Rainbow Chard Rolls

Welcome to my Ayurveda & Yoga blog! I’m Evangeline and I’m an RMT and holistic health coach. I started my blog during covid to stay connected to my clients and share my love of cooking healthy, AYURVEDIC INSPIRED meals.
Ayurvedic cooking is a conscious approach to preparing and cooking tasty, nutritious, balanced meals using spices and herbs, and taking into consideration the external conditions such as the season and time of day, in addition to how you are feeling.

Summer is winding down. Here in cottage country overnight temperatures have been quite cool over the last few days, dipping as low as 9°C. Looking back over the last few months of summer meals the rainbow chard rolls stand out as a favourite.

Cook What You Have

The idea to literally roll up dinner that night came from my son. I copied what he was doing at the table and voilà a recipe was born! The last of the vegetables needed to be eaten from a two week stay up in our cabin. They included carrots, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and okra. The only preconceived idea that came to me as I gathered the vegetables from the fridge was to lay the raw chard on a shallow dish and cover it with the sautéed mix vegetables to wilt them. There was enough okra to make a batch of okra fries that it got a plate of its own on the table.

The rainbow chard rolls were stuffed with grains, red lentils and vegetables. Fresh thyme and mint from our little herb garden are still abundant and they were added to the vegetables. Dried herbs would work just as nicely.

In hindsight, laying out all the chard leaves with the stem pointing outwards can make their transfer to each person smoother, but it was still manageable. I hope you enjoy making your Rainbow Chard Rolls like we did. We ended up wrapping the okra in there too!

Rainbow Chard Rolls

Servings: 3-4 rolls per person depending on size of leaves
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes

Components:

WRAPPer:

Rainbow Chard leaves, 3-4 per person

Filling:

1. Spiced Grains

2. Summer Spiced Red lentils

3. Vegetables with thyme and mint

SIDE:

Okra Fries - here is the recipe

SAUCE/DIP:

I suggest Cilantro Chutney - here is the recipe or simply squeeze lime juice over the rolls, which is what we did that night.

Lay out all all the veGetables, grains & lentils

1. Lay out the chard leaves with stems pointing outwards on a serving platter. Set aside.

2. Separate the 3 parts of the filling and their ingredients.

3. If you’re making okra fries and the cilantro chutney dip this will take another 20 minutes to prepare, plus the bake time for the okra.

Let’s begin:

Preheat the oven to 350°F/177°C for the okra fries. Recipe here.

Make the cilantro chutney. Recipe here.

Follow the steps below for the 3 parts of the filling: Grains, Lentils, Vegetables

1. Spiced grains

Makes 2-3 servings

¼ cup quinoa
¼ cup basmati rice
¾ cup water
1 inch cinnamon stick
3 cardamom pods
3 cloves
⅛ tsp turmeric
⅛ tsp cumin
½ tsp ground fennel
½ tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ghee or olive oil
Soma salt to taste

Rinse grains very well. Place grains, spices, ghee/olive oil and water in a medium-size pot on the stove on high heat. Let boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cover with a lid and turn off stove and let steam for 15 minutes. Salt to taste before serving.

2. SUMMER RED LENTILS

Makes 2-3 servings

⅔ cup red lentils
1 cup + 1 Tbsp water
1 tsp summer spice mix - here is the recipe for my Summer Spice Mix
1 - 2 tsps ghee or olive oil
Soma salt to taste

While the spiced grains are cooking, rinse the red lentils very well. Place the lentils, summer spice mix, ghee/olive oil and water in a small pot on the stove on high heat. Let boil for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cover with a lid and turn off the stove and cook for another 10-15 minutes. Before serving, salt to taste.

While the grains and lentils are cooking, prep the vegetables. Leave the grains and lentils on the stove, and keep the lid on them to keep them warm and fresh before bringing to the table.

