Red Lentil Dal (Western Style)

I love dal, it’s one of my favourite vegetarian dishes (in fact any dishes, full stop). It’s hearty, full of flavour, filling, and easy to make. This particular one is not made in the traditional way, as in India there would not be any coconut milk or tinned tomatoes in the ingredients list. However, I liked the idea of the creaminess of the coconut milk and the subtle sweet flavour it would provide.

Ingredients:

• 200g red lentils, rinsed and drained
• Glug of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 onions, diced
• 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 red chillies, seeds removed and finely chopped
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp English mustard
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 x 400ml tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 x 400ml tin coconut milk
• 500ml vegetable stock
• Salt and pepper
• Juice of half a lemon
• 2 handfuls fresh spinach, washed and chopped

Method:

Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook gently for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger and red chilli and cook for a few minutes.

Mix the cumin, coriander and mustard in a small bowl and add to the pan, along with the turmeric and garam masala and cook for 1 minute. Add the lentils, tomatoes, coconut milk and stock, then stir to combine.

Season with salt and pepper and cook on a low heat for 25-30 minutes until reduced and thick. Stir in the lemon juice and spinach, then cook for a further 5 minutes.

Serve with rice, naan bread or rotis and poppadoms!

 

Slow Cooker Moroccan Butternut Squash & Chickpea Stew

I haven’t used my slow cooker in a while so I’m super happy to have another crockpot recipe on my blog! The reason for this one is that I’m staying at my mum’s at the moment; and we had some butternut squash lying around but didn’t know what to do with it. Neither of us have really used it much before, in fact she doesn’t think she ever has, and I have only used it a couple of times before in a root veg mash, or had shop-bought ‘boodles’. Anyway, it’s a great ingredient for adding substance to a meal without making it too starchy. It’s lighter than sweet potato but kind of similar.

This recipe is sooooo easy it’s ridiculous. A ‘method’ section isn’t even required, as it’s basically just “put everything in a slow cooker and turn it on.” The garnishes of greek yogurt and rocket  respectively add a freshness and zing to this warm and comforting meal.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium white onion, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 3/4 cup red lentils
• 1 x 400g drained and rinsed
• 400g passata
• 1 heaped tsp freshly grated ginger
• 1 heaped tsp turmeric
• 1 heaped tsp cumin
• 2 heaped teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 tsp hot chilli powder
• 1 cinnamon stick
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• Brown rice

Garnish:

• Greek yogurt
• Rocket

Method:

Literally add everything except the rice to a slow cooker (no need to brown anything first), stir, turn on to high for 4 hours or low for 6-7 hours. Remove the lid for the last hour to thicken the sauce.

Sever with brown rice and garnishes.

Hugely Versatile Curried Vegetable Stew

Sorry for the little gap in posts, I’ve had such a busy few weeks (i.e. coming back to London for a while and staying with friends and eating out Every. Single. Night.) but things have settled down a bit now I’m up at my parents in the countryside and am going to just super chill for a couple weeks. And so, very fittingly for my current environment I’m now back with this homely, hearty stew recipe!

It’s full of veggies and spices, it’s super healthy with all natural ingredients. Clean eating at its best! For ages I thought clean eating meant boring, tasteless food but this flavourful stew completely disproves that. Serve with brown rice, cous cous or quinoa. When I make this again I think I’ll add paneer to try it out but that’s definitely just an option, its filling and tasty enough as it is here. I’m just a huge recipe tweaker!

And obviously you can add anything you like; different veg, meat or even prawns. Why not, go crazy 😉

These amounts make a huge amount of stew! I think I got about six large meals out of this, just put it in an airtight plastic container and store in the fridge or freezer.

Ingredients:

• 1 aubergine
• 1 courgette
• 2 cans tomatoes
• 1 can light coconut milk
• 1 can chickpeas
• 2 small sweet potatoes
• 4 tbsp tomato puree
• 4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 3 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 4 tsp cumin
• 3 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp dried ground ginger (or 1 tbsp fresh)
• 1 tsp cayenne chilli powder
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 6 cloves garlic
• Fresh coriander to serve

Method:

Chop the potatoes, aubergine and courgette into small chunks. Steam the potatoes for 15 mins.

