Mung Bean (cleansing) Soup

(makes 2-3 bowls)

· 100 gram of green mung beans

· 1 liter water

· ½- 1tsp tsp. turmeric powder

· 1 pinch asafoetida or Hing (from Indian stores or health shops)

· 1-2 tsp of fresh root ginger

· 3/4 tsp each of cumin seeds, ground coriander, garam masala, ground fennel as per your liking

· Lemon

· Ghee or coconut oil

· rock salt or herb salt and pepper

· Fresh coriander or other green herbs

Wash the mung beans thoroughly and soak overnight or for at least four hours. Add them to a pan with the water with the water and turmeric and simmer gently until soft (around 30-40 minutes), adding more water if needed.

Once cooked, heat the ghee or coconut oil in a small frying pan and fry the cumin seeds, hing and ginger until aromatic. Add the remaining spices and heat for 20 seconds or so and then stir them into the soup.

Serve warm with a good squeeze of lemon juice, and some fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped and stirred into the soup. If you feel like a little variety, you can also add green leafy vegetables (chard, kale, spinach etc.), zucchini, grated carrots or pumpkin. Get creative according to what is in season. I also like to blend the soup for a better consistency and flavor.

Some tips for your Ayurvedic cleanse:

Throughout the rest of the day eat only mung bean soup and nothing else! You can eat as much as you need to satisfy your appetite, and once the previous meal has been digested. This means leaving 3-4 hours in between each meal, waiting for genuine hunger to appear (not boredom!)

Make up a fresh batch for each day, re heating only as much as you need for each meal so the meal is as full of prana (energy) as possible. For work and eating out, I find a food thermos works very well if you don’t have a kitchen at work. Buy a large one and you can even fit 3 meals in it for busy days. Try not to use a microwave.

If you feel like a little variety, you can also add green leafy vegetables, pumpkin or zucchini to the mung soup, or make a completely vegetable soup and have this for one of the meals per day.

If you are feeling weak or very hungry you can eat a little brown or white Bhasmati rice with the soup (well cooked) at lunch time.

Indications: Cumin: Used for digestion, gas, abdominal pain, bloating, sluggish digestion, and colitis Coriander: used for indigestion, sore throat, allergies, urinary tract infection, burning urethra, and hay fever. Turmeric: Uses: Anti-bacterial, reduced inflammation, great for skin, liver stimulant, reduces fever and pain, and has a preventative role in bowel cancer. Hing: Uses: Powerful digestive agents, strengthens the digestive fire (agni), relieves intestinal gas, pain, and distention, dispels toxins, and breaks up impacted fecal matter and accumulations from excessive eating of meat or junk food. Caradamon: Uses: One of the best and safest digestive stimulant. It awakens the spleen, helps with poor absorbtion, indigestion and colds. Fennel: great herb for digestion, strengthening agni, abdominal pain, gas and burning urination