Kitchari and Cooking for the End of a Life.

Whenever I was asked to cook for someone who was coming to the end of their life, Kitchari always played a big roll in nourishing them.

Kitchari means mixture, usually of two grains. It is an Ayurvedic recipe, dating back thousands of years created in India, and thought to heal the cells through the spice mixture and grains used. The benefits of eating this dish include removing of toxins from the body, restoring nutrition, plus it’s easy to digest.

Over the last week, I’ve been meditating on this post a bit. I was asked to make this dish many, many times, and sometimes it seemed in the hopes of those who had hired me, that I could somehow cure someone from dying.

I was given the honor of cooking this dish for at least 10 people who were nearing the end of their days over my 22 years of Personal Cheffing . It was always humbling, and to be very honest, it was also very emotional for me knowing that their friends or family were doing whatever they could to try to change the inevitable. But, what else it did do was to make the recipient feel loved while also making the caregivers feel like they had a bit of control in the situation. There was an action plan. A chef was called. There was someone who would help nourish them.

I found that cooking for the elderly at the end of their lives was sometimes harder, especially if they were not big into spices in the first place. Also, if someone was going through chemo it made cooking with spices even more difficult as the smells would sometimes overwhelm the patient and they would sometimes feel nauseated. I would usually make bone broths or simple pureed vegetable soups instead.

But, the clients who did like flavors and were open to trying new things always loved Kitchari.

I’m not going to recount each person’s story here, except to say I still carry vivid memories of the individuals whom I cooked for during those times. They were all beautiful humans who had love and care surrounding them when they needed it the most. I can only hope that in my last days I too have love surrounding me.

If you have never tried Kitchari, I do hope you try this recipe. And if you have a loved one in need of nutrition and healing you might try making it for them. It’s basically love in a bowl.

Kitchari 

This is one kitchari recipe that is particularly nourishing and easy to digest.

1/2 cup basmati rice

1 cup mung dal (split yellow)

6 cups (approx.) water

1/2 to 1 inch ginger root, chopped or grated

A bit of mineral salt (1/4 tsp. or so)

2 tsp. ghee (clarified butter)

1/2 tsp. coriander powder

1/2 tsp. cumin powder

1/2 tsp. whole cumin seeds

1/2 tsp. mustard seeds

1/2 tsp. turmeric powder

1 pinch asafoetida (found in Southeast Asian grocery stores or online)

Handful of fresh cilantro leaves

1 and 1/2 cups assorted vegetables (optional)

Carefully pick over the mung dal to remove any stones and rinse the rice. Wash each separately in at least 2 changes of water.

Add 6 cups of water to the rice and mung dal and cook covered until it becomes soft, about 20 minutes.

While that is cooking, prepare any vegetables that suit your constitution. Cut them into smallish pieces.

Add the vegetables to the cooked rice and dal mixture and cook 10 minutes longer.

In a separate saucepan, sauté the seeds in the ghee until they pop. Then add the other spices. Stir together to release the flavors.

Stir the sautéed spices into the cooked dal, rice, and vegetable mixture.

Add the mineral salt and chopped fresh cilantro and serve.

Until next week, Thanks so much for following along on this journey! If you enjoy Secrets and Spice please make sure you subscribe to get each weeks story emailed directly to you.

Also, if you would like access to any of my recipes please consider a paid subscription. It’s one of the perks of becoming a paid supporter. (it’s only $5 a month or $50 for the year)

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Thank you again,

- Shirlé

**All names, places and occupations have been changed to protect the identity of all clients.

Please leave a comment or two…I’d love to hear from you!

A Shout Out to this Weeks Paid Supporters:

A very special shout out to the following paid subscribers:

Robinlee Garber, Chef Lynn Warlick Wells, Jake Brokaw, Miyuki Furtado and Spanky Wilson, . A special shout out to new paid subscribers Myra Ruppe Schwartz, Lisa Deemer Sethi and Claudia L Sanders, Laurel Estabrooks and Leela Montella,! Thank you all soooo much for your support!

-Leela is a person I have known since kindergarten. She has made a lovely life for her and her family and I love watching her kids success stories.

-Myra is an old NC friend who I recently got to see here in beautiful Lisbon with her partner Scott. Maybe someday they will become expats in this fair land.

-Robinlee is a childhood friend and all around renaissance woman, living and playing music in Chicago.

-Chef Lynn is a fellow Personal Chef buddy and owner of Thyme Well Spent, Personal Chef Service, based out of Greensboro NC. When not cooking for clients or food styling for cookbooks, she can be found hobnobbing with tastemakers and culinary shakers all over the country.

-Jake and his wife Brigitte have long been huge supporters of my cooking and are also huge supporters of the arts in Baltimore, Maryland. Jake also has an Orthopedic practice I have had to use a few times.

-Miyuki has been a lifelong friend and bandmate of mine from days long past. He’s also one of the best fathers and husbands I know and has raised one of the coolest kids, his daughter Mino along with his sweet wife Tricia. Miyuki currently plays music in his Alt-Country band, Divining Rod. You can listen to Divining Rod out on all music platforms. (Chef Lynn, I think you would LOVE his music!)

-Spanky has been a huge supporter of my cooking from my NC days. When not fire fighting you might find Spanky hiking the Appalachian trail.

-Lisa has been in my life since the early 90’s. She’s a huge music supporter and a lover of all things delicious.

-Claudia is an old friend from my days in North Carolina. I met Claudia at a pig pull back in 1998, when I first moved to Chapel Hill. Since then, Claudia has started a successful Personal Chef business, Good Intentions Personal Chef Service in the Hillsborough area, as well as serving the Durham and Chapel Hill area.

-Laurel Estabrooks is a new expat friend, recently becoming a Portuguese resident. Parabens!! Someday I hope to meet up face to face. Muito Obrigada Laurel!!

Thank you all sooo much for supporting me in this endeavor. I am truly grateful for you.

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