#17. Chef Richard LaMarita: Creating a Well-Balanced Ayurvedic Meal in One Dish

The Healthy Peaceful Podcast

Join me for today’s interview and cooking demo with Chef Richard LaMarita. Chef Rich is a Culinary Instructor in the Health Supportive Program at Institute for Culinary Education (ICE) in NYC. Formerly, he taught in the culinary program at the Natural Gourmet Institute, also in NYC. His specialties include Indian, Italian, vegetarian and vegan cuisines. He has worked with numerous chefs in NYC, including Floyd Cardoz, Dan Kluger and Ben Pollinger.

Richard has been a practitioner and teacher of Ayurveda, the science of life, health and balance, for thirty-five years. He has studied with Vedic and Ayurvedic master Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and has led seminars on Ayurvedic diet, cooking, yoga and meditation throughout the U.S., and in Europe and Asia.

We start our interview by discussing what is a well-balanced Ayurvedic meal. When you consider an Ayurvedic diet, you have to look at three points on a triangle. The first point is food; the second is the strength and power of our digestion (known as Agni in Ayurveda); the third point is how we eat – mindful eating. You can take the best food and even with a good digestion, you can mess it all up with how you eat.

In Ayurveda, it’s important to get the six tastes, ideally in one meal. Each taste affects the body differently. Each taste is composed of different elements in nature and affects the body differently. Some have a building effect; others, a purifying effect.

For someone new to Ayurveda, how does she get started preparing a simple well-balanced meal? Ayurveda is deep, but there are things you can grab right away. Chef Rich recommends not to worry initially about the various aspects of food other than taste. Get a sense of the foods in each taste category. Starting out, work on getting the six tastes every day, then in each meal, and eventually, in one dish. It’s important to know your dosha (your individual constitution) and master simple strategies for bringing yourself into balance.

Chef Rich demos a simple Ayurvedic meal that you can easily prepare at home – a digestive mung dal kitchari with swiss chard and roasted cauliflower along with a fennel paratha. A kitchari contains a legume and a grain, a complete protein. It is stew-like and creamy. The combination of a legume and grain provides a complete protein. Turmeric is added to the cooking liquid along with salt. Rich prepares a tarka – spices toasted or cooked in ghee or oil: cumin and fennel seeds – adding fresh ginger and whole chile along with asafoetida. He adds the swiss chard to the spice/ghee mixture along with fresh curry leaves. As for the six tastes, here goes: sweet – basmati rice finished with roasted pistachio (roasted in ghee) ; sour – tamarind paste – a finishing touch (like squeezing fresh lemon); salty – salt and kombu; pungent – all the spices and fresh herbs – cilantro; bitter – leafy greens; astringent – mung dal and roasted cauliflower. The fennel seeds in the paratha gives it a great flavor – fennel also cleanses the lymph and is a good digestive spice.

In this simple kitchari, Chef Rich incorporates all six tastes. You leave the table feeling completely satisfied which helps with cravings. This recipe can also be adapted for each season – focus on what's being harvested in your region.

To learn more about Chef Richard LaMarita and his work: https://www.ice.edu/newyork/explore-ice/f

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