Rainbow Chard & Strawberry Salad

This is a salad that I have been making for quite some time. It makes for a really refreshing summer meal that has nice sweet and sour notes. I really don't follow any strict measurements and just mix the ingredients in the quantity that looks good in my salad bowl. I made this salad again yesterday but forgot to take pictures - will whip it up again soon and post some photos. Till then here is how to go about it:

INGREDIENTS

• 5-6 leaves and stalks of rainbow chard - finely chopped (can you any kind of chard)
• 1 handful of strawberries - sliced
• 1 handful of cherry tomatoes - halved
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• juice of 1/2 lime
• Lightly Roasted walnuts (optional)
• Goat cheese (optional)
• salt & pepper

PROCESS

1. Cut the chard into thin slices.
2. Add the chopped strawberries and tomatoes
3. Dressing: Mix the olive oil+honey+lime juice and salt pepper in a small bowl
4. Drizzle the dressing on the salad - if need be mix in additional honey or lime juice depending how sweet or sour you want it to be
5. Toast the walnuts on a low flame till they are fragrant.
6. Garnish with roasted walnuts and goat cheese

Thai Style Green Lentils with Avocado Relish

It has been a while, I posted a new recipe here. The past few weeks went by in a blink of an eye. Anyways, I am back in the kitchen making good old favorites along with trying my hand at a few new concoctions. This dal was one such meal - its was pretty easy to put together provided you had all the ingredients on hand. It turned out to be a simple healthy meal with a mild thai flavor.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup French (Puy Lentils)
• 1-2 Tbsp coconut oil
• 1 Tbsp green thai curry spice mix (optional)
• 2-3 one inch lemongrass stalk (optional)
• 1  tsp cumin seeds
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/4  tsp chili powder (cayenne powder)
• 2 large garlic cloves - minced
• 1 inch ginger piece - minced/grated
• 1 small tomato - pureed
• 1 can coconut milk (full fat)
• Juice from 1/2 a Lime
• Handful of fresh cilantro - chopped
• salt and black pepper to taste

NOTES: 

- You can use any type of whole lentils - Sabut Urad (Black Beluga) would work very well here.

- The thai seasonings such a lemongrass and green curry spice add a wonderful flavor to the dish but you can definitely make it without them. It might not be as aromatic but would still be pretty good.

- I don't hate/avoid fats especially plant based fats and that is why I always use full fat coconut milk - if you feel the need you could swap it for a low fat version.

- My dal turned out to be very dark - blackish in color because of the cast iron pot that I had used. If you make it in a stainless steel pot, yours might have a yellowish tinge to it.

PROCESS:

1. Soak the lentils for at least 3-4 hours and then pressure cook them with about 3 cups of water. If you do not soak the dal - you might end up cooking a bit longer. If you do not have ot want to use a pressure cooker,  you could also cook them on a low flame in a normal covered pan for about 40-60 minutes. 
2. Heat the coconut oil in a big heavy bottomed pot - I used my cast iron dutch oven for this. Add the thai curry spice mix+lemongrass+cumin+coriander+turmeric+chili powder.  Toast them for about a minute - till get fragrant and change color.
3. Add the minced garlic and ginger along with salt and pepper - cook for 30 secs.
4. Add the tomato puree and let it cook for about 15-20 minutes on low flame - till the tomatoes are fully cooked and all excess water has disappeared. 
5. Once your above tadka (spice mix) is done - mix in the cooked lentils to it. (Alternatively, you could also add the soaked but uncooked lentils at this point and let the cook with the spice mix for about 40 minutes.)
6. Once the lentils are cooked - add the coconut milk, lime juice and fresh cilantro.
7. Adjust the seasonings and serve it in bowls  - top the bowls of dal with avocado relish (Recipe Below). You could eat the dal with a side of rice or any other grain, we however loved it just as it is.

Avocado Relish

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large avocado diced
• 2 green onions - chopped
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp honey
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder or chopped fresh green chili
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro - chopped

PROCESS

1. In a mixing bowl - add the chopped avocado and green onions. 
2. Whisk the honey, oil, lime juice and chili powder separately and add it to the mixing bowl.
3. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro.

Cacao v/s Cocoa

I use cacao powder in all my recipes that ask for chocolate or cocoa. This is one of my favorite cookie recipes. I had been thinking of writing  a brief on the basic difference b/w the two and their respective benefits.

