14. Vegetables

Vegetables are mostly light and fibrous. Ayurveda favours cooked over raw for most people and nearly always for those over 55 — cooking breaks down roughness (a Vata quality), makes vegetables easier to chew and swallow, and lets ghee and spices balance them. Gourds (lauki, torai, tinda, parwal, ash gourd) are the sattvic vegetables par excellence: light, cooling, easy to digest.

Group	Examples	Dosha	Kitchen rule
Gourds	Lauki, torai, tinda, parwal, ash gourd, snake gourd	↓P ↓V (cooked)	Everyday vegetables; cook covered until translucent
Sweet roots	Carrot, beet, sweet potato, pumpkin	↓V ↓P	Grounding; ideal Vata food
Starchy tubers	Potato, arbi, yam	↑V (gas) ↑K	Small portions; always with ajwain or hing
Cruciferous	Cauliflower, cabbage, radish, turnip	↑V ↓K	Blanch first; cook with ginger, hing and ghee
Leafy greens	Palak, methi, sarson, bathua, chaulai	↓P ↓K ↑V	Always cooked for elders; with ghee; lemon for iron
Pods and beans	French beans, flat beans, peas, drumstick	↓K ↑V	Remove strings; cook soft; ajwain for peas
Okra	Bhindi	↓V ↓P	Lubricating — good for Vata dryness
Bitter	Karela, neem flowers	↓P ↓K ↑V	Small portions; salt and squeeze to reduce bitterness
Nightshades	Tomato, capsicum, (brinjal)	↑P ↑V	Optional; tomato cooked, not raw; some sattvic guests avoid
Mushrooms	—	—	Not used in this sattvic kitchen

Raw salads for older guests?

Classical Ayurveda and modern geriatric practice agree: raw, cold, rough vegetables are hard for weaker digestion and dentition.
Offer steamed or lightly sautéed 'salads' instead — kosambari, warm beet thoran, steamed carrot with lemon and cumin.
If a raw item is served (cucumber in summer), keep it small, finely cut, at room temperature, at lunch only.
Wash all produce well in clean water, with a salted soak in the monsoon.