I rarely use a recipe. I don’t use measurements. It’s actually really hard for me to write recipes. Sometimes I just make up rough amounts of ingredients (shhh, don’t tell!) to share with people. It’s more like a guideline to avoid disaster. I taste as I go. You should too. Every now and again, my brilliant husband, who knows me well, tells me to write one down. I never do because I always think that I’ll remember what I’ve made. It’s. Never. Happened. I decided to listen to him this time, and I’m so glad I did. I’ll get better at the picture-taking, too…

• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1 chopped onion
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1 inch minced ginger
• 2 carrots, sliced thickly
• 1 chopped jalapeno
• 4 chopped roma tomatos
• 10 okra
• 1-2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 bag of soaked and cooked chickpeas
• 2/3 can of coconut milk
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 6 green cardamom pods
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 cup cilantro

Chop the okra, add to a colander, and sprinkle with salt. Let this sit for 10 minutes, then rinse before adding to curry.

Cook the ghee, onion, and carrots for 2 minutes, then add the garlic, ginger, and jalapeno. Cook for another 3 minutes. Then add the tomatoes, chickpeas, garam masala, sugar, coconut milk, turmeric and cardamom.

Once the curry is bubbling, add the okra and cook for 10 minutes. Then salt to taste and top with cilantro. Serve over rice.

Ayurveda notes:

Pitta types do well with digesting beans, so this will be especially good for them. The coconut milk, coriander and cardamom are cooling. If you’re trying to balance pitta, you can omit the garlic and jalapeno, otherwise, I think the spices will be helpful for vata and kapha types.