My wish for you is to Live Better, Strive Harder, Be Bolder, Dream Bigger, Climb Higher and Seek Greater.
My vision is to help people create food that is delicious, easy to make and high in nutrition, so that food once more becomes a vehicle to fuel your body, mind and soul.
‘’I love sleep. It’s like a time machine to breakfast’.
This is a great breakfast bar. It keeps you full the whole morning as it is packed with Oats, which are a slow releasing carbohydrate. I also added cinnamon and nutmeg, which are warming spices and get your digestion and metabolism moving. Mr B noted that to him, the spices made it taste like Christmas.
Ingredients
1.5 cups rolled oats
¾ cup flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
I cup dried apricots, diced
1 tsp. baking powder
½ cup maple syrup
½ cup oat butter, melted
Method
Add the oats and flour to a bowl. Add the spices and baking powder. Mix.
Add the maple syrup and melted butter and mix.
Add to a lined baking tin.
Place in a pre-heated oven at 350F for 30 minutes or until the top starts to brown
‘Good food is very often, even most often, simple food’. Anthony Bourdain
This is an easy, one pot dish. It was made by my grandma on fasting days, as it does not contain onions or garlic. Onions and garlic are seen to excite the mind and so are often omitted when fasting. If you have ever had the honour of eating at a monastery in the east or an ashram, you may have noticed this.
To add depth of flavour many spices are used in this dish. Turmeric gives an earthy tone. The cloves, dried chilli and pepper corns are left whole and add the taste of the spice without making it spicy. The lemon juice adds a pop of acid.
I love using Turmeric for its earthy tone and health benefits. Mr B always knows when I have been using the fresh root, as I inevitably end up with yellow hands!
Ingredients
2 cups basmati rice, rinsed and soaked
4.5 cups of water
3 dried chilis
½ tsp. peppercorns
½ tsp. cloves
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. turmeric powder
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 cup frozen/fresh vegetables
Method
Rinse the rice until the water goes clear (4-6 times). Leave to soak for 30 minutes, then drain
Add the rice to a pot, along with the water and all the other ingredients. Bring to a rolling boil and then down to a simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the rice is cooked through.
Taste and adjust for seasoning
Basmati rice is tri-doshic. In excess it can aggravate Kapha, so switch out for brown rice from time to time
‘Chocolate comes from cocoa, which is a tree, that makes it a plant…chocolate is salad’
Mr B has a sweet tooth and I love finding him dishes that will satisfy his cravings whilst promoting his health. This recipe does that in multiple ways, using pure, high quality cocoa and cocoa butter in the vegan chocolate, tofu as a substitute to cream, cherries and maple syrup. All of these ingredients have high nutritive content and promote and nourish the bodies tissues in different ways.
Ingredients
For the cherries
1 cup cherries, frozen
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp brandy (optional)
For the chocolate mousse
1 packed silken tofu, c. 14oz
1 tsp vanilla essence
50g maple syrup
1/8 tsp salt
1 bar of vegan chocolate, 70g
Method
Add the cherries, brandy and maple syrup to a deep pot and gently simmer until the mixture thickens slightly.
In the meantime, squeeze the water out of the tofu block with your hands, then place in a towel and squeeze the remaining water out. Place tofu in a blender and blend.
Add the vanilla essence, maple syrup and salt and blend again
Melt the chocolate, I did this using a glass bowl over the pan of cherries. You could use a microwave
Add to the blender and pulse until well combined
Add the cherries to the bottom of your cup or ramekin, add the mousse to the top and leave to set in the fridge for at least 15 minutes
‘The one thing you can change is how you treat yourself, and that one thing, can change everything.’
For me eating well is part of self-care and self-care is self-love.
My relationship with food wasn’t always great. At one point I used to restrict my calorie intake to 500 calories a day, at another I bought all my meals from external vendors and ate all my meals in the office at my desk. It wasn’t until my health started to break down that I started to introspect and realized that I was denying myself access to the most easily available healthcare, my food.
