Comforting cabbage

There’s no getting away from it, winter is looming. The cold, frosty mornings and all-too-early dark evenings say it all. At this time, I’m rummaging in the cupboard for my woolly hat and gloves, and dipping into my old cookbooks to hunt out my favourite comfort recipes to warm me up.

What constitutes ‘comfort food’ is different for everyone, but generally they’re warming, satisfying, and, if not careful, can be lethal for the waistline! Now that I eat plant based and dairy and gluten free, I still have my comfort foods – thick sumptuous stews, heart warming soups and gorgeous puddings – they’re just slightly different.

One of my go-to winter dishes is slow braised red cabbage. Some may look at me in horror and ask what’s comforting about that, but the mixture of crisp cabbage, sharp apple and sulphury onion gently softened over a couple of hours results in a deeply developed rich aroma and a taste that just gives you one big loving hug! This slow braised red cabbage was one of the dishes I served at my supper club in October. Whilst everything was eaten up with gusto, it was the red cabbage that was remarked upon the most. Unadulterated by complicated spices, this is a simple but delightful dish that is easy to make – time is the magic ingredient! 

Nutritionally, cabbage is an amazing vegetable, packed full of nutrients and phytonutrients that have a range of beneficial properties. It’s part of the cruciferous family, a group of veg that you may well have heard me go on about (it includes cauliflower and broccoli), that's anti-inflammatory and full of antioxidants and specific phytonutrients that have anti-cancer properties. Plus, cabbage is really good for the stomach and gut lining, keep unfriendly bacteria under control.

Red cabbage is even better than green. Its deep rich colour contains even more antioxidants and polyphenols, a specific group of phyto-nutrients as well as loads more vitamin C, B6 and manganese.

Mix that with the probiotic properties of cooked apple (see apple cake posting for more info) and the super sulphur properties of onion, you’ve got a pretty nutritionally packed dish that also tastes gorgeous! So why not try this one chilly evening, and curl up in front of the fire with a dish that will give your taste buds and your body a big healing hug!

Slow braised red cabbage

1 medium sized red cabbage shredded

1 large red onion, sliced

1 large cooking apple, sliced

2 teaspoons dried mix herbs

couple handfuls raisins

salt and pepper

50mls vegetable stock

Dairy free spread or olive oil

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC and grease an oven proof dish that has a lid (I use my old faithful Le Creuset dish). Place a layer of sliced onions on the bottom, then cabbage, then apple. Sprinkle with the herbs and raisins and season with salt and pepper. Repeat these layers one or two more times (depending on how much you have, how big your pot is etc). Add the vegetable stock, cover with the lid and place in the oven for an hour. Remove and check there's enough fluid so it doesn't burn, then return to the oven for another half to one hour until everything is super soft and the flavours are concentrated. Remove from the oven and leave to stand for up to 30 minutes with the lid on before serving. Enjoy!

Happy New Year hangover juice

It's time to reflect on the year that has been, and celebrate the arrival of a new one. In recent years, we've seen in the New Year in some pretty different places - an Indian jungle, on the street in the centre of Bangkok and, last year, in a local Chinese restaurant. All have been memorable, but this year is my favourite way of celebrating - a crowd at a friends house. Good conversation, lots of laughs and a relaxed atmosphere. And of course, lots of alcohol!

No matter how careful I am, I always seem to feel hungover on New Year's Day, even if I've not been drinking! Maybe it's the combination of excitement and a late night, but telling signs of headache, tiredness and lethargy always seem to rear their unpleasant head.
A hangover is a combination of dehydration and an accumulation of toxins from the alcohol plus a low blood sugar which affects your brain. This can lead to a stonking headache, nausea, vomiting, lethargy and insomnia. Keeping well hydrated is key, so having a glass of water to every glass of alcohol helps. An extra good guzzle of water before going to bed along with a little snack should also smooth the way to a better morning after along with a milk thistle tablet (this helps support your liver detoxifying everything). Of course, you need to be in a reasonable state to do all this before collapsing in a post-party heap!
This year I'm armed with vegetables and fruit that will aid a faster recovery in the morning. - a juice that helps rehydrate, detox and settle a disturbed stomach. A combination of beetroot, celery, apple, carrot, lemon and ginger should do the trick.
Beetroot is your liver's best friend when it comes to excess as it helps remove toxins and is packed full of anti-oxidants. Celery is high in potassium and sodium and so helps with replacing those electrolytes lost with dehydration. Carrots are packed full of vitamin C, another powerful antioxidant, B6 (good for the liver) as well as potassium. Apples also rate high with vitamin C and potassium and can help settle the digestion; ginger does the same and can reduce any nausea that might be hanging around. Finally, lemon provides another shot of vitamin C and can also provide some additional phyto-nutrients.  If you fancy, a couple of handfuls of spinach can be thrown in for good measure; loads of B vitamins provide additional support to your liver.
There's still time to make sure your fridge is stocked up ready for the morning after - give it a go and your body will love you for it!
Wishing you a very happy and healthy New Year!
Hangover juice (serves 1 poorly person)

