Scope

The Hindu Compliance System gives direction on cooking science which is compiled from Bhaga Shastra. Bhaga Shastra classifies foods into rajasik, tamasik and satvik types. Rajasik food makes one feel agitated, aggressive, lustful and egoistic. Tamasik food makes a person lazy, sleepy and depressed. Satvik food gives clarity to the person and brings him peace of mind leading to bhakti (devotion), tripti (fulfilment) and ananda (bliss).


Six types of tastes are described in the Bhaga Shastra – salt, sweet, sour, hot, bitter and pungent. It states that every meal should include all these tastes so that the appetite is satisfied and the tongue is neutralized by all the tastes being together. As per the instructions in Bhaga Shastra, in order for all parts of the body, mind and brain to function properly, a balanced diet of all these tastes is a must.


Further, the purpose of having all six tastes is to balance the tridoshas in the body, namely vaata (acidic), pitta (alkaline) and Kapha (phlegm). Every ingredient used in Hindu cooking is classified as per its dosha properties.


For thousands of years, Hindus have been cooking food that is organic, nature friendly and with numerous benefits.  This standard will help organizations, businesses like hotels, restaurants etc. to cook the food as mentioned in Hindu Scriptures.

Ingredient and Process of Cooking

The key aspect of breakfast food such as upma, poha, porridge is its quickness and ease of preparation – the whole process does not take more than 15 minutes, from start to finish. Hence, it is an ideal item to prepare when the number of people to feed is large or one is pressed for time.

As the recipes below will show, the basic ingredients are coarsely ground rice or wheat or flattened rice, seasoning with ghee and water as required. Nowadays, upma is also prepared using different kinds of millets, coarsely ground bajra, jowar, maize, etc.

Ingredients:

Flattened rice – ½ padi

Tamarind – 2 palam

Pure Water – ¾ padi

Turmeric Powder – veesam 1/16 r.e

Salt – 1 palam

Jaggery – ½ palam

Red Chillies – ¼ palam

Fenugreek – ¼ palam

Asafoetida – veesam 1/16 r.e

Chana Dal/Bengal Gram – veesam 1/16 padi

Grated Coconut – 2 or 3 palam

For Seasoning:

Sesame oil – veesam 1/16 padi

Red Chillies – ¼ palam

Urad Dal – ½ palam

Mustard – 1/2 palam

Curry Leaves – ¼ r.e

Method:

1. Pound flattened rice to cracked rice consistency in a pounder. Mix tamarind in pure water and remove the seeds from it. Add salt, turmeric powder and jaggery to it.

2. Fry red chillies, fenugreek, asafoetida in oil and put it in the tamarind juice. Soak chana dal in water for some time and fry it in ghee and mix the cracked flattened rice to it and add it to the tamarind juice. Soak well.

3. Refer to the seasoning recipe to season the Poha and use sesame oil, red chillies, urad dal, mustard, curry leaves. Add the tamarind mixture to this and fry well for 3 minutes. Remove from fire and use.

4. Grated Coconut 2 or 3 palam can be added to the tamarind juice before adding it to the seasoning. Flattened rice can be used without pounding.

References

Hindu Bhaga Sasthiram: Click Here

Hindu Compliance Body

The Hindu compliance body was established under the executive order of The Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism, dated August 14, 2020, order number 10010, under the title Reviving the Hindu Compliance System and Body to create, promote, spread and teach the standard procedures for all products and services that are in compliance Hindu Shastras.

Copyright

HCS has the copyright of all its publications.  No part of these publications may be reproduced in any form without the prior permission in writing to HCS. This does not preclude the free use, in the course of implementing standard, of necessary details mentioned above. Enquiries related to copyrights to be addressed to KAILASA.