If you’d like to add a sweet, ojas-building food to your recipe box, try these Almond Date Ojas Balls inspired by an Ojas Ladoos recipe from the website vedicook.wordpress.com. Notice the similarity in the qualities of the ingredients to the qualities of ojas (heavy, sweet, unctuous, sticky). As stated in the vedicook recipe, "Ayurveda warns against combining equal proportions of ghee and honey by WEIGHT, however equal proportions by VOLUME is recommended for building ojas."

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw almonds

• ½ teaspoon powdered ginger

• ½ teaspoon ground cardamom

• Pinch of Himalayan pink salt

• 7 or 8 medjool dates, pitted

• 1 tablespoon ghee (or 1 tablespoon of coconut oil)

• 1 tablespoon raw honey

• Grated rind of 1 organic orange (optional). You can also use a bit of rose petal jam if available.

Directions

1. Add almonds, ginger, cardamom, and salt to a food processor and process until well ground. Don’t process so much that it turns to a flour or a paste, but enough that it has a finely ground consistency. Remove contents to a bowl and set aside.

2. Add dates, ghee or coconut oil, honey, and the optional orange rind or rose petal jam to the food processor and pulse until dates break up. Then process steadily until all ingredients are well combined. 

3. Add back to the processor all but about 1/8 cup of the almond mixture and pulse and process until nicely combined.

4. Roll walnut-sized pieces of the mixture into smooth balls. Then roll the balls in the reserved almond mixture. 

Makes about 16 balls.