Raw for a Day

Raw Courgette Pappardelle with Tomato, Pepper, Basil and Pine Nut Sauce

There's a lot of buzz around at the moment about eating a raw food diet. Eating raw invoves eating raw, unprocessed (preferably organic) vegan foods that have not been heated above 42C so that the live enzymes in the foods are retained.

Going raw is said to increase energy, improve the appearance of skin, aid digestion, assist weight loss and reduce the risk of heart disease.

Personally I'm not wanting to go raw full time right now but I am enjoying having at least one day a week where I am eating only raw foods. I've already found that by going raw for a day, I've upped the amount of these nutritious foods in my diet during the rest of the week too - out of habit and because I've discovered some new things that I don't want to wait until my raw day to enjoy.

As I'm only eating raw once a week, I have so far kept it very simple eating fruit, raw veg, seeds and nuts on their own or in the form of salads with the very occasional more inventive dish such as raw courgette pappardelle with a raw tomato, pepper and basil sauce topped with pine nuts. But over the next few weeks and months I'll be experimenting with some more adventurous raw meals..

King Prawn Dhansak

Dhansak is originally a Persian curry. I don't think this is a very authentic version - I've tweaked the recipe over the years and added king prawns (you could use chicken, or add veggies instead for a vegetarian dish). But it is full of gorgeous flavours, foolproof and so tasty.

Ingredients (Serves 4)
200g lentils
3 garlic cloves, crushed
3cm piece ginger, finely grated
2 onions, finely diced
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
400g tin chopped tomatoes
400g raw king prawns
2 tbsp mango chutney
A handful of roughly chopped coriander leaves

Bring the lentils to the boil in a saucepan with a litre of water, cover and simmer for 20-25 mins until the lentils are soft.

Blitz the ginger, garlic and a little water to make a paste. Heat some oil in a pan (I use a generous amount of coconut oil), add the onions stirring until lightly browned then add the ginger and garlic paste and spices.

After 2-3 minutes tip the cooked lentils into the pan, add the tomatoes and leave to simmer for about 5 minutes.

Stir in the king prawns and mango chutney. When all of the prawns have turned pink, take off the heat and stir in the coriander leaves.

Serve with chapattis, rice or cauliflower rice, get your curry fix knowing you are having a really healthy meal.

Muffins for Everyone!

I first made these muffins for a vegan friend of mine and her (also vegan) young daughter. For all of us to be able to eat them they needed to be egg free, dairy free, sugar free (for the babies) and free from regular wheat flour (for me as I'm quite sensitive to it) ...a bit of a challenge..

However, with a bit of tweaking I came up with these little beauties which have now become a bit of a favourite in our house.

Not only do they not contain any of the above, they are secretly packed full of a whole load of good stuff and have a lovely sweet, slightly gooey consistency.

Healthy food in disguise...

Ingredients
200g spelt flour (or whatever flour you prefer to use)
75g oats
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3-4 overripe bananas (depending on how big they are)
120g unsweetened apple sauce
120ml milk of your choice (I used almond milk)
1 finely grated organic carrot
A good handful of blueberries
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 170C.

Stir together the flour, oats, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon.

In another bowl, mash the bananas well and then stir in the apple sauce, milk, carrot, blueberries, lemon juice and vanilla extract.

Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture and stir until it is all combined together.

Divide the batter evenly into muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes.


These also freeze well and are ready to eat after a 10-20 second blast in the microwave.




They get the thumbs up from Willem!

Japanese Inspired Poached Salmon

I'm a massive sushi fan, but raw fish isn't everyone's thing and this simple salad is a tasty alternative which incorporates some of those lovely sushi flavours.

I prefer to poach the fish in advance and eat it cold, but you could also serve it warm.

Ingredients (Serves 4)
4 Salmon fillets, skin on
A handful of pickled ginger
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
4tbsp coconut cream
4 tsp wasabi

Preheat the oven to 140C.

Place your salmon pieces skin side up on a sheet of foil which has been lightly brushed with a little oil.

Wrap into a parcel and cook in the oven for 30-45 minutes (depending on the size of your fillets), checking them from time to time until they are pale pink throughout. Remove the skin and set aside to cool.

To make the wasabi cream, simply stir the wasabi paste into the coconut cream.

Once the salmon has cooled, place each fillet on a bed of leaves, spread with the wasabi cream and top with pickled ginger and toasted sesame seeds.

Beetroot Hummus

I often make basic hummus but today I decided to add a couple of fresh beetroot seeing as they are in season at the moment.

This produced a lovely sweet flavour, not to mention a very pretty coloured hummus.

Ingredients:

400g tinned chickpeas , drained
2 fresh beetroot, peeled & boiled until soft
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Juice of 1 lemon
90ml olive oil
4 tbsp tahini

Cut the cooked beetroot into quarters and whiz all the ingredients into a thick paste.

Enjoy with raw vegetable crudités or with some crunchy salad in a pitta bread.

Thai Green Chicken Curry

Making your own curry paste is so worth it, no shop bought version quite lives up to a homemade paste in my opinion. Don't be put off by the amount of ingredients, you can easily pick all of them up in a decent sized supermarket and it only takes a couple of minutes to make. I make larger quantities of paste and freeze some in portion sizes so that I have a very quick mid-week meal on standby with only a few extra ingredients to add.

I'm using chicken but you can substitue with Quorn/Tofu/Prawns and adjust the cooking times for these if you prefer.

Ingredients (Serves 4)
For the Paste:
4 lemongrass stalks (outer leaves removed)
4-6 green chillies
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
A 5cm piece of ginger
2 shallots, peeled and chopped
4 tablespoons fresh coriander
The zest and juice of a lime
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp group coriander
1 tbsp of Thai fish sauce
A small handful of coriander leaves
A handful of basil leaves

For the Curry:
500g chicken breast or thigh, skinned, boned and diced
Groundnut oil/sunflower oil
A red pepper, sliced
A handful of green beans, trimmed and cut in half
400ml tin of coconut milk (use the light version to cut out 250 calories if you prefer)
400ml chicken stock
8 kaffir lime leaves
1tbsp Thai fish sauce

To make the curry paste, slice the lemongrass and add it to all the other paste ingredients then whiz it into a thick paste.

For the curry, heat the oil in a pan, add the chicken pieces and gently colour them on each side.

Meanwhile, pour the coconut milk and stock, lime leaves, fish sauce plus 4 heaped tablespoons of the paste into a saucepan.

Bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the sliced pepper and green beans to the wok with the chicken in and stir in a further tablespoon of the paste. Add the sauce from the saucepan and simmer for a further 5-10 minutes.

Serve with rice and sprinkle with a few fresh torn coriander leaves and an extra sliced chilli if like me you like it with a bit of a kick.