1 medium beetroot
1 large carrot
1-2 sticks celery
1 large apple
chunk fresh ginger
1/2 lemon
couple of handfuls spinach (optional)
Put all the ingredients into a juicer to extract all the goodness. I like to add my spinach separately, by putting the juice into a blender, then popping in the spinach and whizzing it all up.  Add water if you desire and consume with gusto, or great care, depending on how delicate you're feeling!

Thanks Delia!

Home economics was not one of my stronger subjects at school. I enjoyed the lessons, but the teachers felt my talents lead else where. Not that I couldn't produce tasty dishes, it was more that I didn't really follow their instructions that well, and made a real mess in the process. I vividly remember my teacher solemnly informing me that I would be wasting my time if I chose it as an O'level subject!
Even then, I was more of an instinctive cook, throwing things together to see what happened, enjoying the experimenting rather than the formal step by step process.This is something I continue to do today - as well as make a massive mess!
So although there are some key cooking techniques I learnt at school, I have developed so many more by pouring over a diverse range of cookery books. And one major influence has been the wonderful Delia Smith.

Delia taught me how to bake gorgeous cakes, make sumptuous summer dishes and (so key in our house) how to have a successful Christmas dinner with accompanying puds and pickles created in the build up to the ultimate day of festive over-indulgence. Our family dining experiences would be so different without Delia!!
As my eating preferences have taken a rather different direction to Delia's more traditional eating approach (she's really not known for her dairy free food!), I refer to her cook books less and less. But, all is not lost, as hidden amongst her butter laden pages you can find the occasional gem that, if not already dairy free and plant based, can be easily converted into a Karen-friendly meal!
One of these surprisingly pops up in her Christmas cookery book - roasted red pepper stuffed with fennel.
For some people, fennel is a bit of a 'marmite' vegetable - love it or hate it. Personally, I'm on the love side (unlike marmite which I hate!).  With its fabulously crisp texture and mild aniseed flavour, it tastes wonderful raw or roasted. I even made a fennel cream earlier in the year - whole and dairy free of course, and bursting with flavour. Unfortunately, I forgot to write down how I made it so need to start again with that one!
Fennel is a member of the umbellifereae family and is related to parsley, carrots and dill. It's carries a good amount of vitamin C, manganese, potassium, folate and fibre, but the key nutritional feature is it's packed with various phytonutrients, particularly flavonoids that act as antioxidants which reduce inflammation and cancerous cell changes (through turning off the intercellular signal for tumour necrosing factor in case you were wondering!). I always tend to associate fennel with summer and Italian food, but it's available during winter and early spring too.
Combining fennel with red peppers makes this a nutrient-packed meal. Delia's original recipe calls for loads of olive oil poured into the peppers, but personally, I feel this unnecessarily increases the fat content of an otherwise perfectly healthy dish. A few chopped walnuts would be a better option, for flavour, fibre and fat quality. I also prefer to use fresh tomatoes, although tinned is fine (as in original recipe) - just remember that the tinning process increases the sodium content of the tomatoes, so you will need much less seasoning.
Everyone I've fed this to loves it, so why not give it a go and glory in the delight of a bit of Delia magic!
Roasted red peppers stuffed with fennel (inspired by Delia)

4 large red peppers
2 bulbs fennel
4 large juicy tomatoes, chopped
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
splash olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
First, pre heat the oven to 180oC. Chop off any brown bits of the fennel and cut into quarters, trying to keep the stem at the bottom to hold the pieces together. Par boil or steam for a few minutes until the fennel softens just a little. Drain and put to one side to cool a little. Cut the peppers in half length ways and deseed. Keep the stalk if you can - it looks good! Pop pepper halves on a baking tray or dish - one which they all fit in to snuggly if you have one so they don't fall over. Pop a spoonful of chopped tomatoes into each pepper half, season and sprinkle on fennel seeds and Italian seasoning plus a little salt and pepper. Add one piece of fennel to each pepper half, add another spoonful of chopped tomatoes and drizzle a splash of olive oil over the top. Bake in the oven for about one hour until soft and slightly browned. Serve hot with vegetables or salad, and some fresh wholemeal bread or chickpea bread to mop up the juices.

