Ingredients (enough for a Sunday roast for 2)
2 onions - leave the skin on. The skin = quercetin aka the holy grail of phytonutrients
1 stick of celery
1 carrot
280g shrooms - I used a mix of chestnut & mini portobello for a darker gravy - these are a source of l-ergothioneine which is AWESOME for us. It’s basically a super antioxidant
3x cloves of garlic, leave them unpeeled
1 sprig of rosemary
2-3 sprigs of thyme
100ml red wine - once the alcohol is cooked out, resveratrol is left behind. Resveratrol is anti-aging. Yup!
2 heaped tablespoons of flour
Sea salt & black pepper - you’ll need to season everything very well
400ml (approx) of veg stock
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Pop the onions, celery, carrot, mushroom, garlic and herbs on a roasting tray.
Try and nestle the herbs underneath the onions. This will stop them from burning and becoming bitter.
Drizzle everything with rapeseed oil and roast for around an hour until browned.
Put a casserole-style dish on a medium heat and transfer the roasted veggies to it.
Add the flour and cook for a couple of minutes whilst mashing everything with a wooden spoon.
Season really well with sea salt and black pepper.
Add the wine and cook for a minute more.
Pour in the veg stock.
Cook until it has reached the desired thickness, approximately 5 minutes. If it’s too thick, a splash of water will thin it.
Check the seasoning (aka taste it) and season if required.
Here is a video version of the method in case that’s easier:
Chickpea burgers with kimchi ketchup
Let’s chat about plant-proteins.
Most aren’t complete proteins, so even if you eat a sufficient amount of plant protein, sometimes it can still fall short of the mark.
Let me explain:
Proteins are made of amino acids.
We have to eat 9 specific amino acids to be able to make protein that our bodies can do something with.
Protein sources of animal origin contain all of these 9 essential amino acids. This means they are a “complete protein”.
Plant-based sources of protein often miss 1 or 2 of the amino acids.
When these amino acids are missing, it doesn’t mean the protein was useless, it just means we can’t use the total package so well. If some of the amino acids are missing, the foodstuff in question is not a complete protein.
Chickpeas are not a complete protein because they miss 2 of the amino acids.
Meaning, even if the tin of chickpeas says it contains 17g of protein, we can’t actually fully make use of this.
There is a small trick however: protein combining.
Chickpeas fall short of the amino acids methionine and cystine.
Hemp seeds contain both of these amino acids.
By mixing chickpeas and hemp seeds in the same meal, you get a complete protein and can therefore utilise the protein present.
Neat isn’t it?
That was a very long winded explanation as to how I ended up combining chickpeas and hemp seeds in these chickpea burgers but hopefully you learnt something new.
Seeds in general are a good way to add more protein to meals.
They are also useful to create “complete” proteins alongside beans and pulses.
A few tips:
- It’s easier to cook the chickpea burgers from cold so if you have more time, refrigerate the patties before cooking. This will help them hold together better. Otherwise, flip them over with caution.
- The chickpea burgers can be frozen. Do this after cooking and cook them from frozen by either warming them up in the microwave or cooking them in the oven at 180 degrees C until piping hot (20 mins approximately).
Ingredients to make 6-8 burgers:
2 tins of chickpeas, drained
3 tablespoons of the chickpea liquid
40g of hemp seeds
10g of chia seeds
3 spring onions, washed and sliced
1 tablespoon of peanut butter (40g), both smooth and crunchy work
1 teaspoon each of cumin seeds, paprika and sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
For the kimchi ketchup:
80g of kimchi - pick a good quality kimchi, I’m a huge fan of this one
50g of organic ketchup
To serve:
Burger buns
Slaw & greenery as desired
Method:
To make the chickpea burgers, put all of the ingredients apart from the chia seeds, in a blender or food processor and pulse until well combined. Season well with freshly ground black pepper and pulse again.
The idea isn’t to create a smooth mixture, so don’t worry if there are “bits” in it.
