Up for a challenge?

Over the last few years I have been changing my diet to try to solve my dairy and yeast intolerance, but both have persisted. Mind you, the more I find out about milk and dairy products, the less I want it anyway, but that's another post. Since August, I have been mainly eating a plant-based whole food diet in order to heal my gut, as I really want to be able to eat bread and drink wine again at some point in the future!
This has involved a change to the way I eat, but I have to say I feel great. Apart from clearer skin and less bloating, the chronic itching that I've suffered from for years has disappeared, which is amazing - and a relief!!! Certainly an unexpected bonus. I've managed a glass (actually it was 3!!) of wine one night with limited after effects but as yet haven't been brave enough to try bread, even though I am longing for a thick chunky slice of a rustic seedy loaf. The last time I ate a roll, I had a migraine for three days afterwards, so it's a risky business.

It's not been too difficult changing to a plant based wholefood diet - it just needs some planning and the right frame of mind. It's not what you're missing out on, but what you're gaining - a whole new way of eating that makes you feel great. The research is out there that people who eat this way have lower rates of heart disease, hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes, obesity, arthritis, cancer, asthma, stomach problems, skin problems, joint pains and psychological problems. I've just finished reading The China Study by Colin Campbell, an eminent scientist in the US; it's packed full of research which shows that the western diet is responsible for so many chronic diseases which blight the lives of millions of people. It also shows how food can not only prevent these diseases from developing, but can also reverse the process and lead people back to good health - something nigh on unheard of when managed through orthodox treatments. I mean, once a diabetic, always, right?
Dr Neal Barnard, an American doctor has established a reversing diabetes programme. This same programme works for other chronic health problems, either to treat, or prevent. For those in India, there is a free 21 day kickstart programme starting on Monday 5th November. So if you're up for the challenge and fancy seeing how your health can be changed purely eating a different way, check out this link and register - remember it's free!!! http://www.21daykickstartindia.org. There are some cooking videos featuring Dr Nandita Shah. The cooking demo I wrote about recently was run by her and I was lucky enough to have dinner cooked by her a few weeks ago - it was delicious!!!
There is a non-Indian food programme you can follow too which would be easier if you're living outside the country or prefer western style food - http://pcrm.org/kickstartHome/index.cfm.
Go on, give it a try - what have you got to lose?

Tomato power!

Natural food products are constantly under investigation by scientists - and often the large corporations that fund them - to find the next superfood, the key to health or a particular chemical that can be claimed to be discovered and then patented. One of the latest studies to hit the headlines is about tomatoes, or rather the lycopene found in them. Published in Neurology magazine this month (the abstract can be found at http://www.neurology.org/content/79/15/1540.abstract if you're interested!), a group of scientists in Finland monitored over 1000 men for 12 years and found the risk of stroke was cut by 55% in those with the highest blood levels of lycopene.  That's pretty impressive!
Lycopene has already been heralded as a hero with evidence that it can help prevent or slow the growth of certain cancers, particularly prostate cancer. There are even tomatoes that have been bred to have double the amount of lycopene, and no doubt sold at a premium price! (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4896026.stm).

Lycopene is a carotenoid, a phytochemical that gives the red pigment to some fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, watermelon, red bell peppers and papaya, but sadly not strawberries or cherries! It's a powerful antioxidant that soaks up free radicals roaming around the body. These great anti oxidant properties have been connected to improving conditions such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis and now stroke. Free radicals are also associated with the ageing process, so hopefully if they are mopped up by lycopene, youthful skin will follow (maybe!).
The percentage of lycopene in red fruit and vegetables increases as it ripens. In fact, the lycopene content of tomatoes has been shown to increase and become more bioavailable when processed. This includes tinned tomatoes and manufactured tomato products such as pasta sauce and ketchup. This is great for food companies, some of whom are sponsoring ongoing research into the beneficial effects of ketchup. Unfortunately, from a purely nutritional point of view, this causes some other problems; the tinning process increases the sodium content of tomatoes and most sauces and ketchups have lots of added sugar, salt and preservatives, so not so good for overall health. And of course the supplement industry has seen an opportunity and you can buy lycopene tablets, but are these really necessary?
Tomatoes as a whole food contain lots of other goodies including potassium and vitamin C which tend to be lost when processed and heated, along with B vitamins, beta-carotene (the precursor to vitamin A) and of course has fibre and no cholesterol, all good reasons to eat them in their natural form, a fantastic whole food in a healthy diet.
Personally, I love to roast tomatoes with onion, a little olive oil and some garlic, then when cooked blitz them all together and reheat either as a sauce or add some vegetable stock to make a delicious tomato soup. When we first came to India, it was quite hard to find tinned tomatoes or tomato sauces that were suitable for someone with food intolerance - milk turns up in the strangest of things! So I had to get used to using the real thing, and found this to be the best way - the roasting concentrates the flavour and the blitzing increases the bioavailability of the lycopene without adding lots of nasty extras.