Seasonal Slaw

It's late autumn and the weather in the UK has suddenly turned rather chilly. It's the time of year for comfort food - soups and stews and and a mighty dollop of fruit crumble. But sometimes these can all be a bit heavy; the solution is a great seasonal salad, packed full of immune boosting nutrients for the inevitable sniffs and snivels as well as lip-smacking flavour.
And to match the dazzling autumn trees, this seasonal slaw has an array of deep orange and reds to provide well needed colour to an otherwise green leafed plate!
For those with a dairy intolerance, shop bought coleslaw is generally a no-go area, with some milk product popping up in the long list of ingredients on the packet. And once you've read that list, somehow it doesn't seem quite so palatable! Unless they're described as creamy coleslaw, they all taste rather vinegary to me as well…..

So this autumn slaw is a real change in direction from any of those vinegary or creamy ones you may have come across before. It's sweet, but has a sharp flavour from the apple and lemon juice. It's definitely crunchy and has great textures. In fact, I find it really moreish and one serving is just not enough. Which is no problem, as it's really healthy and good for you as well as tasty, so there's no downside - unless the beetroot affects you on it's way out!! Many people experience red wee after eating beetroot - beeturia! - which isn't too much of an issue as it's just a short term issue. Apparently for some, though, it may mean there's a problem with iron metabolism.
The three main veg in the slaw - carrot, beetroot and red cabbage - are all packed full of phytonutrients of varying kinds which are anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and known to help the body detoxify. Beetroot also has fabulous amounts of folate, manganese and fibre as well as vitamin C which is also a big feature of the benefits of red cabbage. Surprisingly, red cabbage has over 50% of the recommended daily intake of vitamin C, much more than citrus fruit. And being a cruciferous vegetable, red cabbage has marvellous anti-cancer properties too!
So try this slaw as a side, or the main feature of your lunch. Not only is it packed full of flavour and nutrients, it really does look pretty on the plate! (To add more zing, you can use red wine vinegar instead of lemon juice, but this doesn't work for those who have to avoid fermented foods due to yeast allergies.)
Autumn Slaw

1 medium carrot
1 small raw beetroot
1/8 of a red cabbage
1 small stick celery
1 Cox's apple
2 tablespoons sultanas
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper
Pop the sultanas in a dish with some hot water for a few minutes so they plump up. Drain and put to one side. Wash all your veg thoroughly. Grate the carrot, beetroot and apple. Thinly slice the cabbage and celery. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl with the lemon juice and season to taste. Add more juice and seasoning as required. Leave to one side for a while to let the flavours develop then serve and enjoy.

Saucy cauliflower

There are some recipes that just seem to work best with dairy - white sauce is one. Melting rich butter, frantically stirring in flour to form a roux, then slowly adding creamy milk whilst whisking madly, sending out a little prayer that it won't be too runny or lumpy. If the white sauce works, the rest of the dish does too.
Since going dairy free, making a good white sauce has been a challenge. Dairy free spread makes a great butter replacement (as long as the pan is not too hot) but soya milk has too much flavour of it's own and rice milk is too watery. As they were my only options in India, I used vegetable stock to make a savoury sauce for pies but was never really satisfied with the results.

After visiting Vegefest earlier this year, I discovered Kara (or Koko, not really sure which one it's called!). Made from coconut milk, it's rich and creamy and perfect for cooking with, particularly sauces. Surprisingly, fresh Kara doesn't have a strong flavour; the long life one is more coconutty. So white sauce is no longer a challenge if I want to make it the traditional way and dairy eating family members can't tell the difference!
But this is not necessarily the healthiest route to go. My food journey is about using food to heal, not just sustain the body, so I'm always looking to maximise my nutrition intake by reducing anything processed and inflammatory and focusing on whole foods.
And that's where the humble cauliflower comes in.
When cooked and pureed, cauliflower makes a wonderful creamy sauce that can be used for pasta dishes, lasagna or even a kind of bechemal sauce. Apparently, you can add nutritional yeast to create a cheese sauce, but as yeast is a no go area I can't comment!
Because it's one of those super-healthy cruciferous vegetables, cauliflower is packed full of nutrients, including a whopping amount of vitamin C, vitamin K and folate, and is pretty good for manganese, B5, potassium and fibre. It's anti-inflammatory, packed with anti-oxidants and phytonutrients and helps your cells to detox.

Of course, every positive has to have a negative, and cauliflower can have a smell issue! Some of the phytonutrients release sulphur compounds when cooked so the house can take on a farty aroma for a while! Minimal cooking produces minimal smell, but for sauce making the cauliflower has to be soft, so keep those windows open!!
To get a good savoury flavour, use vegetable stock; place your chopped cauli in a pan with a tight-fitting lid and pour over the stock, not quite covering all the veg, then boil with the lid on, stirring it up every now and then to make sure everything is cooking. The cauli will break down as it cooks and release its own water. Once cooked, leave to cool in the stock, then blitz it all together (this is why you don't want too much stock otherwise it's too watery). This way you retain as many of the nutrients as possible that may have leached out into the cooking water. Then season and serve.
I recently made a pasta sauce this way - whilst the cauli was bubbling away, I sauteed some onion, red pepper, garlic and mixed herbs until everything softened, then added some broccoli and sweetcorn for another few minutes, adding a tiny bit of water from the pasta to stop everything from sticking. Once it was all cooked and properly seasoned, I added the veg to the pureed cauliflower to create a beautifully light, creamy sauce, dolloped it onto the pasta (wholewheat of course!) and watched my 14 year old giant-boy wolf it down, declaring it to be lovely. As macaroni cheese is his favourite meal, that's quite a compliment!

