plantbased

Green cannellini beans with rice

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There’s good reason why cultures like Mexico, Africa or South America often eat rice with their beans.  By combining the two you get a complete protein meal with all 9 essential amino acids.  Beans are low in methionine (= amino acid), but rice is quite high.  Rice is low in lysine (another amino acid), but beans have good levels.  A perfect union!

This recipe has the added benefit of hemp seed and nutritional yeast, both complete proteins, albeit in small amounts, hence my suggestion to have rice alongside.  I usually choose a brown, red and basmati mix which I rinse twice before cooking.  Often I’ll add small florets of broccoli or grated carrot into the pot 3/4 way through the cooking time; another opportunity to increase vegetables in meals.

When it comes to protein you might like to listen to this interview on The Doctor’s Kitchen, with Rupi Aujla.  If it sounds like I’m banging on about protein it’s because I’m seeing really low intake in my clinic. With the message out there that people should be eating more plant-based foods, many are reducing their animal protein but not finding plant based alternatives.

Inspired by a recipe from Plantbaes I’ve changed some ingredients and amounts, replacing the spinach with kale or greens because raw spinach is high in oxalates which can interfere with our absorption of minerals necessary for strong bones and energy, hormones, immune health… you name it.  Easy to google ‘high oxalate’ foods if you want to go down this rabbit hole!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp virgin olive oil for cooking; another tbsp to drizzle before serving
4 medium garlic cloves, pressed
1 red onion, chopped
1 medium or 2 small courgette, sliced
1 bunch of basil, c 25 – 30g
50 g chopped kale and/or spring greens
2 tbsp cracked hemp seed
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp lemon juice
1  400g tin rinsed-twice cannellini beans
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds, for serving
sea salt and black pepper
plant-based yoghurt to dollop on top before serving

Optional: sprinkling of chilli flakes added to blender

Method

Whilst your rice is cooking, pour oil into a pan and add the chopped onion. Cook on a medium heat for a few minutes until transparent.  Next add the squeezed or finely chopped garlic, then the sliced courgette and kale/spring greens.  Cover and cook until the kale has softened.  Turn off the heat and add the basil leaves to the pan with cover and leave a couple of minutes.

Put the cooked greens and wilted basil into a bowl and add the lemon juice, nutritional yeast, hemp seeds, some sea salt and pepper (& a pinch of chilli if you want).  Blend with a hand-held blender, or add the lot to whatever blending machine you’re using.

Now’s the time to do a quick taste test!
If your green blend is thick because you used lots of kale, add a little water, however you still want it to have body and not be a runny sauce.  At this point add extra pepper, salt or chilli if your taste buds want.
Put the sauce back into the pan and add the rinsed cannellini beans, heating through and stirring now and again so it doesn’t catch.

When your rice is cooked spoon into two shallow bowls, add your green bean blend and then dollop a tbsp of plant-based yoghurt on top.  Garnish with pumpkin seeds, some basil leaves and a drizzle of oil.  Serve hot or at room temperature.
Enjoy and let me know how it goes 🙂

 

 

Roasted curry veg with herby yoghurt

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After making this dish about six times in the last month I can truly say it’s become – yet another! – favourite.
It was inspired by Sarah Cobacho’s plantbased baked curry vegetables with raita sauce but I’ve added and tweaked, changed amounts and called the sauce a more prosaic, but equally scrummy, ‘herby yoghurt’ as raita means something else to me.   I’m so happy to have found Sarah’s delicious recipe to play with and reinvent.  I hope you enjoy playing as well, and making it your own.

Ingredients

2 very generous servings… or 4 modest ones

The herby yoghurt sauce:

250 g plant-based yoghurt (I used Greek-style Koko or Alpro; thicker, creamier than most other plant-based)
1 heaped tbsp grated ginger
2 cloves garlic
juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garam masala
small bunch coriander, (chopped = about ½ compact cup)
small bunch mint, chopped = c ¼ cup)
chili flakes (optional, for the chili lovers out there.  The roasted veg below also have some chili)
sea salt to taste

The veg and protein:

350g small or new potatoes with skins, halved
½ small butternut squash, peeled, cubed
½ cauliflower, cut into florets
½ broccoli, ditto florets
1 red onion, cut into 1/8
150g cherry tomatoes
250g cooked chickpeas (I used left-over cooked lentils one time instead; also worked although I added them later, with the kale, so they kept soft)
big handful of shredded kale
40 g roasted slivered almonds, to decorate the finished bowls

The oil mix to slather

½ cup olive oil
1 tsp garam masala
dash, or more, of chili powder or flakes
2 tsp curry powder
juice of one lemon

Method:

Use three bowls – 2 small, one large – for your vegetables.  The two small ones are for the potatoes and kale resp. and the large will hold the rest of the vegetables and cooked chickpeas.
Mix all the oil ingredients together and massage into your respective veg bowls.