Interestingly, watermelon contains more lycopene than tomatoes, but also a higher water content, so you would need to eat a larger amount. It's not as easily available in the west as tomatoes though, although over here in India, it so easy to find - and cheap - and works great as a base for smoothies.
Of course, the real message in this latest research is that fruit and vegetables are good for us! Eating a full range of produce provides us with all the nutrients we need to stay healthy - as long as they are in their wholefood form. If we only ate red pigmented vegetables then not only would we miss out on all the other antioxidants and nutrients available, in the long run the pigment could become concentrated in our skin and as much as I love tomatoes, I don't really want to look like one!
Interesting tomato fact (well I found it interesting!!)
Apparently, a whole tomato has no flavour; that only comes by biting, cutting or cooking it. Carefully extracted tomato liquid has no taste. Biting into the fruit releases an enzyme that breaks down larger molecules into smaller ones and gives it the flavour. This enzyme reacts differently when cut crossways, so they will have more flavour sliced.

Green gunge - but it's good for you!!!

One of my dear friends recently lost loads of weight by following a juicing diet. I was sceptical at first -  how couldjust drinking juice be good for you. It may be full of vitamins and minerals, but what about the fibre and surely you get too hungry (I like my food fairly solid!) and end up bingeing? But she practically glowed with good health as she dropped 2 dress sizes, so there must be something to it.

Hak growing by the roadside

Health, whether good or bad, comes from the food we put in to our bodies. Juicing provides extra shots of vital goodies to help our bodies deal with the constant stresses and toxins we are exposed to, both external and internal, although I believe in the long run it's best to eat the whole food rather than just the juicy parts.
Our bodies know what we need if we learn to listen to it. Since living in India, I have craved green leaves which must mean I'm low in B vitamins, iron or calcium (not sure which) and have even been known to stir fry cauliflower leaves that are usually discarded just because green leaves are hard to come by. On my recent trip to Kashmir, I came across hak which is grown locally in Srinigar. It's similar to kale and I couldn't get enough of it and begged the hotel to serve it to me at every meal, it was so gorgeous. It was sautéed in water along with mustard oil, Kashmiri red chilli, salt and a little local masala, or seasoning. Occasionally a little spicy, it's deep rich green flavours were just divine!
After attending a healthy eating cooking seminar a few months ago, I discovered green smoothies. Made up of 60% fruit and 40% green leaves, they really are quite delicious and leave you feeling revitalised and full of energy - that's after you've managed to get your head around the fact that the green gunge in the glass is actually something you want to ingest! Spinach is pretty easy to come by here; the little organic grocers stocks some beautifully green bunches, leaves not too big. It tastes pretty strong, much more so than the lovely baby leaves you can by in the supermarkets in the UK, so it's green hard core from the off. Called palak, it's not traditionally eaten raw here - my maid was horrified to find out I ate uncooked leaves, and surprised to find out I lived to tell the tale!
Green smoothies can be made with any green leaf as it's base - spinach, celery or beetroot tops even mint. The key is to vary your intake and not have them every day - raw green leaves contain oxalic acid. Consuming large amounts of oxalic acid can be toxic (you would need a lot of greens every day for this to happen). It binds to metals, such as iron, making it unavailable for absorption in to the body. This therefore means that spinach isn't a great source of iron in the diet, despite what Popeye might say. However, vitamin C enhances iron absorption, so matching spinach with lemon for example counteracts the negative effects of oxalic acid. And green leaves are an amazing source of vitamin B, calcium and magnesium to name a few.
I've featured my favourite green smoothie combination, but you can make up whatever you like. Grind the green leaves in the blender first before adding the other ingredients as the cellulose in the cell walls takes some time to break down.
Spinach, watermelon and banana smoothie

