Relight your fire

Nourish yourself the Ayurvedic way with Jasmine Hemsley’s slow-cooked treats

In terms of surprise splits, it wasn’t One Direction. But when, last spring, Hemsley + Hemsley each announced they were doing individual books, there was definite shock in the wellness world. Because Jasmine and Melissa were a perfect twosome, like, well, the coconut and dark chocolate in their oft-copied paradise bars. If you were a fan of Hemsley + Hemsley, you’ll love Jasmine’s third book, and her first solo project, East By West, a feast of Ayurveda-inspired recipes. I met up with Hemsley on the 35th floor of The Shard where, over tea and an expansive view of London, she told me why she fell wholeheartedly for Ayurveda. “Ayurveda is a 5,000-year-old system of medicine, but more than that, it’s a holistic mind-body-spirit system of wellness, about keeping the body in balance. It’s even more relevant now, because it helps get us back in tune with nature.”

Hemsley had been doing yoga since her early twenties (she’s now 37). But it was learning Vedic meditation on the beach in Sydney in 2010 with teacher Gary Gorrow that tipped her fully into the Ayurvedic lifestyle. “Once you’ve tasted the nectar of stillness, clarity of mind and body; what it’s like to wake in the morning without a foggy head, you can’t go back,” she says. It led her to study Ayurveda, and what it says about food. Now, she meditates for 15 to 30 minutes, morning and evening, after a few rounds of sun salutations. “My yoga teachers say they wake up 90% of the body,” she says.

After a month-long Panchakarma retreat last year – an Ayurvedic healing detox that involves slowing down, eating slow-cooked foods that are easy on the digestion, such as kitchari (rice and lentil porridge), having herbal treatment and lots of massages – overseen by a family of Ayurvedic doctors in Hyderabad, India – Jasmine launched an Ayurvedic food pop-up,

East By West, just off London’s Regent Street for the four months leading up to Christmas. I went for breakfast, ordering banana bread and trying a golden spoon (see recipes on pages 206 and 208) – a mix of healing spices, such as turmeric, and coconut oil.

This year, Hemsley has been busy launching a charity for Indian street dogs, running the Hemsley + Hemsley café in Selfridges, as well as performing sound-healing workshops as part of Sound Sebastien and writing the 100-plus recipes in this book. If you follow her on Instagram, you’ll have seen she has also been to supper at Gwyneth Paltrow’s LA house.

EVERY RECIPE IN EAST BY WEST HAS BEEN CHECKED BY AYURVEDIC DOCTORS TO MAKE SURE IT FITS THE PRINCIPLES.

These can seem pretty strict; food must be fresh, not leftover; cooked rather than raw; no beans or tomatoes with cheese, and fruit eaten on its own. “But you can find out what works for you. It made sense to me, eating your main meal at lunchtime and lighter in the evening, for example, and the rule about being mindful while eating,” Hemsley says. “When I was younger I was a mindless eater; sometimes I wouldn’t even notice when I’d eaten a meal.” Hemsley has always been a big fan of some dietary fat in a world where healthy food used to be fat-free – ghee (clarified butter) is a staple in Ayurveda. “In the West, we’ve spent years not putting any fat near our lips unless it’s a cupcake!” she says, laughing.

The recipes include delicious Indian foods – dosa pancakes, curries, a biriyani, daal and kitchari – but also global influences, such as Thai glass noodles, Filipino

Once you’ve TASTED what it’s like to wake in the MORNING without a FOGGY head, you can’t go back

vegetable adobo (Mama Hemsley is Filipina), a Moroccan carrot soup, even a version of roast chicken (see below).

YOU MAY ALREADY BE DOING AYURVEDA WITHOUT KNOWING IT;

if you’re drinking any Pukka teas or taking its herbal blends, for example. There are three types of ‘dosha’ – your mind-body type – called vata, pitta and kapha. It’s all explained in the book. “We all have a mix of the three doshas. My dominant ones are vata, associated with movement and creativity, followed by pitta, which is hardworking and focused, so I have to make sure I take plenty of rest as I can easily end up wired,” says Hemsley. The third type is kapha, typified by steadiness and reliability. Each recipe in the book has ideas on how to correct any imbalances in your dosha. “But if you only do one thing that’s ayurvedic, get your digestion fire – called your agni – burning bright,” says Jasmine. The Dosha Digestive Biscuits in the book are filled with digestionboosting fennel, coriander, ginger, turmeric and cinnamon. “Ayurveda would rather you eat overcooked, easy-to-digest food when your digestive fire is low. If you do have any raw food, only in the summer and at lunchtime. And be sure to eat only when you’re really hungry.”

Hemsley tells me there’s an Ayurvedic saying: it’s better to have good digestion and eat bad food than have bad digestion and eat good food. But if you make these recipes, you should get both good things at the same time.