led our Samadhi Marma session with grace and humor. The talk was followed by Q&A and sharing. We continue our Spring Detox with many more expert ayurvedic teachers in the weeks to come.
Did you miss signing up for detox this Spring? No worries, you can catch up in Autumn 2021. We will be announcing our next seasonal detox shortly. We look forward to having you join us.
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