Handful of spinach leaves, thoroughly washed
Big chunk of watermelon
2 small ripe bananas or 1 medium
juice of sweet lime
flaxseed powder (if you want an omega 3 shot).
Place the spinach in the blender and blast on full power until the leaves are broken and mushy. Add in the fruit and juice and blast again until everything is incorporated and fluid - this may take up to 2 minutes depending on the speed of your blender. Sprinkle in flaxseed powder if you are using it and whizz again for a moment. Poor into a glass, close your eyes and deceive your brain as you knock it back. I managed to get my son to try it despite his dubious face - he actually admitted it tasted good but preferred his fresh pineapple juice as it looked more normal!

Vegetable coconut stew and why brown rice really is best

Living in South India is a food adventure; there are so many types of dishes, snacks, fruits and vegetables that I've never seen or heard about before. In particular, there's a whole array of breakfast dishes that I love and eat any time of the day, which may be frowned upon by my Indian friends, but I still struggle with the concept of curry for breakfast! It's very different to coco pops or toast.

Appam

One of my favourites is a vegetable stew, a fantastic vegan dish, which hails from Kerala, so of course it contains my number one ingredient - coconut. It's not spicy but has a wonderful subtle flavour that still warms the tummy and tempts the tongue. It's also unusual to have such a white stew with the colours of the vegetable just coming through. I think it looks lovely although I have a friend who it just upsets - he thinks it looks all wrong!! Traditionally it's served with appams, a type of pancake made from rice and coconut. Preparing the appam mixture is a long process that involves lots of soaking, grinding and fermenting - even the ready made mixture requires 10 hours of soaking so I've only ever eaten them in a restaurant, not made them at home. It's a shame they're so complicated though, as they are really delicious to taste. Cooked in a small pan, it's shaped like a bowl which then holds the stew.
Instead of appams, I serve the stew with rice, which still tastes great but has a different texture/taste combination.  I used to cook white rice, just because it seemed quicker and there's always more choice on the supermarket shelves. Brown rice has a bad image; historically only eaten by the poor and more recently by bowel obsessed hippies. But the thing is, the poor and hippies were definitely getting the better deal. Nutritionally, white rice has the same carbohydrate and calorie content, but that's as far as the similarities go. Brown rice retains the bran and germ layers - these contain the minerals and vitamins which would be used by the starchy endosperm beneath if left to grow. White rice has both these layers removed and is then polished, which removes the bran oil. This is good at reducing LDL fats. Plus these layers contain most of the nutritious goodies such as vitamin B1, B3,B6,  iron, selenium and magnesium. White rice stores better than brown, but that really is it's main advantage other than cooking quickly. Eating it actually uses up the body's stores of vitamins and minerals rather than replenishing them.
I now buy organic brown basmati rice and soak it before I want to cook it. It takes a little more planning but cooking is then fairly easy.You need a minimum of 30 minutes soaking. This can leach out the nutritious goodies though, so the best thing to do is quickly rinse the rice under a running tap, then place in a bowl and add the water - one cup of rice, 2 cups of water. Once you're ready to cook, pour the rice and water altogether into the saucepan, put on the lid and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer. Most of the nutrients in the water will then be absorbed back in to the rice as it cooks. With the lid on, the water goes in to the rice rather than be evaporated and once it's all absorbed, it should be ready to eat - slightly firm and nutty.
Vegetable coconut stew recipe - serves 4 (or 3 if there's 2 hungry boys nearby!)

