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Five power foods

With Talibah Simone

January is usually the month to get it together –when you press the reset button on your gut. You may try a new diet, a detox or two! I thought it’d be helpful to provide five recipes packed with immune boosting ingredients to power up your system! If you’re participating in Veganuary, these recipes will be a perfect match!

Creamy Baobab Asparagus Risotto

Baobab is a fruit with a hard wooden exterior with green and yellow hair. Its seeds are wrapped in dry pulp which is separated and milled into the fruit powder which is now known as one of the most nutritious fruits. However, it is extremely hard to get your hands on the actual fruit, so the powder being a rich source of vitamin C and a great source of iron and notably soluble fibre, once added to water, smoothies, porridges and soups supports a healthy digestive system.

Duration: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

1 tbsp rapeseed oil

1 tbsp baobab powder

3 cloves of garlic

1 red onion diced

5 sprigs of thyme

½ cup of fresh spinach

Tender stem broccoli and asparagus

½ chilli

¼ cup of fresh oregano

½ a lemon juice

1 ½ uncooked brown rice

5 cups vegetable broth

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

1 tbsp allspice

1 tbsp black pepper

(pinch of sea salt if necessary)

Method:

1. Using a skillet or non-stick saucepan, put on medium heat and add in oil once hot. Sauté onions and garlic till the onions turn translucent. Add in thyme to infuse in the oil.

2. Wash the tender stem broccoli, asparagus, spinach and add straight into the skillet. Increase the heat slightly and squeeze in the fresh lemon juice. After 3 minutes, remove the broccoli, asparagus and spinach from the skillet and set aside.

3. Pour 3 cups of vegetable broth, baobab powder, sliced chilli, oregano, all spice, black pepper and the rice into the skillet and cover to cook for 20 minutes, you’ll need to check it occasionally to stir it. Add 3 more cups of water in and leave to simmer for another 20 minutes.

4. Once the rice is cooked to your satisfaction, add the nutritional yeast and stir. You can add water if you desire the consistency to be slightly thinner. Fold in the broccoli, asparagus and spinach and allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Add in a pinch of salt if necessary. Then, serve!

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Rainbow Salad with Chia Vinaigrette  

This superfood salad is enjoyable for both your immune system and your tastebuds! From the antioxidants and protein packed chia vinaigrette to the beets which are rich in folate which helps cells grow and function!

Duration: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Green lettuce

1/3 cup Red frilly lettuce

1/3 cup Kale

1 Carrot

½ Cucumber

1/3 Baby plum tomatoes

2 Beetroot diced

½ Yellow pepper sliced

Method:

1. Chop vegetables to desired size. Using a mandolin slicer, slice the carrots creating little flecks of carrots (similar to the supermarket ready-made salads).

2. In a large bowl combine all vegetables and pour vinaigrette, giving it a toss! This salad goes really well with the Zucchini fritters and Spirulina Tzatziki.

Chia Vinaigrette

1/3 cup organic raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar

2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbsp chia seeds

1 tbsp organic raw honey

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, stir. Keep in a jar, cover and whenever you need to use it, shake it vigorously before pouring. The sauce will become thicker overnight as the chia seeds expand! 

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Zucchini fritters with Spirulina Tzatziki 

I absolutely love combining fresh ingredients that create irresistibly delicious bites! Zucchini aka Courgettes contain little calories which is a helpful ingredient for a fritter mixture! Then the Tzatziki contained spirulina – crazy right?! Well, I needed to include one of my favourite superfoods somehow, and this was the best choice. Spirulina is a powerful plant-based protein with many antioxidants. I often add a teaspoon to a bottle of water whenever I feel a cold coming along.

Duration: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

3 ½ cups of grated zucchini

3 spring onions

1 cup plain flour

¼ nutritional yeast

1 clove of garlic (crushed)

½ tsp baking powder

¼ vegan butter

2 tbsp rapeseed oil (for frying)

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp black pepper

½ tsp allspice

Method:

1. Grate the zucchini into a mixed bowl, sprinkle over salt and leave for 10 minutes, this will help release the water from the zucchini that we do not need for our recipe. After 10 minutes, using a sieve, place zucchini inside and press down, squeezing out all the excess water.