People often think that eating healthy is time consuming, restrictive and frankly not fun. This millionaire shortbread should change all of those perceptions. Mr B in fact kept sneaking into the kitchen like a naughty child to steal a piece until I offered it up for breakfast. It is 75% nuts and dates, which have immense health benefits, minerals, vitamins, fibre and protein, as does the vegan chocolate. It takes 20 minutes from start to finish, including the time it takes to set in the fridge. It’s is seen as a dessert but is healthier than most conventional store bought breakfasts.
I loved all of my grandma’s food, everything she made was tasty, nourishing and full of love. She believed in eating pure food to fuel herself and her life and doing the same for others. I now choose to follow in her footsteps, to respect my body and my mind by supplying it with healthy, life giving food and doing the same for others. I hope this recipe and blog inspire you to do the same.
Ingredients
1.5 cups of nuts (your choice)
12 pitted dates, soaked for 5 minutes
1 cup vegan chocolate chips
Method
Roast your nuts for 5-7 minutes until you they start to release oils (they will smell toasty at this point). I used pecans, walnuts and almonds in equal quantities
Let them cool. Once they are cool, put them in a blender and pulse to a crumb. Make sure not to over blend, or they will turn to nut butter
Drain and add the dates, blend until the mixture comes together
Line your baking tin with parchment paper, add in the mixture and push down, try and make it an even-ish layer
Melt the vegan chocolate chips. I put them in a glass bowl above a half-filled pot of boiling water
Pour over the top of the first layer
Pop in the freezer for 10 minutes
Don’t forget to enjoy the crack of the chocolate as you cut into it
‘No one who cooks, ever cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past…’
This is a collaboration between granny and me. She used to make this dish when I was a child. The only switch I made was to sub in sweet potatoes for regular to boost the antioxidant and nutritional benefits.
Potatoes and fenugreek are a great combination as the fenugreek helps break down the carbohydrates and releases them slower into the bloodstream, make this a great potato dish for anyone with blood sugar issues. I did a series on Instagram this week, on the medicinal benefits of Fenugreek (see below). If you are interested in more fenugreek recipes, feel free to pop over or email me.
Ingredients
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp salt
½ tsp chili powder
¼ tsp hing/asafoetida (optional)
¼ tsp. crushed fenugreek seeds (slightly crushed)
1 tsp. mustard seeds
1 cup frozen methi/fenugreek leaves
1 sweet potato, cut into 1×1 inch pieces
Method
Add the oil to the pan on a medium heat, add the mustard seeds, hing and fenugreek seeds. When they start to sizzle, add the sweet potatoes and cover with the oil and spices. Cover and let cook till semi soft, c. 5-7 minutes, add a little water if it’s starting to stick to the pan. Add the chili powder and salt, stir. Add the fenugreek, stir and allow to cook all together until the potatoes are cooked through.
Kitchari is easy on your digestion. Giving your digestion a much needed break, helps you absorb the nutrients in the food at a higher rate and so boosts your body function and immune system.
Quinoa Kitchari is a revelation. You get a complete protein from the Quinoa, with added lentils and energizing spices.
This version is tasty, vibrant and satisfying. It keeps you full all day due to the low GI and protein.
For this Kitchari I added an energizing spice mix, which is great if you are feeling fatigued or are just in need of a pick me up. All the spices are great for your digestive fire and immune system. If you don’t have all the spices, that is fine, just double the quantities of the ones you have. I toasted and then ground my spices, as it makes my kitchen smell of my grandma’s kitchen, with the added benefits of retaining more of the nutrients and capturing more of the natural oils.
Ingredients
Kitchari
1 cup Quinoa
½ cup Split moong dal (Mung Bean, Moong is the Sanskrit word)
½ tsp. Cumin seeds
Salt to taste (At least 1 tsp.)
