Customer Reviews

The Ayurvedic Cookbook

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Amadea Morningstar not only gives you delicious, simple recipes for meals but also recipes for medicinal drinks, based on Ayurveda. She talks about the spiritual side of cooking, which has affected my personal approach to cooking everything - not just these foods. She also gives good information on dairy and how it is best digested. The one recipe I keep coming back to in here is the one for banana muffins. No one can resist them! I change the flours at times, and find that this recipe is the best vegan muffin recipe I've ever found! BTW -if you are vegan or vegetarian, this book is an excellent resource.

I have been really pleased with the Ayurvedic Cookbook! It gives an excellent introduction into Ayurvedic nutritional theory, along with a self-exam so that you may determine your Dosha. There is a great index in the back which lists all foods according to their Dosha which makes menu planning easier. For the most part, the recipes are tasty and easy to prepare. You may find it difficult, however to locate some of the unique Indian spices and food items, especially if you are not living in a large metropolitan area. I did not care for some of the recipes as they were a little strange to my taste, but most were excellent!

Covering the ancient science of Ayurvedism in one book and relating that science to your daily menu is no easy task. Yet this book does so quite well, and is appropriate for the beginner or the expert. If you know very little, you can learn how to determine your own dosha and begin assessing what foods are best for you. If you are beyond that, you will benefit from the many insights offered in a wide range of topics including seasonal and daily diets, nutrition, ingredients, and of course the recipes. As a chef with an interest in healthful cuisines, I must admit that some of the recipes are a bit bland. However, as the book points out, our taste buds have become accustomed to excessive salt and these recipes allow you to experience the pure flavors of the ingredients. Some recipes are completely delicious, such as Spicy Cumin Eggplant or Cream of Greens Soup. Another benefit of this book is that most of the ingredients are easy to find, which can be a problem for American cooks trying to make Indian food.

I'm not a vegetarian, but when I use the recipes in this book, I don't miss the meat. Yes, this book will teach you about the ancient art of Ayurvedia, but that would all be useless if it didn't taste good because I wouldn't use it. It emphasizes well spiced foods specific to your particular constitution, and I found that the recommendations often went along with things that I had already figured out, for example that I needed to eat well cooked foods. Most the ingredients in this book are easy to find - if I can get them in Philly, you can probably get them anywhere. If this were only a vegetarian cookbook, it would be a 5-star book (and I say that as a meat-eater). With all of the extra Ayurvedic information, this is a book you should have if you do any of your own cooking.

This is a fantastic cookbook for experienced cooks wanting to explore both Indian cooking as well as Ayurvedic cooking. I've learned a lot about the appropriate use and balance of traditional Indian spices.

However, if you are relatively new to cooking, you may find the recipes to be a bit difficult. They are pared down for those who are more intuitive with cooking, but you will not have a step-by-step guide on how to do each task, like you might find in grocery store recipe magazines or Betty Crocker cookbooks. I have also run across occasional omissions of ingredients in the directions, and some of the grain recipes call for too much water (way too much).

On the whole, this book has a great net benefit. In fact, it's the only book I've been using for the last 3 weeks. Indian grocers sell incredibly affordable pantry items, and the food is simply wonderful. Please give this book a try!

This cookbook has been one of my favorites ever since it first came out in 1990. Now 15 years later, it is ripped, worn, bent, curry stained and I'm buying a new copy. The recipes taste great, have greatly enhanced my family's health and vitality and been enjoyed by many friends. But it's not just a cookbook. The authors bless us with an Ayurvedic perspective on diet, constitution, lifestyle and body/mind/spirit healing and also clarify contemporary health issues related to sugar, dairy products and soyfoods in the light of ancient wisdom. This book is beautifully written, intelligently conceived and vibrates with wisdom and love.

If you have read Tibetan Ayurveda you will find a lot of similarities with this book. This book is Indian Ayurveda. The authors have made a small confusion between Neem leaves and curry leaves. This book will teach you about the ancient art of Ayurvedia and its benefits. You will have a nice understanding about various aspects of Indian Cooking, the ingredients and the way they make an extremely healthy food system, whether it is your breakfast, lunch or dinner. With all the additional information on Ayurveda, it will become extremely useful if you ever decide to do your own delicious cooking.

Since I have been on this diet, all the cravings for junk food have gone. I was someone who lived for sugar and now I do not want any of it. I use to crave coffee in the morning as well but realized I didn't want that wired up feeling & acid stomach. I switched over to a caffeine-free coffee substitute made from soyabeans I found on the net at www.S o y c o f f e e.c om. It so easy for someone to tell you to eat less, but if you are craving bad foods, eventually you will fail. In the first five days I was on this diet all the craving ceased and I was already 8 lbs down. If you were like me and cannot wait for your next slice of cake and at the same time really want to change your lifestyle, Try this.

This book is the very first which transformed me from one who dislikes cooking into one that is eager to cook and learn more and more!!! I just simply cannot believe this is happening to me. I have never liked cooking. And it makes for the most thrilling reading too!!

Because of various health problems I was always advised to try different diets but never liked what I cooked. It was always the most boring task. This book has changed my attitude in the most profound ways, where I begin to perceive food not only as a source of nourishment but also a way to understand my own body's energetical needs and how to heal it. It is the most interesting fact to learn the connection between the food and my emotions. Through these quick, simple and most delicious recipes I am learning how to create foods which calm me when I need calming, ground me when I need grounding and cool or warm me depending on the season and the balance in my energy pattern. But it's not only that, I can even effect a positive emotional and digestive change in my husband through dishes that are meant for his type!

This book is slowly turning me from "cook hater" into "cook lover" and I cannot wait to try all of those recipes. The pumpkin or sweet potato halva recipe had us on our knees. It is sublime. The Indian tastes are simply like swimming in a deep ocean while the American cooking is more like swimming in a small and shallow pond. Why not jump in on the deeper side of life?

As with her book, Ayurvedic Cooking for Westerners, there are recipes with glaring errors in them in this book. In many cases proportions are off, there is too much liquid in the recipe or not enough. Not so serious for kichadis or curries, but for some of the desserts and snacks, such errors create a disastrous mess. When trying new recipes from this book I always have a pencil nearby so that I can note bad recipes. The book is an excellent reference for eating for your dosha and there are some recipes that are very good. But beware of the bad ones! Less experienced cooks might find it frustrating to cook from this book.

This cookbook really explains why foods affect people differently and shows how, with delicious recipes, to balance yourself with many healthy Indian style dishes. So far I have tried the 15 min veg curry, Plain indian rice, Veg Barley soup, sesame sweeties and curried parsnips and carrots. Every recipe has been delicious - my son 11 is a big curry fan now. Americans definitely don't know how to use spices!! This book will show you how. I highly recommend it.