2. Add zucchini back to the mixing bowl along with the spring onions, flour, nutritional yeast, garlic, baking powder, sea salt and black pepper. Stir to create a combined mixture.

3. Add in melted butter and mix – you’ll notice how soft your batter becomes.

4. Heat your frying pan/ skillet on medium heat and add oil.

5. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop up mixture and place into a pan. Use a spatula to flatten the scoops out.

6. Fry each side for 5 minutes. Once the mixture is complete, place the fritters onto a tray lined with baking paper. You can turn your oven on a very low heat such as 40 degrees in order to keep the fritters warm – although they can be eaten cold, I much prefer them warm/straight off the saucepan!

Spirulina Tzatziki

1 cucumber

1 tsp spirulina

A few leaves of mint

1 tsp dill

1 cup dairy free yoghurt

2 cloves of crushed garlic

½ tbs lemon juice

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp black pepper

Method:

1. Peel and grate cucumber. You can put your cucumber in a towel to remove the excess water or you can leave it to mix with the other ingredients.

2. In a bowl, add the grated cucumber, spirulina and remaining ingredients. Stir.

3.  Leave in the fridge for a minimum of 20 minutes. Serve with Zucchini Fritters

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Shiitake Soup

Shiitake mushrooms are one of the most popular mushrooms due to its uncommon shape and meaty texture and some say it actually mimics the flavour of beef! Shiitake mushrooms are heart-healthy foods because they are free of saturated fats – now you know why it’s a vegan’s favourite meat alternative! In this recipe I’ve included a few other veggies to complement the creamy mushroom flavour, including ginger to give it a kick!

Duration: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

150g Shiitake mushrooms (I get mine from Waitrose)

1 tbsp rapeseed oil

1 carrot

1 leek

4 cloves garlic

½ white onion

4 sprigs of thyme

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp turmeric

2 ½ cups of water

1 tbsp sunflower oil butter

1/3 nutritional yeast

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp butter

Method:

1. Slice mushrooms into bite size chunks, leaving 2 whole mushrooms for garnishing.

2. Heat a tbs oil and butter into a saucepan, add mushrooms and cook for 10 minutes until softened. Remove the 2 mushrooms for garnishing aside.

3. Add chopped carrots, chopped leek, garlic, onion, thyme and ginger to the mushrooms on the stove and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Add water, turmeric, chilli powder, salt & pepper to vegetables and boil for another 20 minutes.

5. Remove from heat and process mixture to cream a completely smooth texture. You can leave some lumps if you prefer to have a light bite within your soup. Top with remaining mushrooms and sprinkle over some fresh thyme. 

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Coconut and Goji Berry Chia Pudding

Whether it be for breakfast or desert, you can’t go wrong with a Chia Pudding! What’s so great about chia seeds? For something so tiny, they are nutrient packed! The combination of fat, protein and fibre means that they are digested fairly slowly providing a long release of energy that keeps us powered up. Let me introduce you to goji berries! Naturally sweet and iron rich! I’ve used coconut milk in this recipe because it’s a healthy fat that works really well with chia seeds when set. This recipe also contains flax seeds which are a rich source of vitamins and minerals

Duration: 10 minutes - 2 hours
(can be eaten immediately or set for a minimum of 2hours/left overnight)

Ingredients:

¼ cup chia seeds

1 ½ coconut milk

1 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut

1 tbsp ground flax seeds

1 tbsp maple syrup

½ teaspoon organic vanilla paste

Topping:

Goji berries

Blueberries

Raspberries

Shredded coconut

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl combine milk, chia seeds, shredded coconut, flaxseeds, maple syrup and vanilla paste. Mix very well.

2. Add mixture to a jar or glass of your choice.

3. Place in the fridge for 10 minutes if you want to eat it sooner rather than later or refrigerate for 2 hours or even overnight. For best results, leave overnight as the chia seeds will be completely activated as it would have enough time to expand.

4. Top goji berries, fruits and shredded coconut.