Romaine Lettuce Pappu
April is stress awareness month.
In the Bhagavad Gita it is said that the mind is the cause for both bondage and liberation. So, it is how we perceive our world, whether that is internal or external, that is the cause of our stress. With awareness, we have the power to change our perceptions.
This is an experience we can all relate to. One Saturday afternoon my husband found some time and wanted to talk to my daughter who is away in college. She did not answer his call, and he tried again an hour later. Again, she did not respond. At that point, the automatic negative thinking in his mind was activated: She always answers promptly as kids these days always have their phone. It is a Saturday, so she is not in school. She is alone at home. What if something happened? Once this train of thought started, he lost his reasoning and in a matter of 20 minutes he called her 10 times. He asked me where she was. How would I know? He asked my other daughter. How would she know? He called her friend in another city. How would she know? He was pacing and after exhausting all his resources, he isolated himself in a state of helplessness. A few hours later, when my daughter called back his relief turned into anger until his rational mind returned. My daughter texted him a picture of the number of calls he made in such a short span of time while she was in a movie theater with her phone off.
Bondage of love for his daughter and fear of loss caused the activation of his reactive mind. From the time the neuron fires the impulse to the time when you act, if you can take a pause, you can make the choice to be responsive rather than reactive.
Compared to our family’s example of an acute stress episode, if stress is chronic with an elevation of cortisol levels, it can have damaging effects. Chronic stress can lead to diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiac disease and cancer. Our noisy mind is too loud and busy. It does not let us listen to the whispers of our body until disease happens.
In honor of this month devoted to stress awareness and reduction, I am sharing this recipe that my friend once described as “soul food” after a stressful day at work.
Romaine Lettuce Pappu
Total Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
1 Romaine lettuce
1 small onion
1 /2 cup toor dal
1/2 cup moong dal
1 tablespoon tamarind paste
2 and 1/2 cups water
Chilli powder
Cilantro
Optional curry leaves
Seasoning 1 table spoon oil and 1 teaspoon ghee
Pinch of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, and hing
Salt **
** Flavor is an expression of your personality; therefore, while rough guidelines on salt and chili measurements have been given, please do tailor them to your own tastes or dietary tolerance.
Directions:
Wash and roughly chop the lettuce and onion.
Wash and drain both dals and place in the instant pot.
Add chopped lettuce, water, chili powder and tamarind paste to instant pot.
Turn on the instant pot to bean chili or manual 15 minutes. Once done let steam naturally release.
For the seasoning, pour oil and add seasoning seeds and curry leaves to a small pan on medium heat. Once the oil bubbles and seeds start popping add chopped onion toss it and turn off the stove.
Remove lid from instant pot, turn on sauce mode, stir the ingredients. Add the seasoning and salt. Turn off the instant pot once the liquid starts bubbling and stir to blend everything together and not to let it stick to the bottom. Garnish with cilantro optional.
Serve warm or hot with rice. I like the onion crunchy so I add it with seasoning in the end, however it can be added together with lettuce if you like it soft and cooked.
Doctor Mom:
Moong dal is an excellent source of protein and it has anti inflammatory as well as immune boosting properties. Our body knows what it needs, so it is very comforting when we feed the right food.