The power of plants
Cook and dietician Radhi Devlukia-shetty talks to Lauren Taylor about plant-based living and her commitment to Ayurveda wellness
BHARAZI PIGEON PEAS (SERVES 4) Ingredients:
1tbsp sun ower or avocado oil;
2 small green chillies, such as ai, nely chopped;
1tbsp nely-grated fresh ginger;
½ small head of cabbage, grated or very thinly sliced;
1tsp ground turmeric;
225g cooked or tinned pigeon peas (rinsed and drained if tinned);
400g tin full-fat coconut milk;
½tsp sea salt;
¼tsp asafoetida;
½tsp corn our;
15g chopped fresh coriander leaves, plus more for serving;
1 lemon, halved
Method:
In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the chillies and ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the cabbage and turmeric and cook, stirring, for two minutes.
Reduce the heat to low and add the peas, coconut milk, salt and asafoetida. Leave the mixture to simmer gently for 15 minutes.
In a small bowl, whisk together the corn our and two tablespoons water. Stir the corn our mixture into the curry, along with the chopped coriander. Add a generous squeeze of lemon juice over the top.
Serve sprinkled with more coriander.
IT ALMOST seems like a modern-day given that we’re constantly exhausted – reaching for co ee or sugar to perk us up and keep us going, but wellness in uencer and cookery writer Radhi Devlukia-shetty reckons it can be solved with food.
“If we’re eating foods with almost dormant energy, that actually doesn’t give us the nutrients that we need, of course we’re going to feel tired,” says the 33-year-old.
Coming from a long line of vegetarians, the quali ed dietician and wife of monk-turned-lifecoach and podcaster Jay Shetty, Radhi says: “I don’t drink co ee. I’ve tried to not get into things that that my body becomes reliant on for energy. Because when I do crave sugar, I know it’s a sign that I’m not getting enough of what I need.”
Food, she says, along with our daily habits and thoughts, has the ability to completely transform every aspect of our health.
“All the food we eat should make us feel energised – that’s what it’s supposed to do, right? Whereas there are lots of foods that we eat that make us feel lethargic, and gloomy, and feel really heavy inside.”
Radhi turned vegan a decade ago and shares plant-based, nutrient-packed recipes with her 2.3 million Instagram followers – and has just released her rst cookbook, Joyfull.
Her husband, of the hugely successful podcast On Purpose, is a “guinea pig” for her dishes. “I wouldn’t say he is someone who enjoys being in the kitchen, he’s happy washing dishes. But I don’t really allow him into the kitchen, to be honest!”
Radhi herself hails from
Watford, but the couple are based in LA now (“I love a place you can spend a lot of time outdoors”). With Indian parents, the ancient medicine system, Ayurveda, was something she grew up with.
“My mum used so many Ayurvedic practices [but] I hadn’t even heard of the term before. It’s just part of Indian culture that’s been passed down to me through my grandma and my mum.”
Ayurveda translates to ‘the science of life’ in Sanskrit (ayur is life, veda is knowledge) and it’s been around for around ve thousand years.
“Whenever I’d cut myself, my mum wouldn’t put all the plaster on it, she’d put a tumeric patch onto the wound. When I had a cough, she’d use ajwain seeds – spices and hot water – and give that to me.”
She lives by many of the principles of Ayurveda now, having studied it in California, including 5am wake-ups and daily meditation, morning exercise and time for re ection, but incorporates it into her food too. On a very basic level it encourages eating more plants and more spices.
“I became a scientist in the kitchen, experimenting with di erent spices. Whenever I had a toothache, I would try to use clove oil instead of using medicine that you get from stores. I kind of became my own lab human, where I was just kind of experimenting on myself and really seeing like, what do these practices do for me?”
Di erent things will work for di erent people, she explains, but essentially it’s about creating an environment – internally and externally – that is “optimal for you to thrive” in. In her recipes, onion and garlic aren’t on the menu (according to Radhi
All the food we eat should make us feel energised – that’s what it’s supposed to do, right?
they cause more harm than good in large quantities), but you will nd dishes like walnutlentil bolognese, tandoori tacos and bombay masala potatoes – some passed down through her family.
One wellbeing hack she has posted about on social media, to a lot of interest online, is giving up cold water.
“Oh my gosh, it’s such a massive di erence!” she says. “In the US, iced co ees and ice drinks are so common. When I started drinking more ice drinks, consistently for days on end, I was having a matcha latte every morning with with ice, I noticed my digestion, my energy levels [change].”
Although cold water will of course keep you hydrated, according to Ayurveda, it can slow down your digestive system. Now, when she’s out, she’ll order room-temperature water instead of cold and at home drinks “tea non-stop” – herbal or a blend of coriander seeds, cumin seeds and fennel seeds steeped in hot water.
“Genuinely one of the main things that people come up to me about is water,” she says, with a laugh. Once on a hike in the LA hills, a woman yelled out to her, ‘Radhi! I drink water the right way because of you!’”
But getting in sync with our bodies means getting in sync with nature too. Radhi believes our digestion follows the same timing as the sun and moon.
“When the sun is rising, our body is slowly waking up, our digestion is waking up after eight hours of being stagnant. So it’s recommended that you have a small meal in the morning to stoke your digestion, getting it revved up to start eating.
“en, in the afternoon, when the sun is at its highest and strongest, our digestion is at its peak, so it’s recommended to eat a heavy meal in the afternoon. en, as the sun starts coming down in the evening, have a lighter meal before you sleep, your digestion is starting to wind down.”
Doing this, as well as enjoying meals with gratitude and presence of mind, creates what’s called prana or ‘life force’ in the body, she says.
But it’s all about what works for you: “I de nitely became out of tune with my body. I took time to tune back into my own body and that’s when I came back into real health.”
■ Joyfull: Cook E ortlessly, Eat Freely, Live Radiantly by Radhi Devlukia-shetty is published in hardback by orsons, priced £22. Available now