Lip-smacking lime dressing

If you read my post about vitamin C and, like me, are looking for ways to increase your daily intake, try this amazingly gorgeous lime, ginger and chilli dressing. So often dressings contain some form of dairy, it's great to have one that's completely dairy free. And it's so tasty you can't believe it's so good for you!!
The combination of fresh lime, ginger and chilli is so fresh and wonderfully healthy that it puts a smile on your face, and in your belly! Lime is packed full of vitamin C and flavonoids which act as anti-oxidants and also have antibiotic and anti-carcinogenic properties. It's great for the digestion, stimulating the release of digestive juices as well as aiding the whole digestive process.
Ginger has fabulous medicinal properties, and the good news is you only need a little to get the benefits. It also works on the digestive system, particularly on reducing gas! It has many anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory properties and is particularly good for joint pains. It's also anti-carcinogenic and boosts your immunity - amazing properties in such an ordinary looking root.
Finally, chilli is also packed with vitamin C, A and B complex and adds a fiery kick to this zingy dressing.
This dressing works brilliantly in Thai style salads, with baked salmon, or any dish that can handle a fresh, sharp dressing - in this case with roasted sweet potato slices and watercress - a seriously delicious, nutrient-packed lunch. All dairy free but definitely not taste free!
Lime, ginger and chilli dressing

Juice of one large lime
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped
salt
2 teaspoons agave syrup*
Mix all the ingredients together and taste - adjust the flavours accordingly before pouring over your dish of choice and enjoy!

*I used agave syrup to make this dressing vegan, but runny honey can be used instead, just check how strong the flavour is before using too much!

Vitamin C surprises

Recently, I completed an analysis of the vitamin content of my food over a few days. Eating a wholefood, plant based diet, I thought my intake would be fabulous. For some, like vitamin A and folate, it was amazing, for others, like B12 which is only found in animal products and yeasts, it was non-existent. No real shocks there.

What did surprise me was the vitamin C content. Whilst pretty good, and above the official recommended daily intake (RDI), it was still only moderate in comparison to the levels that are thought to really promote health, 500mg or above.

I don't want to get bogged down in figures or controversies surrounding vitamin C (as there are quite a few!!), but think there's a few things worth pointing out. RDIs are established to state the amount of a vitamin or mineral you should have to prevent specific, identifiable diseases. In the case of vitamin C, it's scurvy, a horrible condition that used to hit sailors out on the high seas for long periods of time without any fresh fruit or vegetables. You don't actually need much vitamin C to prevent scurvy, so the current recommendation of 40mg/day is higher than absolutely necessary. Which is great, because vitamin C does much more than stop your gums from bleeding. 

In the 1970s, research suggested that vitamin C could prevent the common cold; many people still believe this and religiously take vitamin C supplements. In fact, vitamin C is the most commonly purchased food supplement in the UK. However, since then, loads more research as been undertaken which disagrees with Pauling's original conclusion. 

What has been found is that vitamin C is a highly active anti-oxidant. A co-factor for many enzymes, it's essential for key metabolic functions in the body, including processing fatty acids, controlling blood cholesterol levels and processing drugs and toxins in the liver. Vitamin C is attributed to improving a multitude of common complaints including allergies, arthritis, asthma, eczema, PMT, osteoporosis - the list goes on. Eating processed foods, high in fat and protein, and taking medication for acute and chronic illnesses further exposes our bodies to stress; it seems to me that good doses of vitamin C are essential for everyone!

I want to get my vitamin C from my diet rather than taking pills, so what are the best foods to eat?  Everyone thinks that citrus fruits are the best source and whilst oranges and lemons are pretty well loaded with vitamin C, they are trumped by peppers and greens. I was amazed to discover that the best source by far is peppers - chilli, bell, all sorts and of all colours. This is swiftly followed by those marvellous greens - kale, spring greens, broccoli, watercress, sprouts - again the list can go on. The best fruits are actually blackcurrants and strawberries, which is great at this time of year in the UK, as strawberry season is upon us and I'm in strawberry heaven!! There's nothing quite like a freshly picked, succulently sweet British strawberry!

