Indianapolis: Penguin Random House, 2018 (245pp)

This colorful hardcover jumped out at me as it promised not only plant-based food, but Ayurvedic food, about which I knew very little. Eating AND learning. Bonus! The first quarter of this colorful hardcover is an explanation of the Ayurvedic philosophy with a modern twist developed by the author after considerable study. I found the enthusiasm with which she shares the principles of the Ayurvedic approach to health and food to be quite engaging. Plenty of lists and charts and colors on the page make this part of the book pleasant to peruse. 

As the author sets forth in the first chapter, the basic tenet of Ayurvedic eating is not a surprising one – how you eat affects both your physical and spiritual health. Thus, at its heart, the Ayurvedic way is about listening to your body and eating local and seasonal foods. After that, it gets a lot more specific and complicated. The author first explains that the Western diet has become too acidic and then offers a spectrum of more alkaline foods we should include. (In addition to being vegan, the recipes in this book are also wheat-free). Next she describes the ways that different foods can address imbalances in our seven chakras which (oversimplification mine) are sort of like energy centers in the body. Finally she explains in detail that each of us has sort of an essential constitution, called a Dosha, with its own constellation of mental and physical characteristics. These break down into three basic categories: Vita is “cold, dry, light, and ever-moving,” Pitta is “hot, fiery, powerful, and transformative,” and Kapha is “grounded, soothing, calm, and heavy.” The idea is that when the elements in your Dosha get out of balance, so does your health, so you should mindfully eat things that avoid aggravating the hots and weighing down the heavies. The recipes found later in the book are designed to be Ayurvedic overall, but also include tweaks and substitutions so that you can address your particular Dosha. 

The following chapter includes more descriptions and analyses of the different qualities and energies found in various foods and how to select and mix them in a balancing manner — such as how to feed your five different “bodies,” to include not just your physical, but your mental, soul/wisdom, spiritual, and energetic bodies as well. It’s all way more than I would be able to keep track of without years of practice, but it’s very cool to read about and consider. The author swears by the benefits of eating this way – so check it out if you’re interested in really diving into eating for wellness. But whether you plan to take on Ayurvedic eating as a total lifestyle or just incorporate some of the principles, at the end of the day, it’s a cookbook, right? So the question for Booksmarters will always be, “But is the food good?” In this case, it’s a mixed bag. 

The recipes are assorted into Breakfasts for Your Dosha, Six-Taste Bowls, Tridoshic Dinners, Snacks & Sides, Desserts, and Potions. My foray into the breakfast section began with Strawberry Shortcake N’Oatmeal, one of several grain-free alternatives to oatmeal offered here. I selected this one as it was recommended for my Kapha constitution. It calls for riced cauliflower (in place of the grain), non-dairy milk, strawberries, coconut, as well as a couple of other flavorings. Right off the bat there was a problem: the recipe says to use one cup of milk and ¼ cup of cauliflower. That of course just yields bits of cauliflower floating in milk. Glancing at the other recipes, it became clear that this recipe probably should have called for 1 – 1 ½ cups of cauliflower, so I did that. Unfortunately, all the flavors of the berries and coconut were lost in the finished product, and I am sad to report, I had to throw it out. Wasting food makes me really cranky, and I rarely do it, but so it goes. 

Not to be deterred, I tried the Sweet Potato Toast.

Okay, major points for creativity on this one. I never thought of using slabs of sweet potato instead of bread. I used the seed butter and fruit as the toppings recommended for Kaphas, and it was pretty good! I don’t really love the texture of sweet potato and nut butter in the morning, but that doesn’t mean you won’t. I think I will go back and try it with different toppings even if that might not be the proper Ayurvedic path for me.  The breakfast section includes a lot of other more traditional oatmeal and porridge type recipes as well. I just didn’t explore them too much just due to personal taste. 

The Six-Taste Bowls each include one of the six elements required for a complete Ayurvedic plate: sweet, bitter, astringent, sour, pungent, and salty. That’s a pretty neat system, if you’re into it. Beyond that, these are kind of standard vegan-bowl fare. Which is to say, fine, and healthy, just nothing that’s gonna change your world: Thai Buddha Bowl, Sesame Ginger Miso Bowl, etc. I went for the Chimichurri Cauliflower Rice Bowl, which featured roasted butternut squash and what was supposed to be adzuki beans, but the closest thing I could find was black. The chimichurri came out a little watery for some reason, but otherwise, this bowl was tasty and satisfying.

