It’s Tasty Tuesday – Ayurveda Style!

Every Tuesday, Deacon Carpenter – our resident Ayurvedist – shares an easy to make recipe.  Come by to taste the goodness.  Here is this week’s recipe:

Coconut Chocolate Laddo
2 cups nuts of any kind – I used ½ almonds and ½ walnuts
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp cinnamon powder
2 cups pitted dates
2 tbs Grade B maple syrup
Dried shredded coconut to roll the balls in

Clean your hands thoroughly!

Grind the nuts in a food processor until they have a flour-like consistency.  Add the cocoa and cinnamon powder to make as chocolaty as you like.  Add the dates and the maple syrup.

Blend together in the food processor, adding more dates until you get a “breakable” dough, which can hold form.  Form into walnut sized balls in your hands.  Roll and gently press the balls in the coconut.  Store in the fridge for up to 4 days . . . if they last that long!

Health Benefits:

Chocolate Ladoo are my absolute favorite treats when I’m in India (once I’ve gone through the Ayurvedic purgation program which was prescribed to me, of course).  Traditional Ladoo are made with condensed milk and a lot of chocolate, so the decadence outweighs the health benefits.  This recipe shows how you can make a much healthier Ladoo.

In Ayurveda, the bitterness in the unsweetened chocolate is stimulating and is used for an aphrodisiac.  Aphrodisiacs in Ayurveda focus more on strengthening the reproductive tissues.

Cinnamon is warming and helps regulate the blood sugar.

Dates are considered “sattvic” which means that they can be digested easily.  Dates are great before and after exercise, as they are loaded with potassium and other minerals that are consumed during exercise.  They are also grown in California, so they are a “local” super food.

You’ll also notice that I only cook with Grade B maple syrup, not Grade A.  Grade B is less refined, meaning that the syrup retains more minerals like potassium, calcium, zinc and manganese.

Ayurveda Events at Tone this week:

• Tuesdays @ 6:10pm – Ayurveda Chat – Ayurveda and our body – How food becomes our tissues and how to produce high-quality tissues