Category Archives: Lunch

Feeling like a sweet succulent salad? This carrot and pumpkin salad will satisfy you! My body is just calling for vegetables and salads this week probably due to an unhealthy (relatively) holiday last week. Today, I’m injecting beta-carotene into my body.

Yellow vegetables, like carrots and pumpkins, are so high in anti-oxidants, vitamins (especially carotenes and vit-A) and dietary fibre. On top of that, they are low in calories and fat. They do all the wonderful magics to your body – improving your vision, cancer prevention, anti-aging, healthy skin, cleansing, etc. You cannot ask more, can you?

Carrots are a great snack as well as side dishes. You can have it as raw with yummy hummus or soft cheese.  But when it’s cooked, beta-carotene can be absorbed to your body about five times more than when eaten raw. The reason being is a cooking process helps to dissolve a resistant cell wall of the carrots that locks in the beta-carotene. So you can maximise health benefits by cooking them. It is better to cook the whole carrots (e.g. boiling) before cutting or mashing them to preserve nutrients. Another way is like me, I chopped them up with butternut pumpkins and quickly cook in a frying pan with a teaspoon of coconut oil. You can add a drizzle of honey, balsamic vinegar, cumin seeds to enhance the flavour. Sage is one of the herbs that merry very well with carrots. I loved a smell of sage caramelising with carrots in a pan and also the colour – intense orange/ yellow plus beautiful caramelisation on the outside! Yummy lunch served so easy:)

My aunty lives in a country side after she and her husband retired. They now have a huge block of land full of organic fruits and vegetables that she is busy looking after. Thanks to her, all our family gets to eat fresh foods delivered to the door. She not only has a farmer’s hat but also is a great cook! She just has these magic hands that make all fresh produce turn out to be great dishes. Before I came back to Perth, she packed me a couple of bottles of freshly squeezed sesame oil, dehydrated pumpkin powder and concentrated plum tea. I always worry about losing the food items at the customs though it was fine this time. Hooray!

I made a pumpkin soup for lunch today using dehydrated pumpkin powder. My aunt harvested pumpkins, sliced them, dehydrated in the full autumn sun, and pounded to the powders – Yes! a long process, but it really boosts all the goodness in the pumpkins. These magic powders have full of packed nutrients; an antioxidant beta-carotene that fights against cancer, a provitamin for vit A, that is good for your eyes,  vit C for immune system and skin, a great source of fibre, potassium and zinc. I love using pumpkin in my cooking since it is so versatile. Great for soup, roasted pumpkin salad, stuffed pumpkin, stir-fry, etc.

I put two heap tablespoons of pumpkin powder, vegetable stock and handful of pine nuts in the small pot. Boil for about 5-10 mins in medium heat until it is cooked, then blended with a stick blender until you get an ideal smooth consistency. I like mine to have a bit of chunky bits and spicy, so blended about half way and added some cayenne pepper. It was so warmly and filling!