2 tbsp. Ghee or oil
1 tbsp. Energy spice mix*
¼ cup Coriander leaves – add at the end
For the energy spice mix grind the below;
1 whole clove
1 tsp. toasted fenugreek seeds
1 tbsp. toasted coriander seeds
1 tbsp. toasted cumin seeds
1 tbsp. toasted mustard seeds
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground pepper
½ tsp. Hing
Method
Soak the rice and lentils together for at least 1 hour (I like to do it overnight). Rinse until the water goes clear.
Bring the lentils and rice to the boil with 6 cups of water, skim the white foam off the top
Leave to simmer, c. 30 minutes. We are looking for a porridge consistency with Kitchari to be easier on your digestive system, so a little overcooked versus the normal quinoa preparation.
Add salt
Heat oil/ghee in a separate pan and add one tablespoon of the energy spice mix
Mix into the porridge, cook for a few more minutes
Add fresh coriander and serve hot
*Whilst quinoa is good for every constitution. The energy spice mix is best for Kapha and Vata constitutions. It is okay in moderation for pitta if not imbalanced and/or in winter when Pitta may need a little heating. If you prefer, for Pitta try a cooling mix of cumin, coriander and fennel with a pinch of fenugreek for lipid control.
I love Okra…now, but growing up with my grandma, she used to call these ladies fingers and so I refused to eat them. Ladies fingers are Okra, also known as Bhindi in Hindu.
On the inside Okra has seeds (making it technically a fruit) and is a little slimy, which puts people off. However, it is the gel-like substance called mucilage, that binds to cholesterol during digestion, causing it to be excreted rather than be absorbed into the body. In addition, the polyphenols can lower the inflammatory markers associated with heart disease.
In Ayurveda we see Okra as Astringent and Sweet. It is tri-doshic and used for lubricating the joints and GI tract.
Okra is a great ingredient, used across Asia. It is used raw in salads, lightly prepared with dashi in Japan. It is fried as a snack in India and of course made into all sorts of curries. It is also used in stews and gumbo’s in the southern united states and a dish I had in New Orleans came to mind and was the inspiration for this stew.
Ingredients
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup zucchini, chopped
1 cup lotus root, chopped
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1 cup pureed tomato
2 cups vegetable stock
1.5 cups precooked lentils (optional)
2 cups okra, chopped
1 tsp chili sauce
¼ cup fresh oregano leaves or a tbsp. dry
¼ cup fresh thyme or a tbsp. dry
Method
Heat the coconut oil and fry the onions and garlic till soft, c. 5 minutes
Add other vegetables, feel free to substitute for what you have
Add spices, tomato paste and tomato puree, stock and lentils
‘Whenever you doubt your self-worth, remember the lotus flower. Even though it plunges to life from beneath the mud, it does not allow the dirt that surrounds it to affect its growth or beauty.’
The lotus root flower is so beautiful. It symbolises purity and perfection in both the Hindu and Buddhist philosophies. As the flower grows out of the muddy water, it is thought to be a symbolic reminder to humanity to aspire for an elevated state of awareness.
The lotus root is delicious and highly nutritious. It is known for its crunchy texture and slightly sweet taste. It can be steamed, braised, stir-fried and deep fried. It is packed with dietary fibre, potassium, iron and vitamins B and C. It is known to boost digestion, regulate blood pressure, the specific B vitamins help to reduce stress, the vitamin C helps with your skin, it helps prevent water retention due to the potassium and natural sodium and it helps with weight loss due to the fibre.
In the Ayurvedic system the lotus root has an astringent effect on the body and is used to bring down the heat/fire in the body, making it especially good for those with a fiery constitution (Pitta). It is a diuretic (supports the urinary system), emollient (good for skin), antifungal and antipyretic (reduces fever), which is why it is used as a healing food in both the Indian and Chinese medical systems.
In my series on Instagram this week I made my grandma’s Lotus Root Curry (Bhae ki Sadzi), a Japanese sweet-salty stir-fry and some lotus root chips. I recorded the curry recipe and so thought this would be the best one to publish. Feel free to contact me if you would like the others.