Preheat your fan oven to 180 C.
Blend the sauce ingredients at least 1/2 hour before needed so the yoghurt sauce isn’t too ‘sloppy’.  Ideally make the sauce ahead of time, the day before, and refrigerate.
As always, taste test to see if you want to add more of any sauce ingredient you especially love.

Place the halved and oiled potatoes on the oven tray and roast for 15 minutes.  Flip over and add the rest of the vegetables and chickpeas (not the kale), and roast for another 20 minutes, adding the oiled kale for the last 10 minutes.  Test with a fork to make sure it’s the texture you like, and be mindful nothing roasts ‘dry’ or burns.

To serve: spoon the green yoghurt sauce into the base of the bowls, then top with roasted vegetables and chickpeas.  Scatter the roasted almonds on top, delicious!

Vegetable wraps

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As wonderful and tasty as they are, not to mention a blessing for anyone who’s gluten sensitive or coeliac, the array of gluten free flours can at times be overwhelming.  Especially if you haven’t planned ahead and stocked up on the ones you need.  I love cooking with a variety of gf flours, have shared recipes here, but sometimes I just want to open the fridge and find an instant solution rather than start baking.  Something fresh, not ready-bought, which I can fill with salad, or delicious protein whether lentils, salmon, tofu, chicken or scrambled egg.  Quick, delicious and easy.

Cos or Romaine lettuce:

Filled lettuce leaves aren’t new in cooking but they may not be on your radar.  I love Cos or Romaine because it holds its form and therefore the contents, plus it has a delicious crunch which adds to the whole eating experience.

Here in the photo I cooked a filet of wild salmon in a fish broth, removed it, let it cool then flaked it, adding 3″ of cubed cucumber, 5 chopped cherry tomatos & radishes.  The dressing could be olive oil with lemon or a dash of apple cider vinegar but I wanted an Asian flavour, so I used juice of a lime, finely chopped lime leaf (easy to keep in the freezer),  1/2 finely chopped crushed stalk lemon grass (outer tough leaves removed), 1 heaped tsp tamarind paste, sesame oil, splash of water).
Easy to spoon into the Cos leaves and serve at room temperature.

Another time I filled the Romaine with a Greek-type salad and served it alongside the following…

Eggy Portabellino mushrooms:

We love scrambled egg with fried mushrooms, so when I saw these perfectly formed portabellino ‘cups’ in the photo below it seemed worth a try.

I filled the small ‘shroom cups with a beaten raw egg + salt,pepper,tumeric + spring onion.  A bit of a fiddle since these four tiny ‘shrooms didn’t even take a single beaten egg.

The trick to filling the ‘shrooms turned out to be filling them ‘en place’.  Put the empty portabellinos on an oiled oven tray, or matt (no heat yet of couse) then use a small jug to gently pour in the mixture.  A steady hand required, but a rewarding result.  I’ve been eyeing up lots of different mushrooms since then, looking for bigger ‘cups’!

In the end, two raw beaten eggs filled 10 small portabellinos.  Added to the plate of Cos leaves filled with a Greek-ish salad it was lunch AND dinner.
Cooking time for the shrooms with eggs was about 12-15 mins in a medium oven.  Just ‘tap test’ to ensure the egg has set.

The salad I served alongside was what I had at hand.  More chopped tomatoes, cucumber, chopped radish, avocado, cubed fetta (Violife vegan, or regular), chopped fresh fennel.  The dressing was our olive oil, lemon juice mixed with a dash of water, pepper and pressed garlic.

Wilted white pointed cabbage leaves:

Another easy wrap is to wilt cabbage leaves.  I made a very simple lentil-rice mixture to fill them.

Cook about two cups of mixed rice (black, red basmati – great texture, good fibre) in boiling water, then place a steamer attachment on top with one large cabbage leaf per person.  I usually cut away the thick end of the central vein before steaming if the cabbage seems especially tough.  You could use Savoy or Purple cabbage, any firm cabbage, although the latter has a more distinctive taste (which may improve your meal, so go for it!)  However, as the latter always reminds me of Christmas I tend to stick to Pointed or Savoy.

The leaves only need about 5-8 minutes to wilt.  Keep an eye on them as you don’t want them to overcook and tear. Remove and cool.

For speedy meals I buy Merchant cooked and vacuum packed lentils.  I mixed half the packet in the pot for the last few minutes of cooking time, to heat through. Then I added chopped fried onion, finely chopped coriander, roasted pine nuts, freshly ground pepper or a dash of dried chilli, for heat lovers.  If you have left overs it’ll keep in the fridge for a couple of days and add it to soups, to salads –  or put a few spoonfuls in some Cos lettuce leaves.