Warm Hummus Bowl

Yes, warm hummus as a base for meals is a thing and yes it is super tasty.
Here is why I utterly adore this recipe:
- The warm hummus base provides a good dose of plant-based protein
- You can use up any veggies that are past their best for the topping. Just roast them up.
- It’s a bowl of goodness that’s utterly brimming with nutrients. A friend once described it as ‘you can feel the goodness filling up your body with every mouthful’.
- The price per portion is definitely on the very affordable end of the scale. Aka it is very cheap to make.

Feel free to use shop-bought hummus if you are short on time but I do think it’s worth making the fresh version featured here. The spices used give the homemade version a little something extra.

Ingredients for 2 portions:

For the hummus
1 tin of chickpeas, drained but the water reserved
2 teaspoons of tahini
2 tablespoons of oil (i.e. olive oil, rapeseed oil or sunflower oil)
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
1/2 a teaspoon of cumin seeds
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Salt & pepper

For the topping
This part is entirely your choice, here is what I went with:
Any vegetables for roasting: I used a mix of red onion, butternut squash and cauliflower
Potatoes - simply cube and boil these then pan fry them using some garlic, paprika, smoked paprika, sea salt and black pepper
Salad veggies: I went with lettuce, parsley & cucumber dressed with olive oil and lemon juice but anything goes
Pickles if they are your thing: I went with some pickled rose petals but only because I was testing this recipe for a retreat and it needed to have something fancy. Pickled beetroot or pickled gherkins will do the trick just as well.
The toppings aim to bring elements of sweetness (roasted veggies & potatoes) and elements of sour (the lemon juice on the salad and the pickles) as well as working with different textures (think crunchy salad and soft potatoes). Aiming for this variety makes everything taste good.

Method:
Roast your veggies & boil some potatoes.
Chop up the salad vegetables.
To make the hummus, put a small saucepan on a medium heat.
Add the oil and sliced garlic. Cook for 1 minute.
Add the cumin seeds and coriander and cook for a further minute. The oil should be very fragrant.
Set the oil aside to cool slightly.
Put the chickpeas, 1/3 of the chickpea water, tahini and lemon juice in a blender.
Season with two very good pinches of sea salt and a generous amount of black pepper.
Pour in the warm oil and spices.
Blend the hummus until it is smooth, adding a bit more of the chickpea water if needed.
Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if required.
Transfer the hummus to a saucepan and gently warm through. You don’t want it to boil, merely to take on some of the heat.
Divide the hummus between two bowls and top it with the roasted veggies, salad and potatoes.
Enjoy!

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!

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.

Roasted vegetable pasta sauce

If you haven’t yet heard me harp on about how we should be eating more vegetables then here it is: we should be eating more vegetables, at least 10 portions of veg a day in fact.
It’s totally doable but I recognise some of you may be slightly fussier eaters or at least have to cook for fussy eaters.
So here is your solution: lots of roasted vegetables disguised in a delicious pasta sauce.
This recipe is also great to use up veggies that are past their best, or those half peppers that are lurking in the back of the fridge.

Please note: whilst super high in nutrients, this recipe does lack protein, so either use a protein pasta or top with protein such as some cheese or a cooked chicken breast.

Ingredients to feed 4:
1/2 aubergine, cut into chunks
1 small courgette, thickly sliced
1 red onion, roughly chopped
1 stick of celery, roughly chopped
1/2 - 1 pepper of any colour, roughly chopped
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled but left whole
a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme
200g of passata (or chopped tomato)
100g sundried tomato
Sea salt and black pepper to season
Rapeseed oil for roasting
Pasta to serve
A handful of fresh basil (optional)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Pop all of the veggies, apart from the passata & sundried tomatoes, on a roasting tray.
Drizzle with rapeseed oil, season with a pinch of sea salt and scatter over the thyme.
Stir to combine and roast for 30 minutes until the vegetables are cooked.
Cook the pasta according to packet instructions and drain, reserving a couple of tablespoons of the pasta water.
To make the sauce, transfer the roasted veggies to a blender whilst still hot, add the passata and sundried tomatoes, around 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt and lots of black pepper.
Blend until it is completely smooth.
Check the seasoning and add more if needed.
Combine the pasta, sauce and pasta water, stir well then divide between plates.
Serve with a few fresh basil leaves scattered over the top.

The sauce freezes well, just freeze it before adding the pasta.