1 tsp oil

2 - 4 green cardamom pods, depending on how much you like the flavour
cinnamon stick
1 sliced onion
2 tsp chopped fresh ginger
Green chillies, sliced - this will determine your heat (see below)
2 potatoes
1 -  2 carrots
big handful green beans
peas or sweetcorn (optional)
1 sprig curry leaves
approx 200 mls coconut milk
ground pepper - white if you have it
salt
water
To be super duper healthy, scrub the potato and carrot and boil them until nearly cooked. Steam the green beans. Retain the cooking water from both. Chop the vegetables into bite-sized pieces.
Heat the oil and fry the cardamom pods and cinnamon until the aromas are released then add the onion, ginger and chilli and cook until softened. Add in the cooked vegetables and fry for a few more minutes so they absorb the flavours in the pan (you can put in raw veg at this point and fry, then cook, but I find the coconut milk splits and spoils, hence why I cook them first). Add peas and/or sweetcorn if you're using them and pour in some of the retained vegetable water, curry leaves and stir in most of the coconut milk so you have a fairly fluid stew. Leave to simmer for 5 minutes or so, but watch it so the milk doesn't split. Add in the pepper, a pinch of salt and finish with the last of the coconut milk so it's lovely and white.
Interesting facts about green chillis:
I like a mild chilli flavour, but am not at all a fan of a strong, burn-the-lining-of-your-mouth sensation that you can get with some. The problem is you never know quite how strong a chilli is going to be. Obviously there are different types of chillis, and ones like the birds eye chilli is known to be a head blower. So it's really down to taste and pot luck how much chilli you put in a dish. For this one, I used two as my son was eating and does not like a spicy flavour - just sliced down the middle and the seeds removed, leaving 4 halves to permeate their flavour through the stew.
Chillis are actually remarkably good for you, being high in beta carotene, vitamins B, C (six times more than an orange) and E as well as iron and potassium.  The active chemical, capsaicin, that gives chillis their heat has many health benefits including dissolving blood clots, treating wrinkles and facial twitching and can burn calories by increasing your metabolism. It also releases endorphins that can relieve pain and put you in a good mood - it's an active ingredient of some arthritis treatments and creams.
So next time your mouth is on fire, your nose running and steam is coming out of your ears, remember it's good for you and enjoy!!!

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Frangipane vegan style

There is a fabulous, award winning vegetarian restaurant in Brighton, UK - Terre a Terre - that serves the most gorgeous food; a perfect treat for my daughter and me. Not used to having a wide choice when we go out to restuarants, the first time we went it took a while to order as we were both flummoxed by the range of food on offer. The drinks are pretty special too - rhubarb gin and tonic is heavenly!!
So often desserts are a no no for me, even in a vegetarian restaurant, as dairy products are usually one of the key ingrediants. I was seriously excited at Terre a Terre to find there was a proper vegan pudding on the menu, and not a dull fruit salad in sight. "Frangipane sizzle dates with mint tea granita and lemon and mint pomegranite gazpacho." It made my mouth water just reading it; the taste was incredible with a mixture of sweet and sour flavours popping on my tongue and the ice cold granita refreshing after the intensely sweet warm dates and frangipane.
The memory of that dessert has been haunting me over the last few months - I just had to try and recreate it. Normally, frangipane is made of butter, eggs, sugar, ground almonds and flour, not good for people with food allergies of all types. Whilst this is a no go for anyone with a nut allergy, the recipe I found is pretty much free from most other problem ingrediants. Cornflour in theory should be gluten free, but always check the labels as sometimes wheat or wheat products are added. Bleaching agents are sometimes added in Indian cornflour too, so chose a reputable brand.
Vegan frangipane

60g dairy free spread
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 1/4 cups ground almonds
3 tbspoons cornflour
pinch salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
few drops almond essence
2 tbspoons non-dairy milk
Mix the caster sugar, ground almonds, cornflour and salt together in a bowl and rub in the dairy free spread. Add vanilla extract and almond essence. The mixture should be quite dry and crumbly.
Add the non-dairy milk and combine to make a stiff paste.
That's it!
I attempted to reproduce the gorgeous date and frangipane dessert but without all the necessary accompaniments it didn't have the same taste sensation. It was good, but not that good nor yet ready to share! There was frangipane mixture left over, and not wanting to waste it and always looking for a pudding treat, I decided to try and make pear and frangipane tarts. I made a sweet pastry using the recipe already posted on this blog, adding in a little caster sugar and baked it blind at 180oC for 10 minutes or so until the pastry became a little firmer. I then filled the case half full with the frangipane mix and topped it with slices of tinned pears - cheating I know but fresh pears are hard to come by, and hard to eat! Popping the tarts back in to the oven to bake for another 15 minutes, they were ready.  Finished off with a little sprinkle of icing sugar, I have to say they were really good. Not bad for a vegan, free from treat!