Take the mixture out of the food processor and stir in the chia seeds. Mix to combine.
Check the seasoning and add a bit more salt and pepper if needed.
Pop a frying pan on a medium heat with a couple of tablespoons of a neutral oil (i.e. rapeseed or sunflower oil).
Take a heaped tablespoon of the chickpea mix and form it into a pattie using your hands.
Pop the pattie in the frying pan and make patties out of the rest of the mixture.
The chickpea burgers will take 5 minutes to cook on each side so keep the temperature of the pan lower (medium heat) and add a bit more oil after flipping them over.
They should be golden on both sides when cooked.
To make the kimchi ketchup, pop both ingredients in a blender and blend until completely smooth.
Serve the chickpea burgers in burger buns with a large dollop of kimchi ketchup on top.
Coconut noodle bowl with miso sesame tempeh
I’ve recently made it my aim to try and come up with quick flavour combinations that require little equipment.
Here is one that is a total winner:
Rice noodles are dressed with a coconut, lime, ginger and chive dressing.
Tempeh is coated in a combination of miso and sweet sesame.
The bowl is then topped with some “match-sticked” veggies and a handful of herbs.
It’s a 10-15-minute dish. Swift and full of flavour.
Tempeh, for those of you that are unfamiliar, is the better cousin of tofu. Soya beans are fermented then pressed together.
The resulting product is similar to firm tofu but with more flavour and slightly more texture.
Just make sure to buy organic soya products, otherwise you are almost always guaranteed to be buying genetically modified soya beans/ soya products. Organic ensures a non-GM version.
The recipe also works with a piece of fish such as a salmon fillet in case you aren’t keen on tempeh.
Ingredients for 2:
A large handful of mangetout, sliced into matchsticks
1 large carrot, sliced into matchsticks
1 bunch of coriander
100g rice noodles
200g of tempeh, thickly sliced and each slice halved (the shape doesn’t matter, you are creating bite size chunks of tempeh)
Sea salt and black pepper
For the coconut dressing
100ml of coconut cream
The juice of 1.5 limes
1 tablespoon of finely chopped chives
Thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled & grated
For the miso and sweet sesame dressing
1 level tablespoon of white miso (miso shiro)
1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
The juice of 1/2 a lime
1 teaspoon of agave or 1.5 teaspoons of maple syrup or honey
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Boil a kettle of water.
Whisk together the ingredients for the miso and sweet sesame dressing.
Put the tempeh pieces into the dressing, coat evenly and transfer to a roasting tray. Roast for 10-15 minutes until the edges start to crisp up.
Whilst the tempeh is roasting, chop the veggies and make the rest of the dish.
Put the rice noodles in a cereal bowl. Cover with boiling water and allow them to steep for 5 minutes. There is no need to cook these.
After the 5 minutes, drain and set the noodles aside.
To make the coconut dressing, put the coconut cream, lime juice and chives in a bowl. Season with sea salt and black pepper and whisk together using a fork.
Grab the grated ginger and squeeze as much of the juice into the coconut mix as possible. Stir again.
Divide the noodles between two pasta bowls and pour half of the coconut mixture over each bowl of noodles. Give it a mix to combine the noodles and coconut dressing.
Top each bowl with half of the mangetout, carrots and a large handful of coriander.
Finish with the tempeh.
Enjoy!
Whole baked cauliflower, roasted red pepper sauce, chimichurri, hazelnut dukkah
Our food isn’t merely a bunch of macronutrients, vitamins and minerals, it is way more complex than this.
Bioactive compounds present in plants form a small proportion of the food we eat.
These are not vitamins or minerals but they are very good for us. If you see a health claim on a particular food, it is almost always likely to be because of the bioactive compound.
Curcumin in turmeric is an example.
Bioactive compounds are especially high in herbs and spices and in different coloured vegetables.
This recipe capitalises on some of the best bioactive compound-containing ingredients to create an incredibly tasty (& fancy looking) dish.
