How to Make a Refreshing Ayurveda Chickpea Lemon Vinaigrette Salad
Updated: Oct 6
A long, hot summer is predicted this year. Did you know that the foods you eat can help reduce Pitta and help you keep your cool? Reduce inflammation and those uncomfortable sensations of the internal inferno using this cooling food is medicine recipe from Saumya Ayurveda.
Explore more on the Saumya Blog, selected top Ayurveda blog and website to watch.
The chickpea's botanical name is cicer arietinum. It's an annual legume in the family Fabaceae. This protein packed bean is known by many names--chickpea, garbanzo, chole, Egyptian pea, Bengal gram--just to name a few.
"Chickpeas appear in early recordings in Turkey about 3500 BCE and in France 6790 BCE. India produces the most chickpeas worldwide but they are grown in more than 50 countries. An excellent source of carbohydrate, protein, fiber, B vitamins, and some minerals, they are a nutritious staple of many diets." (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health)
Refreshing Ayurveda Chickpea Lemon Vinaigrette Salad takes minutes to prepare, it's cooling, and tastes so good.
How to Make a Refreshing Ayurveda Chickpea Lemon Vinaigrette Salad
Ingredients:
1-2 cans of garbanzo beans. (For higher appetites, use more garbanzos.) Rinse really well and drain. You can also pressure cook your own garbanzo beans.
1 purple onion finely chopped
Ok, there's two paths to choose from now. If you have cucumbers, artichokes, bell peppers, cilantro, leafy baby greens, use them raw in your salad. Add some kalamata olives for taste and color. (Rinse off if salty.) The other route, depending on what's in your refrigerator or garden, it to use squash, green beans, asparagus, zucchini and the like and lightly blanch them.
Add fresh herbs or dried herbs.
Enjoy our popular article: Cooling Foods in Ayurveda. Cooling foods to reduce Pitta, heat in your body and mind. 🪭 Learn how to eat and drink your way out of excess Pitta. Food IS medicine.
Instructions:
Mix everything together.
Add the Refreshing Lemon Vinaigrette (recipe below).
Gently fold in the vinaigrette and mix well.
Refreshing Lemon Vinaigrette Instructions:
Squeeze two-three organic lemons (I slice them in half and squeeze by hand.)
Finely mince 1-3 garlic cloves (Why the range? It depends on how strong the garlic is, how large the cloves are, and how you're feeling in terms of your doshas. Customize it to suit you.)
About 1/2 teaspoon of good salt such as Red Alaea Hawaiian salt.
Freshly ground black pepper. (It should taste and smell like lively pepper.)
1/4-1/2 cup good quality olive oil
Peruse your herb garden and select herbs that appeal to you. (If your herb garden is not up and running yet, use dried Mediterranean herbs.)
1 t Dijon mustard (optional) * I don't use it. I find the delicate, yet potent fresh herbs to be perfect.
1/2 t maple syrup or honey (optional) * If you like some sweet, you will love it.
Mix it up well with a whisk or fork.
Adjust seasoning to please your taste buds.
Top with little crumbled feta.
Add some roasted nuts and/or seeds.
Adjust so it tastes great.
Note: If you prepared this in advance, remove the Ayurveda Chickpea Lemon Vinaigrette Salad from the refrigerator so it's at room temperature before digging in!
Grab your favorite plate or bowl.
Find a comfy place to sit. Practice some diaphragmatic breathing. If you haven't yet, read Learn Diaphragmatic Breathing and Change Your Life, now is a good time.
Let each meal become an eating meditation that supports healthy digestion and nourishment.
Now, you're well on your way to transforming your daily life with Ayurvedic food as medicine and Ayurveda lifestyle practices.
How to Make a Refreshing Ayurveda Chickpea Lemon Vinaigrette Salad
Discover how personalized Ayurvedic treatment can change your life
Book a free consultation with Veena from Saumya Ayurveda
Reduce ama (toxins) and balance your agni (digestive fire) by eating according to your dosha. These are key to good health.