Green goodies

There's a lovely little organic grocery store close to home. Buying fresh organic produce is quite a challenge here in Bangalore, partly because demand hasn't been particularly high and I think because a lot of the farms have been replaced by concrete as the city rapidly expands at the edges. The weather also plays a massive role in the quality and quantity of goods available; the summer months were too hot and the produce suffered greatly.
Delivery day is Friday afternoon and I have finally sussed the time to go; yesterday the baskets were stacked high with glorious green leaves, herbs, fresh brightly blushing tomatoes, massive fresh carrots and even bunches of perky celery. So often, celery, if available at all, lies on the shelf sad and stringy, wilted from lack of water and impossible to eat. I packed my basket high with fresh goodies, and returned home, mouth watering and mind overflowing with ideas for tea.
Out of all the food items that are difficult to come by here, the one thing I crave more than anything else  (including chocolate!) is greens. It must be my body telling me it needs more B vitamins! So last night, the green veg won and I knocked up a incredibly easy couscous salad heaped with greens and herbs.
On the scale of healthy wholefoods, couscous doesn't rate too well. Actually a form of semolina derived from wheat, it's steamed and then dried, forming little granules. No good for those who are gluten-free. It only takes 5 minutes to prepare, so it must be pretty well processed; this removes much of the beneficial vitamins and minerals available in the wheat germ, but it is still a good source of selenium (43mcg) and potassium and pretty low in fat, so not bad really. Quinoa or brown rice would be healthier options.

So what went in to the salad? First, I prepared the couscous according to the packet instructions - added boiling water, a pinch of salt, covered the bowl and left it alone for 5 minutes. Once cooled, it needed fluffing up with a fork then combined with lightly steamed broccoli and green beans, mint, coriander, beetroot leaves, cucumber and spring onions for the greens. For a little sweetness, I added some dried apricots and finished it off with some sliced almonds for an extra crunch and a dash of extra virgin olive oil. Seriously yummy! Oh, by the way, beetroot leaves are one of the best sources of beta-carotene, the precursor to vitamin A and so excellent for eye health.

Sacks of dried fruit and nuts - Kashmir

Dried fruit can be a problem for some people with a food allergy or intolerance, due to the sulphites added as a preservative - it's not used in organic products which is why they tend to be a darker brown/orange colour, and not so appealing. Dried apricots tend to have the highest levels of sulphites and can give rise to asthma or other respiratory problems.
The apricots and almonds I used come from Kashmir; I bought them from a market stall on a trip to Srinigar back in June and they are incredible. The fruit in Kashmir is amazing - deeply flavour apricots, peaches, cherries; tree fruits you just can't buy down in Southern India. The intensity and sweetness just burst onto the tongue and I was like a little kid in a sweet shop so excited to find these natural goodies. The dried apricots are equally intense in flavour and sweetness, and are dried naturally out in the sun, no additive required. Eating them in the salad brought back great memories of an amazing trip, so feeding my soul as well as my body!

Tastebud tales

There's a BBC Radio 4 Podcast called the Kitchen Cabinet that I listen to in the gym, a kind of foodie question time. It's full of fun facts and anecdotes about all sorts of food, and makes me laugh out loud less than Friday Night Comedy, which always leads to strange looks as I cackle away to myself on the treadmill!
On one recent episode, Peter Barham, the programmes resident food science expert, talked about tastebuds, and I discovered that what I was taught at school was completely wrong.