When the potatoes are done, heat some olive oil in a large pot. Add the tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, spices (except the garam masala) and 1 tsp salt and cook for a couple of mins until bubbling and fragrant.

Add the coconut milk, tomatoes, potatoes, aubergine, courgette, the remaining salt and pepper to the pot and allow it to heat until boiling.

Cook on low for at least forty five minutes (the longer you cook it the more flavoursome it will be!) then add the drained chickpeas and the garam masala. Cook for another fifteen minutes.

Finely chop the coriander. Then serve the stew with brown rice, cous cous or quinoa, and sprinkle the coriander on the top.

Notes for optional additions:

If adding paneer, pan fry until browned at the beginning and set aside, then add 5 mins before the stew is ready.

If adding meat, pan fry until cooked through at the beginning and add with the coconut milk etc.

If adding prawns, sauté separately until pink and then add 2 mins before the stew is ready.

 

Healthy Brownie Pie

Okay, I have to admit I was Paleo for about three days before I realised it definitely is NOT the diet for me. I enjoy food way too much for all that restriction, and frankly, reading into it I realised don’t even agree with the concept of it anyway.

Many people will benefit from a dairy-free, refined sugar free, low carbohydrate eating plan – certain things are obvious such as feeling fuller from protein therefore you’ll eat fewer calories and so lose weight, refined sugars and processed foods aren’t good for us (we all know that), and cutting out dairy for a lot of people helps due to certain intolerances some of us have. I definitely don’t think we should cut out all grains, I think whole grains are good for us and an important part of our diet. Not that I’m knocking anyone who is Paleo and is enjoying/benefitting from it – good for them – I just think it’s not the ideal for everyone; just those who struggle with certain foods or have problems with weight or digestive issues etc.

Anyway, that said, suffice to say I’m not continuing the diet. I did it for about a week and not sure that’s long enough to notice any difference, but I didn’t (apart from frustration and boredom!).

Sorry for the bad lighting! I always cook/bake at night when there is no natural light 😦

I am however keen on being as healthy as possible while still enjoying my food. So I’m back into making healthy desserts again (ages ago I made a healthy fudge that everyone loved) as I’ve been battling against a strong sweet tooth lately. That’s why I made my Paleo banana bread last week. Now I’ve made an amazing healthy brownie pie which I have to share! It’s vegan, flourless, refined sugar free! It goes great warmed up with cream or ice cream (but that obviously makes it a bit less healthy ;)).

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup almond butter (a more watery consistency is best)
• 2/3 cup maple syrup, honey or agave
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 and a 1/2 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt

Method:

Heat oven to 160 degrees C.

Spray a small, shallow baking tin with non stick spray. I used a cake tin that’s meant to bake one half of a Victoria Sandwich cake in 🙂

Whizz the oats in a blender until most of them are fine with a few larger bits (if you like a bit of crunch!).

Fold all of the ingredients together and mix until fully combined. Then transfer to the tin and spread the top as flat as possible with a spoon or spatula.

Bake for 15 mins. Leave to stand for at least 20 mins before slicing up and serving.

It will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for about a week or a few days on the counter top (in hot climates). It can be warmed up in the microwave, or enjoyed cold.

You could definitely add chopped nuts and/or chocolate chips to this if you so desire.

 

 

Healthy Fudge

Last year I went through a period of being just slightly obsessed with making desserts. The good thing is that they were mainly healthy desserts. One of the recipes I came up with while I was experimenting was this amazing chocolate fudge.

I think it tastes kind of like a mix between fudge and a brownie. It’s super yummy and only approx 100 calories per portion (around 4 or 5 bites). It’s low carb, low sugar, low fat and low calorie diet friendly, and it contains no gluten, eggs or flour either so pretty much anyone is free to enjoy it 🙂

Okay, here’s how to make it:

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp reduced fat peanut butter
• 2 tbsp almond butter
• 1/2 ripe mashed banana
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp cocoa (optional, tastes great without too)
• Your choice of sweetener to taste (e.g. stevia, honey, agave nectar – I used 1 tbsp of stevia)

Now all you need to do is mix it all together, you can use a blender or food processor but just with a spoon works too. Spread it out in the bottom of a plastic container and freeze until hard. Cut into bite size pieces and enjoy!

Try making different flavours too, such as mint or coconut, or add nuts, chocolate chips or dried fruit. The possibilities are endless!!!