Daily Archives: April 23, 2014

Salad dressing is easy to make at home without any added nasties that you get from the commercial ones. It obviously tastes fresh and a lot better for you. I like adding Asian flavours to the fresh salads and Western dishes. All you need is a few simple ingredients in your pantry to be bold and creative. A little tricky, but taste as you go so that a dressing or sauce has a balanced flavour – salty, sweet, sour and a little spicy (because I like chili!). Here is a list of my staple ingredients in Asian cooking. Try to use good quality ingredients and home-made ones are even better.

• Coconut amino sauce or Tamari
• Sesame oil
• Vinegar: balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, rice vinegar, white wine vinegar
• Maple syrup or honey
• Tahini paste
• Deonjang and Gochujang paste
• Grated ginger, garlic, shallot

What can I say. Crispy, crunchy and light apple and fennel combine to create a perfect winter time salad. Subtle anise flavour in fennel is great for your digestion and helps with inflammation in your body. If you are not a fan of raw fennel, try to slice as thin as you can and marinade in dressing so that the acid will tenderise it and mellow the flavour while still leaving plenty of crunch. I promise you will be pleasantly surprised. Slight tart and sweet apple combined with fennel is a match made in heaven, plus this Asian dressing adds a bit of surprise. It is a great accompaniment to a grilled chicken, pork or fish.

Apple Fennel Salad with Asian Dressing

Ingredients

1/2 baby fennel
1/2 green smith apple
1/2 cup alfalfa sprouts
a bunch of coriander

For Dressing
1/2 tsp Deonjang or miso paste
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
a squeeze of lemon
salt and pepper to taste

I’m definitely on a salad kick at the moment. What not to love making beautiful salads. I like the simplicity of making them, yet the complex flavours and textures that I can create with raw veggies and a light yummy dressing to combine all together. It is an art!

Everything Chopped Salad

Ingredients

1 cup chopped grape tomatoes
1 cup chopped continental cucumber
1 cup chopped beetroot
1/2 avocado, chopped
1 bunch of coriander, roughly chopped

For Dressing
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp maple syrup
1 tbsp olive oil
juice from 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Cooking breaks down the cellulose in vegetables so they are a bit more digestible, but the healthy beta carotene in carrots needs fat in order to be absorbed. Roasting carrots in coconut oil, spices and a squeeze of lemon juice is the perfect way to get all nutritious, and so delicious on their own. Especially, cumin and carrots is a match made in heaven.

Cumin can boost your metabolism and immune system, improve digestion, and give you energy. The seed is rich in antioxidants and iron which may help women at certain times of the month. Many people say they are deficient in iron and feel run down; 1 teaspoon of cumin will give you 15.5% of the daily recommended value.Ingredients

a bunch of carrots
1 tsp of coconut oil
1 tsp of honey
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of smoked paprika
1 tsp of Himalayan salt
pepper to taste
1 tsp of olive oil

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Wash the carrots, don’t need to peel. On a foil-lined baking sheet, toss carrots with 1 tablespoon coconut oil, cumin, smoked paprika, fennel seeds, salt and pepper. Roast until tender about 20-30 minutes, flipping them half-way through. Drizzle olive oil and squeeze a lemon to serve.