By including more of these vitamin C packed foods its pretty easy to increase vitamin C intake - almost triple it. And of course, all fruits and vegetables contain a whole array of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients that help our bodies not only function more efficiently, but heal from within. 

Sweet potato and aubergine 'towers'

One of the great things things about eating a dairy free, plant based diet is the creative challenge. It's all too easy to get stuck in the pasta, curry or chilli rut - not that these aren't wonderful in themselves, but monotony sneaks in by stealth and dinner becomes dull. Perusing the vegetarian section in the supermarket sometimes provides inspiration, but as many of these contain milk or yeast derivatives and often a long list of additives and chemical sounding shenanigans, it's back to the kitchen for some fun experimenting.
I have to admit there have been some complete disasters, but occasionally, deliciousness abounds, and often it's due to the key ingredient. Currently, my favourite veggies are sweet potato and aubergine, for their versatility, amazing texture and taste and ultimately for their powerhouse of nutritional goodies!

Aubergines have already had a mention on my blog; nutritionally they are packed full of anti-oxidants, vitamin C, potassium and folic acid. Sweet potatoes have all of these - and more!!
Sometimes, sweet potatoes and yams are confused as being the same thing but botanically they are different, although there are similarities. Yams have a pale flesh and come from Asia or Africa whereas sweet potatoes come from the Americas and have a bright orange flesh. It's the orange that makes them so fabulous as this contains beta-carotene - precursor to vitamin A and a powerful anti-oxidant that helps to protect the body from various cancers and acts as an anti-inflammatory. Join this up with the beneficial levels of vitamin C and E, sweet potatoes are great for your skin and eyes; vibrant skin and hair all at hand, packed into a odd looking tuber!
That's not all - sweet potatoes are also packed with potassium, fibre and B6, all necessary for a healthy heart, and have a low GI (glycemic index) so the sugars are in a complex form, taking a longer time to break down, helping you feel full longer and not get the quick sugar release you get with other root vegetables like potatoes. So perfect for diabetics or people battling blood sugar or weight issues.
There's a multitude of ways to serve sweet potatoes - boiled, mashed, in a soup, even in desserts and cakes. My favourite is to roast them. This concentrates the sweetness whilst keeping a bit of bite that enhances the texture of a dish - sometimes vegetarian food can be all a bit mushy! A good proportion of the nutrients are held in the skin, so it's best to cook with the skin on. If you can, buy organic and scrub really well.
Trying to be a bit fancy one day, I created these 'towers', layering up slices of roasted aubergine and sweet potato with wilted spinach, fresh tomato sauce and a sprinkle of pine nuts. A bit of work, especially if you have to make the tomato sauce from scratch but absolutely delicious; contrasting textures and beautiful flavours combine to create a flavour explosion! This really is more of a dish for special occasions, although you can simplify it by omitting some of the layers. You could even just serve sweet potato and aubergine stacked up with some sweet chilli sauce on the layers - simple and really tasty.
Sweet potato, aubergine and spinach towers.
Enough to serve 2
1 large, long sweet potato, not too fat
1 medium sized aubergine
olive oil
few handfuls of spinach, washed and torn into pieces
lemon juice
salt and pepper
handful of pine nuts
fresh tomato sauce
Heat the oven to 180oC. Slice your sweet potato and aubergine into circles 2 - 3 cms thick. Rub the olive oil over both sides of each slice and lay them out on a baking tray. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes or so until they are cooked - the aubergine should be soft and creamy, the sweet potato soft but still holding firm. Don't let them over cook. Whilst these are roasting, heat a small pan and lightly brown the pine nuts. Tip them onto a plate to cool once done. Reheat your fresh tomato sauce (I'm going to add my favourite tomato sauce recipe soon), adding a little extra basil if you wish. Heat your small pan again, and add the spinach so it wilts and some of the water evaporates. Season with salt and pepper, add a squeeze of lemon if you wish (not too much otherwise it will be too wet).
Once the aubergine and sweet potato are ready, remove from the oven, but don't turn it off. Grab an oven-proof dish, and place a thin layer of tomato sauce in the centre. Place one slice of sweet potato on the sauce, then a slice of aubergine, a dollop of tomato sauce, a spoonful of spinach and sprinkle of pine nuts. Then add another slice of sweet potato and repeat the layering, ending with sweet potato (so you have 3 sweet potato slices to 2 aubergine). This is your stack. Repeat this to create as many stacks as you can from your slices. Pour over some more tomato sauce and return the stacks to the oven for 10 minutes or so to heat through, then serve with salad or veggies of your choice. Enjoy!

The mighty aubergine

During my time in India, I started a love affair - with the fabulously tasty aubergine! There was so much more to this vegetable than I had ever imagined, with an ancient history, multiple varieties and different guises, it was easy to be enticed into a whole new realm of culinary possibilities.