The basic difference between cacao and cocoa is that Cacao is raw and minimally processed. It is made by cold-pressing unroasted cacao beans. The process keeps the living enzymes and removes the fat (cacao butter). It is considered to be the biggest source of antioxidants and magnesium. There are three natural by-products of the cacao tree and I use and love all three of them - Cacao butter, powder and nibs.
The Cacao fruit tree produces cacao pods which contain the cacao beans. The outer lining of the inside of the cacao bean is the fattiest part of the fruit which is buttery in texture and resembles white chocolate in taste and looks - this is called cacao butter (I make an awesome cacao butter moisturizer at home- will post the recipe soon).
After removing the cacao butter, the bean is then used to make raw cacao powder. You can use this powder in baking, smoothies, milk shakes etc.
And cacao nibs are simply raw cacao bins crushed to bits.

Cocoa on the other hand is the heated form of cacao that is more popular and commercially more easily available. Cocoa despite going through higher temperatures of heat during its processing still manages to retain surprising high level of antioxidants. If you are buying cocoa choose a version with no added sugars, milk fats and oils.

Chocolate bar - When buying chocolate choose the one with really high cocoa content - at least 60-70% or higher. The higher the cocoa content the darker the chocolate and it also means that it has less amount of other not-so-healthy ingredients such as sugars, processed oils, flavorings etc.

A high quality chocolate should contain just about 3 to 4 ingredients: chocolate, cocoa butter/ cocoa mass, and/or cocoa liquor, plus sugar. Anything beyond that is all crap such as milk or milk products, any oil, soya lecithin, emulsifiers, ‘natural flavour’, or preservatives.
Finding out how your chocolate was processed might be a super tedious process but it will tell you a lot about how healthy your chocolate actually is - Drying cacao beans in the sun instead of roasting them preserves many of the chocolate’s delicate nutrients. Make sure that their processing temperature is not over 110°F. Avoid chocolate whose processing includes “Dutching”, an alkalization method that actually removes the polyphenols, which add the characteristic bitter flavor to the finished product.

I buy my cacao products from the bulk section of my health food store. If I am correct, Whole foods carry Nutiva brand cacao and cocoa powder which are organic although I do not know much about how they process it.

Cacao & Peanut Butter Cookies

This recipe originally was made with Cocoa powder and dark chocolate bits - I made a few changes and used cacao powder and nibs as I prefer Cacao over cocoa. I personally do not find any difference between the taste of the two but that's probably because I am used to it.

They did turn out to be pretty tasty - although I was not happy with the amount of sugar that went into it. Though in my 2nd try I replaced regular sugar with coconut sugar and the cookies tasted just as good.
The best part about these cookies is that you can make them completely gluten free (current version) or vegan (use nut milk) or nut free (use seed butter) depending on your personal preference.

Makes about 12 large cookies

Ingredients:

WET INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tablespoon ground flax mixed with 3 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup virgin coconut oil (do not melt)
• 1/4 cup peanut butter (Can replace with almond or sunflower seed butter)
• 1/3 cup sucanat
• 1/3 cup coconut sugar (can use normal sugar)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean or vanilla extract

DRY INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt (optional)
• 3 tablespoons cacao powder (can use cocoa as well)
• 1.5 cups rolled oats, processed into flour (or 1.5 cups oat flour)
• 3-4 teaspoons milk -only if needed to moisten batter 
• handful of cacao nibs (can use chocolate chips)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. 
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flax and water and set aside for a few minutes so it can thicken up. Whisk the flax egg again once thickened.
3. Add the rest of the wet ingredients into the bowl with the flax egg (coconut oil, peanut butter, sucanat, cane sugar, and vanilla). With a hand-held electric mixer, beat the ingredients until combined and smooth.
4. Now, beat in the dry ingredients, one by one, as you go down the ingredient list (baking soda, baking powder, salt, cacao powder, oat flour). If your dough is a bit dry, add a few tea-spoons of milk and beat the mixture again. The dough should be moist enough to form balls without cracking, but not super sticky.
5. Beat the cacao nibs into the batter or simply stir by hand.
6. Shape balls of dough (about the size of a golf ball or 2 heaping tablespoons) and place on the baking sheet 2-3 inches apart. Gently press down on each ball with your hand to form a disc (it should be 1/2-inch thick or so).
7. Bake for about 12-13 minutes (I baked for 13 mins) until the cookies are spread out nicely.
8. Cool cookies on the baking sheet for 7 minutes or so and then transfer to a cooling rack for another 10-15 minutes.