I make this carrot cake without sugar, it’s based on Ottolenghi’s carrot and walnut cake, but I’ve simplified it. You can make it with sugar, or coconut sugar or xylitol (and you really can’t tell there’s no sugar in it if you go down that route) It’s just as delicious with or without. My friend Ralph took it to work and people couldn’t believe that there was no sugar in it because it was so delicious!
Like Gado Gado, this is another Indonesian street food recipe. It is a delicious mix of sweet and sour with a bit of crunch mixed with the creamy egg. Who’d have thought lime would go with a fried egg? Well it really does. You can soft poach the eggs if you prefer… It’s perfect Asian comfort food and its low budget and pretty healthy too. I love anything with a fried egg!
I think beetroot rocks and this is my take on beetroot pachadi, a creamy Indian curry dish which is normally served puréed. I prefer it chunky but with the same great flavours, I also love the popping texture of the mustard seeds in your mouth when you eat it. I have added crunchy coconut chips as a garnish, to add even more texture. It’s a great Indian sweet and sour dish which can be a stand alone dish, but is delicious with other curries too, including meat ones, and perfect served with basmati rice and a salad or a paratha. My friends have tested this recipe out for me and they all think it’s brilliant. Thanks friends.
This salad is lower carb, and for me it has the right combination of textures and flavours, because it tastes fresh and delicious. It has the creaminess of the coconutty and peanutty sauce mixed with the crunchiness of the cucumber and the sweet and sour flavours from the limes, maple syrup, Sriracha and coconut cream dressing. This is a vegan recipe at its penultimate best and is fab served with fish like my (Asian sea bass) but you can serve it with chicken or steak and if you aren’t low carbing it, serve with Thai sticky rice. Yum.
Recipe
Serves 4.
Ingredients:
1 large cucumber
A sprig of fresh coriander finely chopped
A handful of chopped roasted peanuts
2 salad onions finely sliced
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds (I use black sesame seeds)
The dressing
3 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter
1/2 clove of garlic
1 tablespoon of coconut cream
1 lime juiced
2 tablespoons of water
1/2 teaspoon of Sriracha (chilli sauce)
1 tablespoon of soya sauce
1 tablespoon of maple syrup
Hurrah…it’s pear season. I think pears are fairly underrated, partly because they sit rock hard in fruit bowls and no one knows if and when they will ripen, and when they do ripen they start to become over ripe really quickly. Well now here’s an answer, so they don’t go to waste, I use them raw while they are still hard in salads or I roast them with vanilla, spices and honey and serve them as a dessert.
Most people opt for apples over pears but I kind of prefer pears. Like my pear salad, I sometimes like to use them as I would a vegetable and pay homage to the humble pear.
You can use soft or hard pears for this salad, either will do. Apart from tasting delicious, it also looks beautiful with the colour of the red cabbage.
I wanted to create a recipe that uses hard pears for salads as they are perfect in the same way as carrots and celeriac are. So I created this healthy, tasty salad and tested it on friends at dinner and they really loved it and wanted the recipe, and they are still talking about how delicious it is. The dressing is an unusual combination of flavours, like mustard and lime juice, but trust me, it works. You can use ripe pears if your pears are ripe, it’s still delicious, and it’s also amazing with shavings of pecorino. Pecorino and lime, who’d have thought? Perfect, too, if you want to try new flavours salad-wise.
Recipe
Serves 2.
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon Poppy seeds
3 firm pears cored and very thinly sliced (I leave the skin on but its up to you) they can be sliced lengthways or in discs
A round radicchio roughly shredded or chopped chicory
A sprig of parsley finely chopped
A sprig of chives finely chopped
1 teaspoon of maple syrup
¼ teaspoon of English mustard
1 lime, zest and juice
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
You can use other root vegetables for this recipe like sweet potato, but I use carrots and parsnips because I love them. The maple syrup makes them sweet and sticky which work really well with the flavours of the carrots and parsnips. They also become soft on the inside and sticky and crunchy-ish on the outside, which as you know is always a great combo in my book. I don’t peel the parsnips and carrots as I think all the flavour and fibre are in the skin, and life’s too short.
Recipe
Serves 4-6.
Ingredients:
1 kg of assorted root vegetables
3 tablespoons of olive oil
5 tablespoons of maple syrup
Salt and pepper to taste
Don’t you love a snack? I love them and I’d be happy to live on them for the rest of my life. These are a lower carb version of a Gado Gado salad, but in a small snack form. So if you are on a lower carb regime they are perfect. Great as a canapé or starter, or just in front of Netflix with your favourite box set. They are crunchy, creamy and sweet and sour, which is, if you read this blog, my favourite combo… blinking delish.
Serves 3-4.
Ingredients:
12 Quails eggs (£2.60 doz from Sainsbury’s) or 4 normal size eggs
1 red pepper very finely chopped
1 head of chicory or a lettuce
1 small cucumber, julienned(I use a julienne peeler)
A handful of crispy onions (supermarket)
A small sprig of fresh coriander
The sauce:
1 clove of chopped garlic
3 tablespoons of maple syrup
5 tablespoons of peanut butter
Juice of 2 limes
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon of soya sauce
1 tablespoon of tamarind paste
Chilli sauce to taste (optional)
These pink pickled onions really are this colour when you make them. They are so pretty and will look beautiful adorning anything with their pinkness. I first had these in a Mexican restaurant with refried beans on corn tortillas and they were delicious in a sort of burger relish kind of way. They are crunchy, tangy and delicious, perfect as a kind of low calorie relish. They are amazing on salads, on a chilli, in a burrito, with any fish or meat or even in a toasted cheese sarnie. They are the easiest thing to make and great to have in the fridge. Continue reading
This salad is surprisingly delicious. Most salads have raw fennel in them, but roasting fennel makes it lose its liquoricey taste and it becomes a different but delicious salad ingredient, also it brings out the sweetness and it becomes quite tender and a bit crispy all at the same time. Great on its own (I like it with chips) and you can also serve it with fish, chicken or meat and you have a fab low carb meal. My friends really love it and make this a lot, plus it’s pretty healthy.