Explore our popular article, How to Cool Pitta and Reduce Body Heat with Ayurveda.
Maintaining a calm mind contributes to healthy digestion. There is a saying, "The mind is more in the body, than the body is in the mind." The Saumya 3 step meditation process shifts us from fight-flight-freeze mode, to rest-restore-relax mode. Give it a try for forty days and observe the changes. The more grounded and relaxed we are, the smoother life flows.
"The breath is the connection between the mind and body, so by training the breath, we become calm, focused, and grounded, we slow down the aging process by decreasing stress. These practices are so simple and easy to have as part of our daily life. We actually feel and look younger."
- Veena, Saumya Ayurveda
1. Learn Diaphragmatic Breathing and Change Your Life. When we re-learn to breath diaphragmatically, we move from the flight-fight-freeze mode, to rest, restore, relaxation mode from where we want and need to live.
2. Free Daily Guided Practices: 11 minutes in the morning and in the evening, as anchors of your daily Ayurveda routine.
3. Ayurveda Daily Routines: Ayurvedic Morning Routine | 6 Rituals for a Calm and Centered Day 10 Ayurvedic Evening Rituals for a Calming Night
"Choose a couple of practices from the routines that provide you with the greatest support. Perform them while applying our two minute meditation technique and your mundane tasks, just transformed into a mellifluous meditation. This is meditation applied to daily life." - Veena, Saumya Ayurveda
"Veena was able to help me regain my energy in just a few months and I’m feeling like my “young” self again! I love the food plan she designed for me, and all the supporting practices (am/pm routines, breathing techniques, herbs, and spice mixes) are so enjoyable to incorporate into my day. I highly recommend Saumya Ayurveda if you want to feel better and have more vitality.”
-Molly Rossini, Minnesota
Explore More: Ayurveda Breathwork Pranayama
Discover the Saumya Ayurveda Way
When we gain clarity about what to eat, we can cook and eat with confidence knowing we are turning our food into medicine and with Saumya Ayurveda, you'll know what to do. As Julia Childs put it, "This is my invariable advice to people: Learn how to cook—try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless and above all have fun."
We all want to be heard, understood, and cared for as whole beings, not a set of isolated symptoms. True health is more than the absence of disease, which is why Western medicine so often leaves us feeling hopeless and unseen.
Deep down, you already know what you’re searching for: a new framework for living – one that brings your entire being back into balance. With Saumya Ayurveda, you’ll receive individualized guidance to create the physically, mentally, and spiritually vibrant life you crave.
Saumya Ayurveda provides concierge, top-notch, award-winning Ayurveda care. We strive to keep it simple, so you can focus on you! Opt for virtual consultations and we'll come to you.
Our practice model is client focused, we’re not in the retail herb business. We’ll guide you where to order herbs directly online. Our top-shelf Ayurveda oils and herbalized ghees are the best in the land and we’ll ship your care package right to your doorstep.
Our effective multi-appointment consultation packages provide you with experienced Ayurveda care, enthusiastic guidance, and inspiring support.
Explore our personalized services and book your FREE discovery call today. Psst! Our clients say it best – so read and watch our client's stories.
MEET VEENA: YOUR AYURVEDIC GUIDE
Veena is a Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner and meditation teacher, and monk.
She is President Emeritus and teaching faculty of the Meditation Center.
Veena fell in love with the traditional medicine used in her family’s home, learning herbal remedies at her grandmother's knee.
An experienced Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner, Veena’s deep, intuitive knowledge of Ayurveda empowers her clients to reclaim their fullest, most vibrant lives –mentally, physically, and spiritually.
Veena individualizes treatment plans to each person, rather than offering a one-size-fits-all approach, so it fits your life and becomes woven in your lifestyle, naturally.
Learn more about Veena's work and book your FREE discovery call today.