I was surprised to discover  that, botanically, aubergine is actually a fruit; a berry to be precise. Before my departure to sunny climes, I thought aubergines were only large, oval, deep purple and went bitter and mushy when cooked. I discovered that there are around 2000 different varieties of aubergine in India alone, ranging from tiny to giant (1kg in weight), oval, round, long, thin, bulbous, prickly and in many hues – deep purple, red-purple, green, yellow, white, striped and even orange.

Native to India, aubergines are known by the generic name of brinjal, although this varies from area to area depending on the local language. In Hindi, it's 'baingan' which literally translated means "no exceptional qualities" which is rather sad!! In the US and Australia, aubergines are eggplants; some early 18th century versions were white and egg shaped, hence the name. Western Europe tends to use aubergine, apparently coming from Arabic (useful information for your next pub quiz!)

Aubergine is a key ingredient in many Indian dishes.  Highly nutritious, it’s known as both “poor man’s meat” and the “king of vegetables” possibly from a Tamil folk tale (it has a crown!).  So adaptable, it can be cooked in many ways – baked, roasted, bbq’ed, fried, pickled, used for dips and chutneys and even soufflé.  And of course, aubergine pops up in all sorts of cuisine from around the world - Middle Eastern, Arabic, Mediterranean and Asian. 
Aubergine have a high water content, and are excellent source of potassium and other key nutrients such as calcium, folic acid, vitamin C and other anti-oxidants.  Unfortunately, they absorb oil and so become high calorie if fried, but also highly delicious, delectably melting in the mouth.

Its a great vegetable for use in a plant based wholefood diet, as when cooked it produces a delicious creamy texture that can provide additional richness to a dairy free dish. One of my favourite is Baba ghanoush, aubergine dip, a rich and flavoursome dish - I made this the other day for some friends and it disappeared off the table in a flash!  Traditionally, olive oil is added, but I find that baking the aubergine in the oven first until cooked creates enough soft, rich flesh that oil just isn't needed. Beware with the amount of garlic you use though - the flesh absorbs other flavours so well that it can be pretty strong without meaning to - maybe not one to prepare for a romantic date!!

I have a number of delicious, aubergine dishes to share, including a great brinjal curry my maid taught me and an Italian inspired stuffed aubergine roll, but for now, here's healthy, low fat baba ghanoush. Enjoy with toasted flatbread, or my chickpea dippers http://foodiesensitive.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/no-dairy-no-calcium.html
Tantilisingly creamy baba ghanoush
1 large aubergine
1 tablespoon tahini
1 -2 cloves garlic, crushed
juice 1/2 lemon
salt to taste
To get a smoky flavour, first place your aubergine directly onto a gas flame (if you have a gas hob) and scorch the skin. Once slightly toasted, wrap in tin foil and roast in the oven for 30 minutes or so at 200 degrees C until soft to touch. Remove from the oven and leave to cool - don't open the tin foil yet. Once cool, carefully unwrap the aubergine, pouring the juices that will have collected in the foil into a blender. Cut open and scoop out the cooked flesh, leaving behind the tougher skin, and place in blender with the juice. Add the remaining ingredients and blitz until combined and really smooth. Check for seasoning, adding more salt and a little black pepper if required, and more lemon juice if it's not quite tangy enough. Share with others if you dare, or indulge by yourself!!

Just love those sprouts!

