Sukham Ayu: Cooking at Home with Ayurvedic Insights (Gourmand Winner - Best Health & Nutrition Cookbook in the World - Second Place) [Hardcover]

Jigyasa Giri (Author), Pratibha Jain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 2008

SUKHAM AYU - An Ayurvedic cookbook with healthy, tasty & easy recipes! Jigyasa & Pratibha present the great tenets of Ayurvedic cooking in a simple, friendly format. Winner of Best Health & Nutrition Book in the World 2009 - Second Place, this beautiful book has been researched at Kerala Ayurveda Research & Rejuvenation Establishment (KARE) near Pune. It is a creative combination of recipes & food-tips on one hand, and Ayurvedic insights & tenets on the other, thus appealing to the gourmet & the novice!

Sukham Ayu is a meticulous and heartwarming compilation of more than 60 Indian recipes. Easy to cook, delicious to taste, healthy & wholesome...these vegetarian recipes transform simple cooking into an intuitive and holistic experience.
Just when the world is waking up to the relevance of ancient systems of healing, Sukham Ayu brings in the much needed break from the routine cooking, as a visual feast to body, mind and soul.

Based on the Ayurvedic tenet of moderation, laced with enlightening snippets, delightful visuals, and Ayurvedic rationale behind the recipes, Sukham Ayu is a must have companion for those who not only want a healthy meal but also memories of their childhood kitchen.

The Recipe Sections are divided into:

• Sweet Platter
• Soopa
• Vegetable Medley
• Healthy Lentils
• Snacks
• Indian Breads
• Rice Bowl
• Chutneys
• Salads
• Beverages

Also find crisp chapters about Ayurvedic tenets:

• Who Am I (Prakriti Test)
• Self and the Elements
• The Essence in Food
• Food & the Seasons
• Food Compatibility
• Food and the Mind.

These recipes have been included with a clear focus on freshly cooked food, on the correct use of spices to enhance taste and good health, on the right combinations that make them tridoshik, or agreeable to all doshas. Slight variations and unobtrusive additions and deletions to daily home cooking, along with Ayurvedic insights, make these recipes worth trying.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Sukham Ayu, an Ayurvedic cookbook comes as a whiff of fresh air for both, fast paced professionals and people who have been following unhealthy eating habits for long and wish to bring about a change in it. (The healthy life by Rohan Swamy – Feb 04, 2009) -- The Indian Express

Pratibha and Jigyasa say their presentation and book kindled an interest in Ayurveda at the Paris cookbook fair, capturing the imagination of everyone from high profile chefs to fellow writers who are currently experimenting with daliya upma in their respective countries. -- The Hindu Metro Plus.

Sukham Ayu (happy longevity) that demystifies the tenets of ayurveda in a simple easy-to-follow manner. Particularly important is the detailed information on the three doshas along with the food guide at the end, which tells you your ‘prakriti’. (A labour of love by Mukta Hegde – Sept 2009) -- Life Positive Magazine

From the Author

It has been our sincere endeavour to bring to you the great tenets of Ayurveda in simple, easy language and in a rhythm that we thought practical. As you turn these pages, you will find chapters that deal with different aspects of Ayurveda preceding each section of recipes. Thus, the first chapter "Who am I?" deals with the foremost dictum of Ayurveda, which places all of life within three categories of doshas or bodily humours - vata, pitta, kapha. This chapter is followed by a section on sweet dishes. The next chapter is "Self and the Elements" which deals with the connection between the five great elements and human existence, followed by a section on Soopa or soups.

In this manner, sections of simple recipes are interwoven with compact pages of Ayurvedic teachings.More than anything else, this book aims to bring joy into cooking at home. It is, in a way, a culinary journey interspersed with ayurvedic insights, a peek into an ayurvedic system, each chapter leading you back home - with a basic home-style recipe. Although most of the recipes are for daily cooking, the home-style recipes are the first step into bringing Ayurveda and healthy, flavoursome cooking into your home.

The recipe sections feature a selection of tridoshik preparations, which means that they can be eaten by persons of all constitutions (unless under supervised medical or diet treatment). However, any type of food is always more conducive to some and less to others, thus the popular proverb - one man's food is another man's poison. It is always interesting to know which foods one can eat regularly and which one should leave aside for occasional indulgences. So when you select a menu from this book for your family, all you have to do is identify who can eat more or less of each dish, based on the main ingredients.

This is not as daunting as it may seem. When we sent a manuscript of these recipes to a friend to try out, she found that cooking and eating turned into a more conscious activity with the kids cheekily telling their kapha dad to go slow on the kheer, and the elder sister bossing over the younger one saying,"This salad is more for you than me!" What was really heart warming was when our friend said, "It somehow bound us all together and made eating time more fun!"

We hope that along with the tingling of your taste buds, this book kindles your curiosity to know more about this great science of life.

Jigyasa and Pratibha
December 2008 .

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Pritya; First edition (December 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 819029931X
• ISBN-13: 978-8190299312
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 9.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #723,178 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sukham Ayu - Beautiful & Informative - Ideal for Gift, August 27, 2009

By 

Navaratan Ramesh "Nav" (Charlotte, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sukham Ayu: Cooking at Home with Ayurvedic Insights (Gourmand Winner - Best Health & Nutrition Cookbook in the World - Second Place) (Hardcover)

A beautiful book, I enjoyed the information on Ayurveda which was presented in lucid and readable style. The soopa section (soups) have been a great success at home. Its design and content makes it an ideal gift, which is what I have been doing for some birthdays. Thanks for the lovely book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sukham Ayu, July 28, 2009

By 

Ammini Ramachandran - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sukham Ayu: Cooking at Home with Ayurvedic Insights (Gourmand Winner - Best Health & Nutrition Cookbook in the World - Second Place) (Hardcover)

Sukham Ayu, the latest cookbook by award winning authors Jigyasa Giri and Pratibha Jain, is a celebration of ayurvedic way of eating. With easy to prepare flavorful recipes Sukham Ayu is one of the most accessible tools to learn about self-healing food. Filled with gorgeous photographs, fresh flavors, and practical advice, the book presents the reader with delicious recipes against a backdrop of the rhythms of nature and food as medicine.
From slow-simmered curries with layered flavors to quickly sautéed dishes, these delectable recipes explore the wide world of ayurvedic cuisine beginning with a platter of sweet dishes followed by healthy soopas, an incredible range of aromatic vegetable dishes, tastefully spiced dals, home style breads and rice dishes, irresistible snacks, colorful salads and chutneys to soothing juices and thirst- quenching drinks.

Much more than a wonderful cookbook, Sukham Ayu serves as a concise introduction to ayurveda: the book opens with a primer on the three doshas or constitutions. Readers will learn how to identify their ayurvedic type; detect imbalances; select foods, and, most importantly, put the power to heal in their own hands. The recipes demonstrate how to vary ayurvedic meals to nurture each of the ayurvedic types.

Sukham Ayu both inspires and empowers; awakening the senses and unlocking the alluring world of ayurvedic way of eating. It is a great addition to any cookbook collection.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Healthy but tasty!, October 3, 2009

By 

P. Natesan (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sukham Ayu: Cooking at Home with Ayurvedic Insights (Gourmand Winner - Best Health & Nutrition Cookbook in the World - Second Place) (Hardcover)

Yet another excellent contribution from Jigyasa and Pratibha. This one teaches you a little bit about your body type according to ayurveda, and what foods to avoid, etc. It gives healthy yet tasty options accordingly. Of course, need I mention that this item is definitely worth giving as a gift? Definitely, a collector's item. The composition and presentation of text and pictures are admirable. The book also discusses well-rounded meal plans.