Setting up a Sattvic Kitchen: Ingredients Needed and Essential Tools
Ingredients Needed for a perfect Satvic Kitchen
In order to make the Satvic recipes with ease, it’s important to have a well-stocked Satvic Kitchen. Below we have given a list of all ingredients used in this book. We recommend that you buy fruits, vegetables and fresh herbs as and when you make the recipes, but buy all the dry ingredients in advance, in one grocery trip. You will be able to find most ingredients at your common grocery store, or online, on Amazon.
FRESH INGREDIENTS
Buy as & when you make recipes
1. FRUITS Make sure whatever you buy is seasonal & regional. Do not buy frozen fruits.
- Lemon
- Pear
- Peach
- Melons
- Orange
- Berries
- Papaya
- Mango
- Grapes
- Coconut
- Banana
- Sapota (chikoo)
- Apple
- Pomegranate
- Pineapple
2. VEGETABLES Avoid precut, prepackaged vegetables that have been sitting in plastic bags containers for who knows how long.
- Ash Gourd
- Celery
- Pumpkin
- Bottle Gourd
- Parsley
- Cabbage
- Ridge Gourd
- Zucchini
- Peas
- Spinach
- Tomatoes
- Broccoli
- Lettuce
- Bell Peppers
- Green Beans
- Rocket leaves
- Beetroot
- Cauliflower
- Cucumbers
- Carrots
- Potatoes
3. HERBS Growing your own herbs is easy and economical. If you have more than you can use, just dry them and store in jars for future use.
- Coriander
- Curry Leaves
- Rosemary
- Mint
- Thyme
- Lemongrass
- Bay Leaf
- Oregano
- Basil
DRY INGREDIENTS
Buy in advance
1. NUTS AND SEEDS Buy what you’ll use within a month and store them in the refrigerator during the summer months. Always soak your nuts and seeds in water before using them.
- Almonds
- Walnuts
- Cashews
- Pistachios
- Peanuts
- Pumpkin Seeds
- Sunflower Seeds
- Poppy Seeds
- Chia Seeds
- Flax Seeds
- Sesame Seeds
2. SEEDS FOR SPROUTING We recommend eating sprouts of vegetable seeds, instead of lentils, because vegetable sprouts are easier to digest. Seeds for sprouting are same as those used to grow the vegetable. You can find them online.
- Alfalfa
- Fenugreek
- Clover
- Radish
3. GRAINS AND LEGUMES
- Whole Wheat Flour
- Quinoa
- Brown Rice
- Moong Daal
- Millets
4. SPICES AND CONDIMENTS
- Rock salt (sendha namak)
- Green chillies
- Fresh ginger
- Cinnamon
- Green cardamom buds
- Fennel seeds
- Cumin
- Black pepper
- Saffron strands
- Cacao Powder
- Cacao Nibs
- Galangal
- Vanilla Powder
5. DRY HERBS You can easily find them at grocery stores.
- Dried Basil
- Dried Rosemary
- Dried Oregano
- Dried Thyme
6. SWEETENERS Remove all processed sugars from your kitchen & replace with natural ones.
- Dates
- Chemical Free Jaggery
- Raisins
8 Essential Tools
for a perfect Satvic Kitchen
It is truly a joy to have good kitchen equipment. I recommend that you start with the equipment that you already have, and then every few weeks, purchase one tool that you need.
1. Blender
A blender is needed for everything – soups, dressings, nut milks. The recipes in this book will work just fine with an average household blender. But, I recommend you to invest in a high-speed blender. It can ,make the silkiest sauces, smoothies, soups and creams in very little time. The two most popular high-speed blenders in the market are the Vita-Mix and the Blendtec. High-speed blenders are more expensive, but a great investment if you have any sort of culinary passion.
2. Juicer
You will need to drink lots of juices in your journey of following a Satvic diet. There are two main types of juicers:
1. Centrifugal Juicers
These typically utilize a fast-spinning metal blade that separates the juice from flesh via centrifugal force. The problem with centrifugal juicers is that the fast-spinning metal blade generates heat, which destroys the enzymes in the fruits and vegetables you’re juicing, leading to a less nutritious juice.
2. Slow Juicers (also known as Cold press Juicers)
Slow Juicers extract juice by first crushing and then pressing fruit and vegetables for the highest juice yield. Because they don’t produce as much heat, they keep more of the nutrients intact, leading to a high quality juice.
If you want to pack the most nutrients in your body as possible, buy a slow press juicer. There is a variety of slow juicers available in the market.
3. Clay Pot
Cooking vegetables, sabzis or rice in a clay pot is much better than cooking in any kind of a metal pot. Clay is porous in nature, it allows moisture and heat to circulate through your food, and thus, retain its nutrition. Food cooked in a clay pot even tastes better. Our ancestors all used clay pots to cook their food. Clay pots are inexpensive and are easily available in local Indian markets, or online. If clay pots are not available, use stainless steel vessels (without nickel plating). Do not use aluminum or non-stick cookware.
4. Clay Tawa
A clay tawa is essential for those who want to cook chapatis. A chapati cooked on a clay tawa is much more digestible than that cooked on a metal tawa, as it retains the nutrients. On the contrary, an aluminum tawa leaches metal particles into your body and leads toxic accumulation over time. Clay tawas are inexpensive and can easily be found in local Indian markets, or online.
5. Measuring Cups and Spoons
While recreating recipes in this book, make sure you use the exact amount of the ingredients mentioned so that you get the perfect taste of the recipes. These are available on Amazon.
6. Nut Milk Bag or Muslin Cloth
A nut milk bag is basically a specially shaped fabric bag, that you strain your blended almond or coconut milk through, to remove any pulp that remains. A nut milk bag will help you achieve a smoother consistency of your coconut or almonds milks. This is available on Amazon. If you don’t have a nut milk bag, a muslin cloth will work just fine.
7. Julienne Vegetable Peeler
This is one seemingly gimmicky tool that I absolutely adore and highly recommend. A julienne peeler is a type of vegetable peeler with a jagged edge that allows you to create thin strips of vegetables for salads. Try it with zucchini, carrots, radish, cucumbers, beets, apples and more. Using this tool saves a lot of time and prevents fatigue while cutting vegetables for salads. This is available on Amazon.
8. Spiraliser
A spiraliser is an inexpensive tool that turns fresh vegetables into noodles. As long as it’s a hard fruit or veggie, you can spiralize it. Some great ones to spiralise are ridge gourd, bottle gourd, zucchini, beetroot, and cucumber. Spiralising is a sneaky way to eat more vegetables. “I’m eating spiralised noodles” is more exciting than saying “I’m eating a salad”. This is available on Amazon.
How to use the tools?
1. How to use a Julienne Vegetable Peeler
A. First, peel the vegetable with a standard peeler. Then, firmly hold the vegetable at an angle. Press the julienne peeler against the vegetable.
B. Peel the flesh, sliding the peeler away from you. Turn and repeat until you can no longer peel comfortably.
C. Using the julienne peeler, you can effortlessly create vegetable ribbons, and use them in salads or wraps.
2. How to use a Spiraliser
A. First, top and tail your vegetable and then insert it Into the spiraliser. With most vegetables, you do not need to use the cap at this stage.
B. Twist the vegetable into the spiraliser (like a pencil sharpener). When you get near the bottom, use the cap (that comes with the spiraliser) so that you don’t injure yourself.
C. A great dish to make with the resulting noodles is zucchini spaghetti.