Ingredients
2 tbsp. oil
1 tbsp. ginger paste
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 tsp. coriander powder
½ tsp. cumin powder
½ tsp. turmeric powder
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp fenugreek powder
1 potato, chopped
2 cups sliced lotus root
Method
Heat 2 tbsp. oil, add the ginger and garlic and cook for 30 seconds
Add the onion and fry for 5 minutes, add a little water if it starts to stick
Add one chopped tomato, mix together
Add the coriander, cumin, turmeric, salt and chili powder, mix well
Add the fenugreek powder and the potato, mix together
Simmer until the potato is cooked through, c.8-10 minutes
Add the lotus root and ½ cup water
Add 1-2 tbsp of tamarind paste, depending on how sour you like it
I decided to make this dish as this year I will miss out in seeing my family in London and Mr B’s family in Italy. This dish is a fusion between the two, creating a bean’s on toast dish, that is based on a rustic soup from Tuscany.
I love how food can be used for so many soulful activities. It can transport you to another country, to a memory from another time. It can connect you to a person, a lineage, a thousand years of history. It can heal your soul; it can heal your body.
This dish certainly helped sooth my desire to travel, bringing the UK and Italy right to my living room. What dish soothes your soul?
Ingredients
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp fennel
1 large shallot, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 fresh tomato, chopped
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
½-1 tsp. chilli flakes
1 tbsp. smoked paprika
1 can organic tomato puree
1 can white beans, watched well
2 cups spinach, chopped
½ cup fresh basil, chopped
1 tbsp. fresh thyme
Method
Warm oil in a deep pan on a medium low heat
Add the fennel and stir. Once the fennel starts to sizzle add the shallots and garlic. Cook on a gentle heat for 5 minutes and add ¼ cup of water if it is cooking too quickly
Add the fresh tomato, let cook for 5 minutes
Add the can of tomato puree, mix together
Add the salt, pepper, chilli flakes and paprika. Mix together.
Cook for 10 minutes and adjust for seasoning
Add ½ the fresh basil, the white beans. Mix and cook for 5 minutes
Add 1 cup water, stir and let cook for 5 minutes to infuse the flavors
Add spinach, stir and cook for 5 minutes
Add fresh thyme and basil before serving for aromatherapy
‘True patriotism springs from a belief in the dignity of the individual, freedom and equality not only for Americans but for all people on earth’ – Eleanor Roosevelt
To help you have a flipping fantastic 4thof July, I give you my newest and healthiest pancake recipe.
These are triple protein pancakes with quinoa, chia and oats. They are nice and sweet from a combination of the bananas and a little maple syrup. They are filling and low GI, releasing energy into the blood stream slowly and so keeping you fuller for longer. I didn’t think that cooked quinoa was an ingredient I’d be putting in pancakes, but they dissolve into the batter and no one can tell they are in there. They add a nice density to the pancake that makes it more satisfying than other pancakes that use high GI white flour and might leave you hungry in a few hours.
Ingredients
2 cups of pre-cooked quinoa
2 cups of oat flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
¼ cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups almond milk (more if need to think the mixture)
2 tbsp chia seeds
2 ripe bananas
Method
Soak the chia in enough water so it is just covered. Wait for it to thicken, approximately 5 minutes
Add the quinoa, oat flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt to a blender, mix but don’t blend till you add the wet ingredients
Add the vanilla, maple syrup and almond milk. Blend.
Add the chia mixture and pulse to combine
Add the 2 bananas and blend until pureed into the mixture, i.e. no lumps
At this point you want a thick but not stiff batter, like your typical pancake batter. If it is too stiff add more almond milk
It may stiffen as you are cooking, due to the chia, add more almond milk, 1 tbsp at a time, at this point if needed
Spoon around 2 tbsp for a medium pancake onto a hot pan, use the back of your spoon to spread out to a flat circle, cook until you see bubbles and the top side starts to stiffen
