Eat food you love that loves you back
Autumn is definitely here. Crisp mornings with air that tingles the end of your nose, leaves turning an array of colours before they drop to the ground in a pile ready to be jump in. Or, more sadly, stormy grey days with enough rain to send you into the back of the cupboard to hunt out the wellies. But whatever the weather, autumn is also time for thick, soul-soothing soup. Continue reading “Sweet potato and bean soup”
It’s 4th July, so Happy Independence Day to all my American friends and blog readers. 4th July always makes me think of BBQs and parties outdoors, and as summer has truly hit Northern Europe, it seemed the perfect time to share this delicious veggie burger recipe. Continue reading “Sweet potato and black bean burgers”
It’s day 4 of my video series, sharing some of my top tips and easy recipes for Global Sharing Week. Today, I’m going to tell you how to make a super easy and deliciously tasty chocolate cake frosting alternative. No refined fats, just deliciousness and extra nutrients. It’s recipes like this that make cake health food 🙂 Continue reading “Sweet potato chocolate frosting”
We have a bit of thing for falafels in this house. It’s one of our weekly staples – they’re easy to make, taste amazing and can fill up even the hungriest of teenage boys. Lunch, dinner or snack, there’s always a good time for a falafel! Continue reading “Sweet potato falafels”
There are some vegetables that are always on my shopping list; sweet potatoes is one of them. This amazingly versatile tuber appears in a meal at least twice a week, if not more, either as part of a dish or as the main star. Sweet potatoes can be baked, roasted, steamed or (if you really have to) boiled. I sneak them into all sorts of recipes, sweet as well as savoury.
Lots of foods get given the ‘super food’ label; sweet potato is one of them. Is it justified? Yes! Bright orange sweet potato is packed full of betacarotene, the precursor to vitamin A. A deficiency in this vitamin can lead to a number of health problems, including eyesight and skin disorders. This episode of Food Unwrapped headed off to Africa to investigate these superfood claims, and it is remarkable to see the effects of eat just one sweet potato a day can have. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/superfoods-the-real-story/videos/all/s1-ep2-sweet-potato/4340125985001
If you don’t have time for watching TV, then have a look at this infographic I’ve put together. I’ll be posting some new recipes using sweet potato soon.
Are you a fan? I’d love to hear your favourite ways of eating this tasty tuber!
If you want to make your own infographic but don’t know where to start, check out www.canva.com (this is the site I used!). It’s not as difficult as you might think!
Veggie curries are always on the menu in our house. They can be super quick and easy to make as well as full of rainbow plant based ingredients packed with nutrients and flavour. They are also perfect for using up veggie odds and ends that you don’t know what else to do with, thereby cutting down on food waste. And of course they are easy to make dairy and gluten free.
Whilst in India, I learnt some top tips about prepping for curries that made life easier, as there can be rather a lot of peeling and chopping. That’s where a small blender comes in handy for getting ingredients like onion, ginger and garlic ready – a quick peel, a couple of rough chops, a little tip into the blender pot and a few whizzes later you have a fine dice ready to cook. If you add a little water, you can also 
create your own paste, cutting out the need for any oil if you want to go oil free too. And as the veggies are prepped small, they don’t take as long to cook, saving you time. It also makes the sauce smoother, especially useful if you have someone in the house fussy about lumpy bits!
I also discovered asafoetida in India, otherwise known as Hing (which is much easier to say and spell!). This is another India spice commonly used in veggie dishes that has a very pungent and savoury flavour. In fact, if you take a sniff of the pot, it may put you off. But in cooking, it mellows out and adds a depth to the taste of your dish. You can buy it in most larger supermarkets or local Indian stores. And you only need a little, so a pot lasts a long time. It’s really worth a try.
Asafoetida aids the digestive system, as does ginger and cumin, also part of this dish. Add that with the anti-inflammatory properties and general fabulousness of turmeric, this dish is not only wonderfully tasty, but can help the body heal too. That’s even before the impressive phytonutrients found in the sweet potatoes and spinach are looked at.
So why not give this rainbow curry a go one evening and let the flavour soothe your tastebuds and the magic within soothe your body!
Sweet potato, spinach and chickpea curry (serves 4)
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 red chilli
1 inch piece fresh ginger
a pinch of asafoetida/hing
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks
400g tin chickpeas rinsed and drained
400g tin chopped tomatoes
200g spinach, washed and roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste.
Peel the onion, garlic and ginger. Chop a couple of times and put in the bowl of a small food processor. Wash the chilli, deseed and chop a couple of times then put in the pot. Blitz for a few seconds until chopped into tiny pieces.
Heat a large pan on a medium heat and sprinkle the asafoetida on the bottom for a minute until you smell the pungent aroma. Add a little oil or water then tip in the blitzed veg. Sauté for a few minutes until soft and starting to brown – don’t let it burn or the garlic will be bitter. Add the tomatoes and turmeric and simmer for a couple of minutes, then stir in the sweet potato and cover with the tomato sauce. Add a little extra water if needed, but not too much as you want a dryish curry. Turn down the heat, pop on the lid and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the chickpeas and simmer again for another 10 minutes until the sweet potato is cooked. Stir in the spinach, pop the lid back on and simmer for another couple of minutes until the spinach is fully wilted and incorporated.
Season with salt and pepper as needed and serve with some steamed brown rice or chapattis. Enjoy!