Some foods are just synonymous with traditional Christmas dinner - roast turkey, bread sauce and of course the little green powerhouse that is the brussels sprout! Love them or hate them, the meal is not complete without at least one small green ball decorating the plate.
Whilst for some, Christmas Day is the only time of the year that a sprout with pass their lips, I personally love them, and quite happily eat them any time of the year. Thought to originate from Belgium (hence the name), seasonally brussels sprouts are a winter veg in the West, best between October to March. Whilst growing, they prefer colder temperatures - I did manage to find some sprouts in the shops in Bangalore,as there can be cooler temperatures in this area of India during winter. Small, hard bullets with yellowy leaves on the outside, they just weren't right, so apart from the one Christmas dinner I cooked (never again - too hot!!), the sprouts were generally avoided. So it was with great joy that I tucked in to beautifully crisp green sprouts on Christmas Day this year, and started remembering all the dishes I could create with them.
When your mum told you to eat your greens because they were good for you, she was not wrong. Brussels sprouts are classified as crusiferous vegetables (so called as the leaves open up into a cross shape - crucifer is cross-bearer in Latin don't you know!), a group packed full of powerful nutrients and antioxidants that can boost your immune system and have anti-cancer properties. The high fibre content is not only good for your digestion but helps to lower cholesterol as well. They also have a variety of vitamins including folate which promotes healthy heart, vitamin A and vitamin K which helps to reduce inflammation and is good for bone health too. Mind you, too much of any one thing is never good for you, as this salutary tale about a man who messed up his blood clotting by eating too many sprouts!  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-20805966.
Cruciferous vegetables like sprouts contain special compounds called isothiocyanates (ITC) that boost immunity - these are released when the cell walls are opened. So cutting or blending before cooking releases these extra goodies and whilst some of the vitamins and potassium will be lost in the cooking process, the ITC will still be there. So, whilst a spout smoothie really doesn't appeal, sliced brussels stir fried or chopped and used as soup certainly does.
Brussels sprouts fried with bacon is a beautifully tasty dish, but as I'm only eating plant based food these days, that's off the menu. But sprout soup is definitely on. If you've never tried it, do - it's really simple and has a delicious deep, rich flavour. Unfortunately, my sprout soup recipe is still boxed up in storage ( I can't wait to get my hands on my recipe books!). Lots of recipes ask for cream, but being dairy free, I leave the potato to do the creamy bit which of course makes it much healthier. It needs seasoning well, but it's very simple, so here it is from memory....hope it works!!
Green and healthy brussels sprout soup
1 tbspoon olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
1 medium potato, diced
500g or so of brussels sprouts
600mls of vegetable stock
1 tspoon thyme
salt and pepper
Remove the top of the sprouts and chop. Heat the oil in a pan and saute the onion until it starts to soften, then add the potato, turn down the heat and cover the pan with a lid, letting the veg cook until it's soft. Add the chopped sprouts and thyme and saute for a minute or so. Pour in the stock, season and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat, pop on the lid and leave to simmer away merrily for 10 to 15 minutes until the potato and sprouts are cooked. Turn off the heat, leave to cool a bit then blitz in the blender until smooth. Put back in the pan and reheat. Sprinkle some toasted chopped walnuts on the top if you want some texture.

Dairy free sour cream

Sometimes I wish I could freeze frame moments so that I can capture the look of incredulity on peoples faces when I tell them that I don't eat dairy or meat. It's really quite funny to see and they always ask the same question - so what do you eat? Then when I explain about eating a whole food, plant based diet, a shadow of concern clouds their faces - surely you can't survive on that??
There's so many different foods to eat other than meat or dairy, it's just our way of thinking that makes it seem impossible to not only survive, but to heal, become really healthy and energetic and generally feel much better than before. I guess I am lucky that I have a food intolerance to yeast and not wheat as it makes it much easier - at least I can eat cake! And eating a whole food plant based diet means that when I do have the occasional fried or greasy option, I not only enjoy it but don't feel any guilt about eating it, as I don't seem to put on weight any more either!
There are so many different plant foods to try, and a whole array of recipes on the internet, it's really a new adventure in cooking, which I find quite exciting (sad as it may be!). Plus on top of that, eating this way means I never feel really full and bloated, my chronic itching has stopped and my skin is looking great - in fact a friend said the other day it looked like I'd had botox! Cutting out processed foods and getting all the vitamins and minerals in wholefoods really does make a difference.
But finding dairy free alternatives is still a challenge. This week I experimented with dairy free sour cream, using it as a dressing on a beetroot salad I made for a party we had on Saturday night. It tastes pretty good, and lots of it was eaten, so I guess others thought so too. Obviously sour cream can be used with many dishes - I especially look forward to trying it with a veggie chilli which I'm planning on making later in the week. It is cashew nut based again, as that gives the creamy texture, so apologies to those with nut allergies.
I know there's lots of people who don't eat beetroot - either the taste is too earthy, or the after effects are too windy! But beetroot is incredibly good for you and worth a try. I was put off it by memories of horrible soft, vinegary deep red lumps that made your wee go a funny colour, but once I tried it freshly cooked and natural, it's a different experience all together. Being quite sweet, it goes well with something fresh and citrusy. And it is incredibly good for you, packed with vitamin A, B1, B2 B6 and folic acid as well as good amounts of magnesium, potassium, iron and those helpful little antioxidants. In fact, research has shown that beetroot can help reduce high blood pressure, lower cholesterol (all that soluble fibre), aid tissue growth, reduce the risk of osteoporosis (the silica it contains aids absorption of calcium) and even helps slow the progression of dementia. Now that's not bad going for one root vegetable.
Here is the recipe for the sour cream and the beetroot salad as it was really yummy!
Dairy free sour cream
1 cup cashew nuts
juice of 1 lemon or lime
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 - 1 tbspoon olive oil (optional)
Soaks the cashew nuts in water for at least two hours. Drain off this water and grind in a processor into a thick paste, adding a little water. I find I have to grind for 30 seconds or so, then stop, give it a scrape off the edges then grind again. Repeat and grind for a third time, adding water if you need to to get a thick creamy consistency. Add in the lemon juice and salt and blend again until it's combined. Taste and adjust to how you want it. To make it richer, add the olive oil (but remember this is a refined oil and not a whole food and the fat content will increase). If it's too thick, add a little more water. Then it's ready to go!