I was taught that the taste buds are grouped together on specific parts of the tongue, each area either sensitive to sweet, salt, sour or bitter. But that's so last century! For a start there are now 5 recognised flavours - the previous 4 and umami, a savoury sensation, like Parmesan cheese. Some scientists are suggesting that fat is also a recognised flavour and I guess there may be more yet to be identified.
It's now been recognised that our taste buds are scattered over the tongue, not grouped in one specific area - and this makes sense. Many poisonous foods and substances have a bitter flavour, so this is a protective mechanism as too bitter and we want to spit it out. Having bitter grouped at the back of the tongue as illustrated in my school days diagram would have been pointless, as by the time the offending substance was tasted it would have been half way to being ingested.
As with so many things in life, everyone tastes and experiences flavours so very differently. And it's not only the density of tastebuds, but also smell, sight, texture and memories that influence the sensations that tingle our tongues. Apparently about 10% of people have a high density of tastebuds which makes them 'supertasters', perfect for a job in a chocolate factory!
Taste is yet another of the body's amazing information channels. The tastebuds send signals to the brain telling it what to expect ie: sweet flavour means there's some carbohydrates on the way, and so the brain tells the body how to respond appropriately. There's an increase in salivary secretions, low levels of secretions in the stomach in anticipation and insulin is released to deal with the newly arrived sugar.
Also, the more we have of a flavour, the more we need to keep the same level of taste. So if you load your food with salt, you will gradually need more and more to produce the same level of flavour. Cutting out salt for a mere 2 weeks completely changes this. In the short term, food will taste quite bland, but once you reintroduce it again, you'll only need a tiny amount to get the salty taste you require.
This new tastebud knowledge got me thinking about food intolerance and having to cut things out of your diet. People have said to me "how can you manage without milk, or butter, or sticky toffee pudding? I don't think I could stop eating those things." Dairy certainly produces some wonderful flavours. I realised I don't really miss them. In fact I don't know if I'd even like them any more as my taste have definitely changed, particularly with sweet. I used to trough the puddings quite happily, the sweeter and gooier the better, but now deserts taste too sweet to me and I seem to prefer the natural flavours of fruit or cut right down on the sugar if making cakes. Plus, if taste includes memories and associations, I equate dairy with having migraines and feeling rotten, and I certainly don't miss that sensation!

Cocoloco

I love coconut. My love affair with that wonderful deep, sweet flavour started with my first Bounty bar and has continued ever since. In the days when I consumed milk, I would always chose coconut ice cream or frappe, or anything coconut flavoured, unless strawberry was on offer. Living in South India is ideal for me as coconuts are everywhere! It's a key ingredient in local dishes, and of course it's dairy free.

Coconut, and coconut trees, have so many different uses. According to The Coconut Research Centre, about one third of the world's population rely on coconut to some extent for food or income. The insides of coconuts are used in cooking, for health and skincare, but the shell, leaves and wood from the tree all have different uses too. The compound I live in has a whole area dotted with trees which provide lovely shady areas and a batch of highly sought after nuts. Some even grow in peoples garden, which can actually be quite hazardous as if the nuts fall before they can be harvested, they will damage your roof and certainly your head if one lands on you. There are many internet claims that falling coconuts kill 10 times more people a year than sharks (150) but I don't think there are any solid statistics.

According to legend, coconuts, or coco nucifera, were given their name by 15^th century explorers. The brown fibrous outer shell with three indentations were said to remind them of a monkey’s face (coco). Nucifera means “milk bearing”.  The mature nut is protected by a dense fibrous husk, 2-3 cms thick, which can be quite challenging to open up. There are machines which will open your nut and remove the meat inside, but I prefer to use the unusual kitchen tools of hammer and screwdriver or smash them outside onto the paving - great stress remover!

In India, coconut is consumed at two different stages of maturity - tender coconuts, young green nuts that are sold by street vendors for the water inside, and the mature, brown husk covered nut that are more familiar in Western countries, often found on the coconut shy at a summer fete. It's the meat from the mature nut that is used to make coconut milk - the milk doesn't come from the fluid inside but the flesh, or meat, which is scraped out, ground and then strained to extract the white fluid. Due to its fat content, when put in the fridge, the milk separates with a thinner milk lying underneath and a top layer of cream. 
If you can't get your hands on a tin of coconut milk, or prefer to make your own fresh, it's really easy. All you need break open a coconut and remove the flesh with a sharp knife - a thin brown layer of husk will come out too but that's ok. Grind some of the meat - fill the grinder about half full. When all finely chopped up, add half a cup of warm water and grind again until the coconut is all mixed up with the water. Pass this through a fine sieve or muslin cloth (or fine weave tea towel) and squeeze out as much milk as you can. Put the fibre back into the grinder and add a bit more water and repeat the process, just to get as much milk out as possible. Once fully squeezed, discard the fibre - you could use it for a facial scrub I guess (not tried that out tho').