3. VEGETABLES WITH THYME & MINT

3-4 cups vegetables
2 tsps dried thyme leaves or a few sprigs of fresh thyme
1 -2 tsps ghee or olive oil
2 tsps dried mint or 8-10 mint leaves, torn
Soma salt to taste

Cut the vegetables in cubes, or thinly sliced. Add ghee/olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Cook hard vegetables first, then add thyme and softer vegetables next. Cook until vegetables are glistening, then cover with a lid and cook for another 5 minutes. Just before serving, sprinkle mint leaves and add salt to taste.

Rainbow chard leaves - harvest from our little backyard garden before it got packed up for cottage country, a two and a half hour drive. These lovely, delicate, yet hardy green leaves lasted the two weeks we were up in the cabin, kept in the fridge in an air tight container. Chard seeds came from Beech Garden on Vancouver Island.

AYURVEDA Summer Tips

In Ayurveda, the five elements of nature are recognized as space, air, fire, water, earth. Life is possible because of our sun and moon and their perfect proximity to us. The five basic elements of nature is space, air, fire, water and earth. Shaka Vansiya Ayurveda recognizes these elements as inherent in the sun- fire and some water, the moon- water and earth, and the energy of movement is marut- space and air. The sun emits agni energy, the moon emits soma energy, and the movement of these two is named marut energy. These three energies combined are the components of prana, or chi as known in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Prana is in everything and in every living being. Prana is also in food, water and the air we breathe.
In Ayurveda, summer is considered a dominantly agni or fiery time of the year. This is obvious, summer is the hottest season. Scientists know that the sun is made up of mostly fire and also a bit of water. We can call summer a pitta season. Pitta is one of the three doshas and is governed mostly by the element fire and a bit by water. Our connection with the elements of nature is expressed within us as the three doshas: vata, pitta, kapha. Vata is governed by space and air and kapha- water and earth.

In nature and within us and in cooking “like increases like”. So for example the more chili you add to food the hotter it will get or the more pitta aggravating things you do the more hot or fiery you will get. During summer or hot temperatures the fiery element can get aggravated more easily in us. We may not notice pitta going out of balance in us, until we start to really feel it. Signs pitta dosha is out of balance are heartburn, acid reflux, reddish skin, ulcer, feeling irritated or “hangry”, recurring headaches, or overly emotional. Ayurveda has plenty of advice on balancing our pitta nature. Here are some.

Balance pitta/Fiery EneRgy, Especially in the summer

• Early bedtime, not past 10pm

• Keep hydrated

• Avoid delaying or skipping meals - avoid “hangry” phase

• Avoid strenuous exercise between 10am-2pm and 10pm-2am - this is pitta time

• Avoid alcohol

• Avoid deep fried foods

• Avoid fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, K and fish oils and excess oral supplements - overheats the liver

• Avoid very hot chillis - favour thai green chili

• Avoid overly sour fruits - favour sweet juicy fruits

• Eat fresh food, no processed or old food in general, and minimize on acidic food, and sour tastes

• Have lime - more alkaline than lemon and has a sweet post-digestive effect

• Cook with ghee

• Add fennel and coriander to your cooking - they are cooling spices

• Use less turmeric than usual; turmeric detoxes the liver, but in doing so, heats up the liver - try curry leaves as it too cleanses the liver too, but less heating

• Use soma salt (other salts can be too heating)

• Add fennel, coriander, rosehip, rose petals, DGL or Indian Sarsapsrilla in tea

• Use natural skin products with ingredients such as vetiver, aloe vera, jojoba, rose, jasmine, neem, coconut oil

• Wear cotton clothing

• Bathe with rose or lavender oils/flowers

• Use a rose quartz or jade roller for self massage of face and body

• Spritz your face with rose water

• Practice Pranayama- Sheetali, Sheetkari, Chandra Bedhi, or Nadi Shodhana

• Meditate
  
  
  

References

Vaidya Mishra- Shaka Vansiya Ayurveda, Notes from lectures, courses, workshops and conferences, 2003-2015

Sri Sri Yoga- Notes from SSY 300-Hour Yoga Teacher Training, 2020