Enjoy the Comfort of Toor Daal and Sweet Potato Soup for Winters

Highlights

• Ayurveda believes that counterbalance is the key to a nutritious diet and a healthy body.

• Autumn and winters have dry qualities, but the moist and warm properties of the soup provide balance and nourishment.

• Spiced with herbs like cloves, jeera, and asafetida, this soup is everything you could ask for during the winters.

A key concept in Ayurveda is counterbalancing, ie., like attracts like and opposites balance. This concept helps determine what is appropriate to eat. In the fall, vata dosha is prominent in our surroundings. Counterbalancing fall’s gunas (qualities) are liquid and moist gunas that support the season's dryness, and the warmth counterbalances the cold temperatures.

And in cold days, who doesn’t love soups. Creamy soup, chunky soup, brothy soup, or any soup work, as long as it’s warm and spiced with herbs.

So, to relish the gunas of the winter season, we bring you toor (arhar) daal and sweet potato soup.

Ingredients

• ½ cup toor dal soaked (30 minutes to overnight)

• 1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped

• 1 tsp ghee

• 1 inch peeled, chopped fresh ginger (adrak)

• 1 tsp toasted coriander (dhaniya) powder

• ¼ tsp toasted cumin (jeera) powder

• 1 tsp jaggery (gur)

• ½ tsp turmeric (haldi) powder

• ¼ tsp asafoetida (hing)

• 4-5 curry leaves

• ½ tsp mustard seeds (rai)

• 1 finely chopped cloves (lasun)

Preparation

• Add soaked toor and water to a saucepan, cover, and bring to a simmer.

• Remove foam, then add ginger, coriander, cumin, jaggery, turmeric, and hing.

• Add the sweet potato, and continue to simmer covered until toor dal begins to break down.

• Depending on how long the dal was soaked, this could take 30 to 45 minutes.

• Add salt, then blend with a hand blender until smooth.

• Now, in a smaller pan, warm the ghee on medium to medium-low heat.

• Add the mustard seeds and saute until they start to crackle.

• Next, add the cumin seeds and cloves.

• Add curry leaves and stir. Immediately add to the soup and cover for a few minutes.

Stir and ensure the thickness is of the desired consistency. If more water is needed, add it now and bring to a simmer. Take off the gas after 5 minutes and enjoy a bowl of nourishing soup this winters.

To know more about a healthy Ayurvedic diet and lifestyle, consult a Jiva doctor today. Dial 0129-4040404 or click on ‘Speak to a Doctor’ under the CONNECT tab in Jiva Health App.