If you lack a good source for basic vegan bowl recipes, I think this could certainly be one. The author also supplies lists of ingredients from each of the six elements, should you wish to make your own Ayurvedic blend. 

Dinner is where the good stuff lies in this book. First up was Palak Tofu – a vegan version of Palak Paneer with tofu in place of the cheese. Glancing at the recipe, I knew seven ounces of tofu for a recipe purportedly serving four for dinner wasn’t going to work for me. (Here’s what ¼ of seven ounces of tofu looks like.) 

I went along with it at first but ended up doubling it at the end. Also, I could tell instantly that half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper would be WAY WAY too much for a recipe of this size, but again I played along. Y’know, for journalistic integrity. And, in fact, the finished product was WAY WAY too hot. But once the tofu was doubled, and the heat diluted by extra cauliflower rice, this was extremely good and something I’ll definitely make again. The star of this dish by far, however, was the Grain-Free Naan from the Snacks and Sides section. OMG, please. SO GOOD. This a brilliant mashup of almond flour and arrowroot, fried up like pancakes. Mine didn’t cook through in the middle (almost surely attributable to my problematic impatience), so I finished them off in the toaster oven. They are really easy to make, which is a good thing, because you will want to eat them Every. Single. Day. 

Next up was the Sweet Potato Pesto Pizza. Another stroke of pure genius – making a pizza crust out of oat flour and sweet potato. I deviated from the recipe’s toppings a bit by using Violife Feta in place of the homemade almond feta suggested here (which would have taken two days to make). I roasted the chickpeas to go on top earlier in the day (as that also takes an additional hour), and I used a different pesto recipe – more on that in an upcoming review. But wow, this was so dense and filling – in a good way – in the way that it is the thing you want when you feel kind of cold and not that great and sort of unhealthy and like you need to homemade-meal yourself for a second.  I didn’t take a photo of it, as the feta I used looked a little unsettling in its semi-melted state. 

Which reminds me, don’t expect anything you make from this book to look like it does in the photos, unless you have a metric ton of edible flowers lying around your house. I never quite know how to feel about this kind of food styling. On the one hand, who doesn’t love to look at beautiful pictures of food? On the other hand, who wants to relive the jeans-in-the-picture vs. jeans-on-the-actual-self disappointment when preparing a recipe? But I digress. Also, please note that this recipe instructs you to place the dough on parchment paper and onto a baking sheet, after which you should finish it under the broiler. Please do NOT put parchment paper under the broiler. Cuz, yknow, paper and open flame and stuff like that. 

I wasn’t all that psyched to dip into the dessert section, as I am one of those people who thinks healthy dessert really isn’t dessert, but you may not be one of those people, and I am here to serve. So I tried the Cinnamon Date Crispy Rice Bars.

These were inoffensive – I mean they taste like dates and rice crispies, but they didn’t really hold together for me, and I didn’t really want another one after I had one. They might make a good topping for a dessert (like ice cream 😉) or maybe even crumbled onto yogurt or muesli. The Chai Latte recipe in the Potions section at the end, however, is a win. I think the Spiced Pistachio Mylk – sort of a chai-spiced cold nut milk – also sounds good, and I plan to give it a try. 

I would rate this book vegan Advanced Beginner as far as the actual recipes go. For the most part, the techniques and ingredients are accessible, but I ran into significant enough issues in the recipes that I think you’d have to be a somewhat experienced cook to notice and adjust so you don’t end up with too-small portions, overly-spiced food, or perhaps a pesky kitchen fire. That said, there is a lot to like here: some thoughtful and very creative dishes – especially given the constraints of the Ayurvedic principles. The book is uneven for sure – but intriguing enough that I will definitely want to spend more time exploring it, while I enjoy another Chai Tea Latte and some more Grain-Free Naan.

Note: I did not receive any compensation for products or links mentioned in this post.