Coconut meat, and therefore the milk, does have quite a high fat content (27g per 100g), but it's a mixture of saturated, mono-unsaturated and omega 6 fatty acids. There is no cholesterol though, as this is only found in animal fats. Fat in coconut is in the form of medium chain fatty acids; these are easier to break down and can actually help reduce cholesterol levels. Lauric acid is the main fatty acid in the chain, a fantastic immune booster and an anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial agent.

Coconut meat is also great for the digestion as it’s high in fibre and can help reduce constipation, flatulence and stomach ulcers and can help stabilise blood sugar levels. It’s also a natural source of iodine and therefore can help support thyroid function as well as protect the body against cancer, osteoporosis and pancreatic disorders.

You can buy dried coconut milk powder but beware if you have a milk allergy as most of the brands I have seen also contain dried dairy milk. The freeze drying process would also knock out most of the nutritional benefits as well, so I would avoid those if at all possible. Wholefood and raw food diets advocate using fresh ground coconut as a fat or oil replacement as you can all the benefits, including the fibre, without needing to add extra oil. Try this South East Asian style salad and see what you think, although not if you have a peanut allergy!

Cucumber salad with peanuts and coconut (serves 4 big portions)
1 -2 cucumbers, depending where you live - one long English style or 2 shorter Indian style
3-4 tablespoons fresh grated coconut
3-4 tablespoons roasted peanuts (unsalted) crushed
juice 1/2 lime
salt to taste
finely chopped green chillis - depending on how hot you like it
dash of jaggery, or raw brown sugar
chopped fresh coriander
Mix all the ingredients except coriander together, adjusting the sugar, lime and salt to taste and garnish with the coriander.
Enjoy!

The best carrot cake ever!

When I was a teenager, I had a job during the summer holidays at a small local whole foods cafe. It was simple but all freshly made; baked potatoes, salads, soups and cakes. I'm not sure if this was the start of my interest in healthy food but it certainly was the beginning of one of the loves of my life - carrot cake! Now, carrot cake is one of those 'pretend it's healthy' sweet treats. Even if you make it with wholemeal flour or all organic ingredients, it's packed full of sugar still, but hey, it's got carrots in it so it's got to be good for you! The carrot cake at the cafe was amazing - but it was a secret recipe and I just couldn't get the women who owned the cafe to share it with me.
After I left home and moved to London, my love of carrot cake reached a new level when I discovered the Cranks restaurant that used to be upstairs in Covent Garden, a dark and mysterious place that enticed you in with mouth watering aromas and served fabulous vegetarian food on beige hippy style natural pottery plates. They too had amazing carrot cake - and a cookery book. I still have that book, and its crumpled torn pages and broken spine mark it's over use. It even came out to India!

I have made this cake so many times over the years, and it never goes wrong. And what's even better, it's dairy free, so I can make my cake and still eat it! Butter cream or cream cheese frostings are out these days; just haven't found a reasonable replacement to date. I think it tastes better plain anyway.
I have made this with egg replacer instead of eggs to make it vegan and it still works well. I've not tried to make this gluten free so I can't say whether it would work - sorry! Try and grate your carrots a bit finer than mine - my food processor only seems to work on rustic size!

Carrot cake (Cranks recipe)
175g carrots
100g sugar - castor or unrefined
2 eggs (or equivalent in egg replacer)
75mls oil - I prefer canola but any type will do except olive oil
100g self raising (wholemeal) flour - or plain flour with baking powder if your in India and can't find any!!!
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
50g of raisins
50g of dessicated coconut (if you have it - not essential)

Heat the oven to 180oC and grease a smallish loaf tin. Grate your carrots.
Whisk the eggs and sugar together until it's thick and creamy then whisk in the oil gradually until it's all combined. Stir in the rest of the ingredients until its all well mixed - it should be quick thick but still moist. Turn into the greased tin and bake for 25 minutes or until the top is slightly brown and firm to the touch and a tooth pick comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out on to a rack until completely cold. Keeps well for a few days - if it lasts that long!! Enjoy.

Cranks don't have any restaurants in London anymore but the brand is still out there. Have a look at their website - they have a few of their recipes on line, including old favourites of ours lentil and tomato soup (or holiday soup as my kids call it, as I always made it when we went off in the car for a camping holiday) and homity pies. http://www.cranks.co.uk