All of my farmer’s market favorites in a pitta-friendly bowl for record-breaking days.
Jump to RecipeI don’t know about where you all live, but it has been HOT here in Boulder.
Most summer days here in our little canyon, we have all of the doors flung open, the windows wide, to let in the bird and bug sounds that provide the loveliest soundtrack as I work in the kitchen or navigate my work for the day. But lately, it’s been so warm even the birds haven’t been singing their happy songs. There are morning dips in the river to cool our bodies down, and afternoon cold showers to rinse off the heat of the day before we go to sleep. The thought of wearing pants, drinking warm tea, and cooking something for lunch or dinner is absolutely out of the question. And so, I’ve been making this Heat Wave Summer Salad to keep my body, mind, spirit, house, family and general pitta vibe chill. It’s made with all of my absolute favorite farmer’s market finds: peaches, sweet carrots, tender peas, crunchy cucumbers and the star of the show – a showering of dill.
If you’ve heard me rant about the disservice that salad provides to us most of the year, keep that voice in your head. MOST salads – massive bowls of cold, raw, rough veggies – are tough to digest and increase vata dosha in our bodies, which means that bloating, gas and cold digestion prevail. During the summer months, the coolness of tender leaves is beneficial for pitta dosha, but we can’t negate the importance of keeping salads smart so they’re easier to digest, and more comfortable to enjoy. Read on for why and how I build this special little salad to keep pitta dosha – and vata dosha – in balance.
…in the height of summer, when everything within is fresh, juicy, ripe, and perfect – just as it is. The ingredients in this salad are some of my favorite summer indulgences; peaches so sweet you have to cut them with your sharpest knife to avoid having their juices escape through the slice. Tender peas that make you want to eat one for every one you manage to get sliced. Easy, crisp cucumbers that snap when you bite into them, and seem to cool and brighten everything they touch. And dill, the champion of the day for this cool, rough beaut of a summer meal.
If you’re going to eat a summer salad, there is a right way and a wrong way to tackle it according to Ayurvedic wisdom. Firstly, eat your salad at midday – when digestive fire and metabolism are at their peak. If you’re going to enjoy a salad for dinner instead, make sure to eat it last – as a palate cleanser – instead of first as an appetizer. Reason being that if you eat it first, you effectively load a bunch of lightness and air into the digestive system before more dense meats or proteins, which makes these harder to digest ingredients quite uncomfortable….and will likely lead to gas and bloating. Eat the salad last, trust me.
When you eat your summer salads, make sure to include a few pungent ingredients. These ingredients will help to “warm up” the digestive effect of the salad, keep digestion functioning well, and will make sure that even on the hottest summer day, your airy, light salad doesn’t make you bloated. What kinds of pungent ingredients should you include? Here’s a favorite and its…
I know that the dill may appear to be just another ingredient here, but it’s actually the superhero of this salad. Reason being that dill is a powerful digestive and appetizer in Ayurvedic medicine; refreshing, rejuvenating and also stimulating. Dill helps to enliven cold, sluggish digestion (like that which can result from eating a cool salad,) and helps to boost metabolism and digestive fire (called agni in Ayurveda.) Dill is also drying which helps to mop up the excess oily moistness of pitta, making it a perfect addition to summer meals.
Invites all Six Flavors to the plate (see the flavors below,) which is actually quite tricky to achieve unless you’re really working it. It also contains activated (sprouted) walnuts because they’re my favorite, and they’re slightly astringent which is a better match for pitta than other nuts. These nuts are heavy and oily, however, so use in moderation.
While this salad is divine as a side dish, more often than not I’m making it a meal…but not with fries + a milkshake. Instead, I like to toss some steamed and cooled quinoa into the mix, along with some fresh goats cheese or grilled halloumi.
“WAIT!” you might be saying; I thought that we weren’t supposed to eat fruit with nuts or cheese? Good catch – it’s true – eating fresh fruit with other foods is a digestive no-no where Ayurveda is concerned. AND, honestly, the rules of Ayurveda were meant to be broken sometimes! If you’re eating in a way that strongly supports your digestion 80% of the time, then the other 20% of the time (when you can’t resist putting juicy peaches in your salads with walnuts) your body will be able to skate right through the special occasion.
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