Tasting dark chocolate, a ripe apricot, a luscious elixir- savor the expanding joy in your body.
Nature is offering herself to you.
How astonishing to realize this world can taste so good.
When sipping some ambrosia, raise your glass, close your eyes, toast the universe.
The Sun and Moon and Earth danced together to bring you this delight.
Receive the nectar on your tongue as a kiss of the divine.
-Lorin Roche, The Radiance Sutras #49
Impress your pals with these phenomenal vegan goods. The heart of the truffle is crafted from raw walnuts, medjool dates and cocoa powder. In this variation I added lime and coconut to the mix. Feel free to substitute the lime for any other citrus zest, or dried fruit for that matter.
Both coconut and dates are praised in Ayurveda for being ojas superfoods. Ojas is the extraordinarily fine substance that courses through our body. It’s our radiance, our vigor.
Ojas is Responsible For:
- Immunity
- Glowing Skin
- Top Notch Digestion
- Physical Strength
- Spiritual Inclination
- Solid Sleep
- Stable Moods
Ojas is the refined substance that occurs after digestion. Once all 7 tissues, or dhatus, are fed and nourished, the end products is glorious ojas. The classical Ayurvedic texts state that it takes 27-30 days to build ojas. Yes, masticating and digesting a carrot may take less than 24 hours, but to get to the goods takes time. Knowing that it takes almost a month to create ojas, it is critical to protect and nourish our ojas supply, as the quantity that courses through the body could fit in our cupped hand. But how do I know if I have done a stellar job protecting my ojas levels?
Your Ojas is Amazing if…
- You bound out of bed each morning saying “Let’s Rock!” (Dr. Sunil Joshi)
- Your skin positively glows sans Mineral Fusion’s sparkly primer
- The tongue is pink and the mouth tastes clean- save for the occasional roasted garlic binge
- You feel light and limber- despite pants size, hell it’s only a number
- Your mind does not feel like a TV running non-stop with no remote in sight
- You rarely have to take a sick day, you know, for actually being sick (wink)
- Your feel grounded with both feet planted firmly on the earth
- Natural enthusiasm radiates from you- the world is your oyster
- You smile and laugh
What Depletes Ojas?
- Stress
- Extreme Exercise
- Constant Activity
- Not Sleeping Enough
- Not taking time for Self-Care
- Poor Diet
- Excessive Sexual Activity
- Traumatic Events
- Grief
What Builds Ojas?
- Love, Love and more Love
- Laughter
- Following your heart’s desire, whatever “Lights you up”
- Volunteering- Selfless service
- Nature
- Yoga/Pranayama/Meditation
- Whole, Fresh, Organic Foods- preferably home cooked
- Nature- go visit the Botanic Gardens!
- Snuggles with pets or family
- Ample sleep, 8 hours is ideal
A quick note on chocolate: Be sure to get high quality, fairly traded organic chocolate. Not only do we want the farmers to be treated ethically and not sprayed with pesticides as they are harvesting, nor do we want small children harvesting the beans in lieu of going to school. I can’t speak for you, but I would love to see these farmers to be reasonably paid for their efforts. After all, they are harvesting the nectar of the Gods, pure ambrosia.
In addition, chocolate has an affinity with the breast tissue, so if you are electing to eat non-organic, you increase your chance of exposure to unnecessary and inimical pesticides and chemicals. These toxins are often found living in the fatty breast tissues. Fat is ultimately the number one storage bin for environmental pollutants and toxins. Thus, buy Fair Trade Organic, please. Peaceful chocolate bites.
Now that the educational bit is out of the way, let’s craft some ojas infused Vegan truffles.
Lime Coconut Vegan Truffles
Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 14-16 Truffles
Ingredients:
1 Cup Raw Walnuts
1 Cup Medjool Dates, pitted
¼ Cup of Organic, Fair Trade Cocoa Powder
½ cup shredded, unsweetened, untoasted, Coconut
Zest of 1 Organic Lime
¼ tsp Pink Himalayan Salt
10 oz. 70%+ Organic, Fair Trade Dark Chocolate, broken into pieces
Optional Toppings-
Lime Zest
Flakes of Pink Salt
Coconut/Cocoa powder blend (1/3 cup shredded coconut to 1 Tablespoon Cocoa powder)
Preparation:
- Place walnuts and pitted dates into the bowl of a food processor equip with the S-blade. Whirl until the walnuts and dates become a homogenous clump. The texture will be similar to playdoh.
- Add the cocoa powder, coconut, lime zest and salt- process until all the ingredients are integrated.
- Carefully remove the blade from the food processor bowl. Place parchment paper on a plate or baking sheet. Roll the dough into walnut size balls and store on the parchment paper.
- Next, if desired, roll the truffles in the coconut/cocoa powder concoction. In a small bowl combine 1/3 cup shredded coconut with 1 tablespoon Cocoa powder and a pinch of salt. Roll the truffles in this mixture until evenly coated. Again, optional, but I like the texture variation. Refrigerate while you melt your chocolate.
- Craft a double boiler. Bring a medium size saucepan of water to a gentle boil. Place the dark chocolate chunks into a smaller saucepan that can comfortably fit on top of the medium pot. Allow the chocolate to slowly melt, stirring with a metal teaspoon. The purpose of melting the chocolate in this manner is it allows it to melt gently, without scorching, and it is a tempering shortcut, but yields a shiny, crisp shell of chocolate.
- Once melted, one at a time roll your truffle nugget in the chocolate until thoroughly coated. The teaspoon makes this extraordinarily easy. Simply tip the pot towards you so the chocolate pools. Return to the parchment paper.
- To kick these up a notch aesthetically, add a sprinkling of lime zest, coconut and pink salt before the chocolate hardens.
- Refrigerate, remove from fridge a half an hour before serving.
Enjoy!
Rejoice in your senses as you nibble, while savoring this thought- The Sun and Moon and Earth danced together to bring you this delight. Receive the nectar on your tongue as a kiss of the divine.
Ayurveda Lite 