food

Nourish Bowl: Poke or is it Bim Bap Bop or …….

| Liz Thomas


Poke Bowl or maybe I should call it a Prana Bowl, it gives you so much energy without being heavy. 
This is not strictly like the Poke I had in Hawaii, they make it much more simply without the Togarashi, maybe just some sesame. It was my staple there as I was recovering from an illness, I was after a healthy, inexpensive meal that wasn’t American take-away. This is a traditional dish and was a taste revelation. I credit it with aiding a swift recovery. 

Such a healthy dish. With the addition of kimchi and egg it reminds me of Bim Bap Bop, a Korean dish that means stir it up! Dave also loves this dish as illustrated below. We love sashimi so we like to eat a little salmon neat before we hit the flavour sensation of the marinated fish. If you don’t like fish it’s good just with the veg or some other simply marinated protein like tofu or chicken (cooked obviously). Stir it up, my belly always tells me it’s happy after this one, I feel nourished and satisfied. Enjoy 🙂 


Recipe 

Marinate 750g raw fresh fish (tell your fishmonger you’re going to eat it it raw, mine goes out the back to get the freshest) Salmon/tuna in the following for 2hrs to two days in the following 

Optional 1 tablespoon Togarashi: sesame , chilli, seaweed, salt, dried orange peel chopped, grind up with a little salt (to dry peel, use a vegetable peeler to take off the orange zest and hang for a few days depending on the weather) 

1 tablespoon Soy sauce 

1 teaspoon Sesame oil 

1 teaspoon Grated chilli, ginger and garlic or  to taste

1-2 tablespoons Spring onion finely sliced
Serve on a bowl of rice (red rice is even healthier) with salad veggies chopped and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and spring onion greens.
Just use whatever you have, obviously I had plenty this day. I fried some mushrooms from the Asian store, the cheapest place to buy them, with sesame oil, butter, fresh ginger, garlic, white pepper and salt. Rehydrated wakame seaweed in hot water soya sauce and a few drops of sesame oil. Kimchi. Fried egg. Diakon, carrot, avocado and bean sprouts. 
Serve with extra Togarashi, pickled ginger, soya sauce and wasabi on the side. 
Namaste 

Liz

lizthomasyoga.com 

 MISO SEAWEED POWER BREAKFAST 

| Liz Thomas

Beat breakfast boredom and start your day with a nutritional boost in an instant.


It takes no time to prepare just put some bean-thread noodles in a bowl with some dried mushrooms (I used cloud-ear and sliced shiitake) with some cut wakame seaweed, pour over boiling water and stir in a tablespoon of miso. Cover for 10mins while you get ready and Shazam! A delicious, healthy breakfast. 

Support your immune function, reduce inflammation, cultivate good gut bacteria, improve circulation and blood pressure and so much more. I recommend reading more if you are a nutrition nut like mwah. 

Miso: high in antioxidants, protein and fibre.

Bean thread vermicelli: lower gi than other noodles, mineral inch for cell health, I love these things they are fabulous in a Thai salad too.

Seaweed: adds Unami flavour and slippery texture a swell as protein, many vitamins and minerals.

Mushrooms: cloud-ear’s and shiitake are both used in traditional Chinese medicine and have anti everything: antimicrobial, antiviral, antitumour, antibacterial  and antioxidant qualities …………and promote general wellbeing! But I like them for the firm texture of the shiitake and the slippery texture of the cloud-ears. 

Get your mushrooms, noodles, non-Gm miso and wakame in your Asian supermarket. You can get most of these ingredients in your local large corporate supermarket however you might make a great discovery in the Asian store. Last time I found purple rice imagine the antioxidants in that! 

I get about 4-5hours of belly satisfaction from this if it’s got to get you through something really physical or a longer timeframe add some silken tofu or egg drizzled in at the preparation stage. 

Enjoy x

Namaste ❤️🙏 Liz 

Vego San Choi Bao

| Liz Thomas

  
 We shared a deliciously healthy treat tonight after yoga, giving one of my favourite Aussie-Chinese restaurant entrees the vegetarian treatment. We all agreed this one was better than usual pork or chicken version! Try it 🙂 I think you’ll love it too.

Namaste Liz 
Ingredients 

Sesasme oil

Coconut oil 

1-2 tablespoons Hoisin sauce 

1-2 tablespoons Sweet chilli sauce

Optional finely chopped chilli

1-2 garlic grated

2.5cm ginger grated

Half red capsicum, finely chopped

Small can water chesnuts, finely chopped

5 small cup mushrooms, finely chopped

Enoki mushrooms 

1large carrot, finely chopped

Bunch a of Spring onions, finely chopped

Bunch coriander, finely chopped leaves, root and stems

1 iceberg lettuce leaves whole,refreshed in cold water

3 tablespoons mung beans or other sprouts 

3 tablespoons chopped cashews
Method

Separate lettuce leaves and place in ice water or in a cold water in the fridge til ready to serve.

Fry in oils over a medium heat, white part of onions, coriander root and carrots for 5mins

Add garlic and ginger, stirring.

Add capsicum, chesnuts, coriander stems and cup mushrooms.

Add sauces.

Cover and cook for 5mins.

Stir through enoki, coriander leaves, green part spring onion, mung beans and nuts.

Serve warm mixture in cold lettuce cups.

All your Veg Asian Slaw with Cashews and Crunchy Noodles

| Liz Thomas

 

 
The most delicious way to get your veg is to make a dressing that is hot, salty, sweet and sour. Fresh lime, chilli and ginger are the champs in this salad: chop it all up and stir it through the salad veg and voila! It tastes like a cross between a Thai and Vietnamese salad.

Clean out the crisper with this one. You can use any crunchy veg sliced up fine in any combination. Make up a huge container it stays crunchy for days without the dressing. You will look forward to your lunch everyday.

I used the leftovers of this salad to make a delicious kimchi-like wild ferment mmmm

Inspired by the recipe on the back of the noodle packet, this version is punked right up with big flavours. Enjoy making your own versions with whatever you have on hand. The most important part is to get the balance to your liking in the dressing which depend on the sweetness in your lime and the heat in your chilli, so taste it before you dress it.

lovely on its own or even better with some tofu marinated in soy, fivespice powder and seasame oil.

Salmon grilled, sliced steak, prawns or chicken also make this into a wonderful meal. Even a can of tuna, for a work lunch, is a good match.

Ingredients

Fried Noodles, handful

Cashews, dry roasted in a warm pan for a few minutes

Zest of two limes

1/4- 1/2 wombok, chinese cabbage or any cabbage, finely sliced

10 cavalo nero, black cabbage, stripped from the stem, very finely sliced

1 red capsicum/pepper finely sliced

1 green capsicum/pepper finely sliced

1-2 cucumbers cut into strips

1-2 carrots sliced with a vegetable peeler nd cut on diagonal

1 cup coriander or vietnamese mint or lemon basil or combo, roughly chopped

optional red chilli finely sliced

Dressing

1 tespoon seasame oil

2cm knob of fresh ginger, if you keep your ginger in the freezer its easier to grate

1 clove of garlic finely grated

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1-2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce or fresh chilli & 1-3 teaspoons sugar

optional fish sauce

2 limes squeezed, plus lime wedges to serve

Method

  1. Mix all the veg and lime zest together and refrigerate until ready to serve.
  2. Put all dressing ingredients in a jar and shake, taste and adjust to your liking so the flavours are balanced.
  3. When your ready to serve assemble all ingedients in a bowl reserving some nuts and noodles for the top, mix thouroughly and taste and adjust for balance.
  4. