Tag: carrot

  • ABC-smoothie bowl (Apple, Beetroot, Carrot & more)

    I’ve had this smoothie for breakfast almost every day in the last two weeks. Temporary crazes are part of my life :).

    This healthy red smoothie recipe is based on (and an extension of) the famous ABC (apple-beetroot-carrot) juice, but leaves in all the fibres that are important for a healthy sugar digestion.

    I love starting my days with fruits & veggies. The fats in nuts and seeds help the body absorb the many nutrients better, so be sure not to skip those. Figs are added for taste and sweetness, needed because the red fruits (at least the frozen ones that I use) are rather sour. Add more or less of those as you like.

    This smoothie (breakfast) bowl is great with toppings such as banana, berries, oats, pumpkin seeds and a bit of crunch. In this case, I used a 1/2 – 1 tablespoon of chocolate crunchy muesli bits, but raw cacao nibs would work as well.

    Without further ado, here is the recipe:

    ABC-breakfast bowl (Apple, Beetroot, Carrot & more)

    Serves 2-3

    1 apple,
    2 red beetroots, cooked (the pre-cooked ones from the shop are perfect)
    1 carrot, medium sized,
    ginger to taste (I use about 1/2 thumb size)
    2 big tablespoons red fruits (fresh or frozen)
    3 figs,
    2 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds,
    water enough to let your blender mix smoothly, and not more so that the smoothie stays thick.

    Toppings:
    Bananas, pumpkin seeds, crunchy muesli, cacao nibs, berries and whatever you fancy.

     

    Enjoy!

  • Carrot ginger oat sweetbread

    Carrot ginger oat sweetbread

    This one started with a quick experiment that turned out exceptionally well :). Since then, I’ve been adding and subtracting ingredients to tweak it to near perfection. Next time, I’ll use yeast instead of baking powder, as that is more natural.

    Recipe for carrot ginger oat sweetbread

    • 1 cup of oats, ground into flour
    • 1 half cup of whole grain wheat
    • 24 grams of vanilla sugar (3 typical 8 grams sachets)
    • 1 sachet of baking powder (or enough for the amount of flour, check label)
    • 1 half big carrot
    • 1 thumb sized piece of ginger
    • 2 eggs, beaten
    • 1 half banana in small pieces (or use figs, I haven’t yet but imagine they’d work even better with the carrot!)
    • 1 handful of crunched nuts & raisins mixture

    Thinly grate or finely chop the carrot and ginger. I use the herb chopper of my immersion blender (staafmixer).

    Combine the flours, vanilla sugar and baking powder. Add the eggs, half a cup of water (careful! You can always add more), carrot and ginger and mix. The mixture should be thick and slightly running. Spoon in banana pieces, crunched nuts and raisins to taste and put in the oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes.

    Serve topped with honey and cinnamon (don’t forget, it really boosts the flavors!)

    Lovely, right?

  • Coconut Lemongrass Ginger Curry

    Coconut Lemongrass Ginger Curry

    While healing from Bell’s Palsy (a partial face paralysis) and chronic sinusitis, I notice my body feels like eating lots if roots, bulbs and brassicaeae.

    So I threw together this dish which has many different veggies and a light yet tangy curry flavor to enjoy all the goodness of anti-inflammatory ginger, prebiotic onions and fennel, and anti-cancer broccoli, among others. I don’t mean to make any health claims here, it just feels extra good to eat this stuff these days and thought I’d share it with you.

    Best to make this dish one day before serving, the flavours balance out real nicely overnight.

    For 1 person:

    Quart 1 onion, slice a few slices of fennel, roughly chop 1 stalk of lemongrass and 1 mild red pepper, thinly slice 1 garlic clove, 1 carrot and 1 small handful of ginger.

    Lightly fry/simmer all of these (possibly together with a teaspoon of fennel seeds or aywain if at hand) in a tablespoon of coconut oil.

    Cut one large tomato in small cubes and add to the fragrant mixture in the pan.

    Also add 6-8 dried kafir lime leaves, salt, pepper, about three tablespoons of santen, a cup of water, one tablespoon of honey, a star anise and a pinch of cinnamon.

    Stir until the santen has melted into the water to form coconut milk.

    When nicely fragrant and heated through, add a handful of broccoli and cauliflower florets each. Then turn off the heat and leave the dish to rest in the closed pan. Stir sometimes. Enjoy the next day with rice. You can heat up the dish and make the sauce as thick or thin as you like.

    Enjoy!

     

     

  • Carrot coconut cashew soup

    Carrot coconut cashew soup

    Enjoy this one raw or cooked. The cashews and coconut cream (santen) make for a delicious creaminess. I’d advise to prepare the soup a few hours or up to a day before serving. The ingredients need some time to get settled before they start being all aromatic.

    A high speed blender would come in very handy now that i’m enjoying raw soups more and more, but alas… the universe has yet to supply me with one ;). A normal blender works fine, too, but then the raw soup will be a bit grainy. Although of course passing it through a sieve always helps, i didn’t make that effort this time.

    Recipe for Carrot Coconut Cashew Soup
    Blend a handful of cashews with a cup of water until you have a nice velvety cream.Then add in the blender:

    • one big carrot, in blender-friendly chunks
    • a slice of pumpkin (5 cm in width)
    • a tiny garlic clove
    • a piece of ginger
    • grated rind of one lemon or a stalk of lemongrass
    • 3 tablespoons of santen (coconut cream)
    • a piece of apple, or two dates, or honey to taste, for sweetness
    • a teaspoon or tablespoon of curry paste
    • salt & pepper
    • for hot soup: a few dried kaffer lime leafs
    • Water as needed for a smooth blend

    Kaffer lime leafs is one of those things that make your dishes taste like ‘the real thing’. It’s one of those ‘secret’ ingredients and does the trick every time. You get them at Asian food stores. Buy dried leafs; the frozen ones have lost all their taste in my experience.

    This is nice with a spoonful of turmeric cream (check it out!), if you have it. Also, try adding some acai or raw cacao powder, it gives a nice little extra layer that lifts up all ingredients.

    I just realized this…
    By the way! Using the same ingredients, you can make a very nice curry. Cut up the carrot and pumpkin and combine the other ingredients except the cashews into a sauce. Fry the veggies in coconut oil, add the sauce and simmer everything for some time with the cashews.

    Next day you can blend the leftovers into this soup.

    Wow, now i feel like doing it all over again ;).

  • Vegan Spring Rolls

    Vegan Spring Rolls

    I wish i had taken the time to make a photo that did more justice to the crispy, fresh, nutty, soft-yet-crunchy bite of these darlings.

    The truth is i didn’t realy make these spring rolls myself; i just put all the ingredients on the table and had people have their own way with stuffing the Vietnamese rice paper sheets. So in order take a nice picture, i had to grab their creations from their plates and hold them up into the last sun rays of the day… well. You get the picture. The above is the best i could come up with ;).

    Now i’ll keep this short and dive straight into the secrets of rolling spring rolls. The idea is: anything goes. I especially like combining two or more vegetables with some green leafs, sesame seeds, sprouts and avocado and then dip them in soy or sweet chili sauce.

    raw-salads-stuffing-springrolls-pixlrFor these (almost) raw vegan spring rolls, i made three colorful vegetable combinations:

    • Zucchini with thyme
    • Carrot with hemp and black mustard seeds
    • Turnip with roasted sesame seeds

    We also had three dip varieties: spicy chili, tahin (= sesame paste) with olive oil and lemon, and soy sauce.

    And instead of using avocado (which is really definitely very great for adding creaminess to spring rolls), we enjoyed these with a store-bought lentil sauce that i spiced up a bit.

    After all, there was already enough avocado going on inside the avocado lemon pie we’d have for dessert..

    Zucchini with thyme

    Grate the zucchini or cut it using a julienne cutter. Add a little bit of salt and leave to drain for 20 minutes. The salt will draw the excess water from the zucchini. You may want to catch the fluid and add it to a sauce or soup.

    Add thyme to the zucchini to taste, preferably fresh but dried is also ok.

    Carrot with hemp and mustard seeds

    Grate the carrot or cut it using a julienne cutter. Meanwhile, slowly heat the mustard seeds in a tablespoon of coconut or olive oil. The seeds are ready when they pop rather enthusiastically (whatever that means – just be careful not to burn them and you’ll develop a feeling for it).

    Add hemp and mustard seeds including the oil to the carrot. Stir.

    Turnip with sesame seeds

    Grate the carrot or cut it using a julienne cutter. Add a little bit of olive oil and the sesame seeds. Mine were ready-roasted. Freshly roasted is even more tasty. Roasting obviously makes this dish non-raw, so if raw is a must for you, don’t roast ;). Same goes for the mustard seeds above, by the way.

    Rice paper sheets

    Soak each sheet in hot water for 10-20 seconds. Take out, spread on plate, fill with desired filling, make sure it has both creaminess and crunch. It’s a nice effect when you see little black sesame or mustard seeds shining through. Roll up while also folding at least one side in, so that sauce inside will not spill all over the place.

    Eating with hands and double dipping are allowed.

     

  • Sweet & Spicy Carrot Beetroot Salad

    Sweet & Spicy Carrot Beetroot Salad

    Ahhh yes this one is a classic, fun to make and a big winner – probably because of its nice warm flavors.

    I bought the ingredients already sliced in julienne. If you want to do it yourself, a julienne cutter comes in very handy.

    Recipe for Sweet & Spicy Carrot Beetroot salad

    serves 4, as a side dish

    • one handful of raw carrot, en julienne
    • one handful of beetroot, en julienne (raw or cooked, i used cooked)
    • ginger syrup, two tablespoons
    • Chinese five spices (fennel-pepper-cinnamon-coriander-anisseed-mixture)
    • handful of raisins
    • handful of seroendeng (Indonesian dried coconut & peanut mixture) *
    • dried chili flakes
    • sesame seeds (i may have added some hemp seeds as well..)
    • greens to decorate, such as diced peppers or coriander leafs
    • some oil, sesame or sunflower for example

    Toss everything together. Let sit for 10 minutes (or more) so that the tastes can all combine nicely.

    Enjoy!