Beetroot salad
3 or 4 beetroots cleaned (organic if possible)
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
salt and pepper
dairy free sour cream
chopped chives to garnish
Cook the beetroot until soft, but not too soft - I use the pressure cooker to save time, but boiling, roasting or steaming works just as well. Leave to cool. Dry fry the fennel seeds in a hot pan until they start to colour and emit a lovely smell. Turn off the heat and leave to cool. Chop the beetroot into small dice and place in a serving bowl along with the cooled fennel seeds, add seasoning and stir. Place a few good dollops of dairy free sour cream on the top and sprinkle with chives. That's it - eat and enjoy!

Coconut water

I wrote an article earlier this year  about tender coconut water, the fluid found in the immature green coconuts sold by the roadside, for our local expat associations magazine. The virtues of coconut water are being discovered in the West and there is much discussion about its value as a post-workout drink, so I thought I'd write about it again here.

Coconut sellers are dotted all round the city, and next to any road in South India; vibrant green, occasionally mottled, nuts either piled up high forming a little stall, displayed on a hand cart or hanging off the side of  an old, rusty bicycle.  Normal tap water is not really potable, so these coconuts provide a safer option to assuage the thirst of the passing traveller - the fluid inside the green coconut is sterile as long as the nut is not damaged and there are reports that it has been used as an intravenous fluid in cases of severe dehydration when sterile normal saline is not available. Not one to try at home though!

Harvested from trees in clusters when they are between 5-7 months old, these immature nuts contain between 200mls-1 litre of sweet, unctuous water that is highly refreshing on a hot summers day and incredibly nutritious and healthy, and possibly the secret to youthful skin!! The water is contained within a gel like flesh on the inner lining of the nut and tastes very different to the milk taken from the coconut meat (see Cocoloco). This is the endosperm of the nut and contains simple sugars fructose and glucose. These sugars change and become more complex as the nut matures, as does the flavour. Once fully matured, 90% of the sugar content is sucrose which gives it a much sweeter flavour and higher calorie content.

Coconut water though is very low in calories - only 19 calories per 100ml - and contains excellent amounts of potassium and good amounts of calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium, zinc and B vitamins along with an impressive array of amino acids, cytokines and other antioxidants. This is what makes coconut water such a great medium for rehydration, specifically the potassium content which helps the body to revitalise at cellular level. And probably why the sports and health foods industry are beginning to promote this as a wonder product - with a wonder price! Seeing a bottle of coconut water on sale in the UK back in the summer, I was stunned to see it carrying a price tag of £2.50 - they cost Rs 15 here (equal to 17p). 

Coconut water is a fantastic fluid replacement drink post diarrhoea, and much tastier than those revolting rehydration salts. My poor husband has been so sick the last few days with a nasty case of 'Bangalore belly' and has managed to recover drinking glass after glass of chilled coconut water. Lemon juice can be added to increase the flavour - I have a friend who added fanta, but not sure that's such a good thing (you know who you are!!).

Along with hydration, tender coconut water aids digestion (in Ayurveda it promotes Agni, digestive fire), its antiseptic properties kill intestinal worms, helps clear urinary tract problems, increases mental concentration, helps cleanse the liver and reduce jaundice and, apparently, is an aphrodisiac! So even with a hefty price tag, you can't really lose!

But that's not all! Tender coconut water is reported to be wonderful for the skin (as are other coconut products). It can help prevent prickly heat and reduces and soothes rashes from chicken pox, measles, sunburn and just general random itching. It's light, cooling properties soothes and calms. This is particularly useful in general skin care. If you have oily skin, tender coconut water can be used as a skin cleanser. For all skin types, it can also be dabbed on the delicate skin areas underneath the eyes - it soothes puffiness and hydrates the skin thereby reducing wrinkles. I must say, I've not tested this yet, but will soon and eagerly await good results!

So if you ever get the chance to stop at a roadside coconut seller, you can either drink it there and then (watch out how clean the straw is though!) or get the vendor to prepare the nut for easy opening at home, unless you happen to have your own machete in the kitchen drawer that is! Once opened, coconut water starts losing it's beneficial properties and if left more than 48 hours could turn bitter and unpalatable. I don't know how the coconut water that ends up on the shelves far away from their origins is prepared and stored, but it probably has lost a fair amount of goodies and maybe flavour. When I finally return to the UK at the end of the year, I'll give it a go and see how it compares. Maybe it will bring back some amazing memories!

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.