In case you are not a fan, cauliflower is easily replaced with a baked sweet potato or a chunk of any roasted veg.
Ingredients for 2:
1 small cauliflower (1 large cauliflower will serve 4)
rapeseed oil
sea salt & black pepper
150g dry weight quinoa (or 1 ready-cooked quinoa pouch)
For the roasted red pepper sauce
1/4 of a tin of chopped tomatoes
2 peppers
1/2 jar of sun-dried tomatoes (75g drained weight)
For the chimichurri
1 bunch of parsley
1/2 bunch of oregano
1-2 shallots (dependant on size)
1 clove of garlic
1 red chilli, optional
1 lemon
Italian olive oil
For the hazelnut dukkah
1 tablespoon of fennel seeds
1 tablespoon of cumin seeds
1 tablespoon of coriander seeds
2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
50g hazelnut (ideally blanched hazelnuts)
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Put the cauliflower in an ovenproof dish with a lid and drizzle with oil or wrap it in tin foil.
Bake for 1 hour, until the cauliflower is soft and fully cooked through.
Cook the quinoa according to packet instructions and season well with sea salt and black pepper.
To make the dukkah, put all of the ingredients on a small ovenproof roasting tray and roast for 10 minutes. The spices should become fragrant and the hazelnut golden in colour.
Allow it to cool completely then pulse in a blender to roughly break the ingredients up.
To make chimichurri, finely chop all of the ingredients aside from the lemon and transfer them to a bowl.
Add the juice of 1/2 lemon, a pinch of sea salt and stir in enough olive oil to give it the consistency of pesto.
Taste and add more lemon if needed.
To make the roasted red pepper sauce, cut the sides of the pepper off and lay them on a roasting tray, skin side up. You should have 4 flat pieces per pepper.
Put the pepper slices under a hot grill and grill them until the skin blackens and blisters.
Take them out and allow them to cool.
Once they are cool enough to handle, peel off the blackened skin and transfer the pepper pieces to a blender.
Add 1/2 jar of drained sundried tomatoes and a 1/4 of a tin (100ml) of chopped tomato.
Blend until completely smooth.
To serve, put 2 tablespoons of the roasted red pepper sauce on a plate and swirl to form a circle.
Add 3-4 tablespoons of quinoa, a 1/4 or 1/2 of the roasted cauliflower.
Top with a couple of tablespoons of chimichurri and a tablespoon of the hazelnut dukkah.
Sweet potato, chickpea & spinach curry
Curries, especially curry pastes are a great opportunity to top up on nutrients.
Rather than go for a shop-bought version, try blending a few ingredients together to form that flavour paste.
It is the easiest thing to do and you’ll get way more nutrients out of it.
Plus blending everything together is a good opportunity to hide vegetables if you aren’t keen on them.
This mild and fragrant curry combines turmeric, ginger, garlic and green pepper in the paste with sweet coconut milk, sweet potato and chickpeas.
It works well with chicken instead of chickpeas too. In fact, beyond the curry paste and coconut milk, you can virtually include any ingredient.
Ingredients to feed 2
1 large sweet potato, peeled & cubed
1 tin of chickpeas
1 tin of full fat coconut milk
100g of spinach
1 green pepper, roughly chopped
Thumb size piece of ginger, peeled & roughly chopped
2x turmeric root, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 chilli (optional)
Fresh coriander & black rice to serve
Sea salt & black pepper to season
Oil for cooking
Method:
Pop a frying pan on a medium heat. Add a splash of oil & the cubed sweet potato.
Whilst the sweet potato is cooking, make the curry paste by blending the pepper, onion, ginger, turmeric, garlic & chilli with a splash of water until smooth.
Pour the curry paste over the sweet potato and cook for a couple of minutes until thickened.
Season well then add the coconut milk.
Let it bubble on a medium heat until the sweet potato is cooked.
Stir in the chickpeas and spinach.
Season again and cook just enough for the spinach to wilt.
Serve with black rice & fresh coriander.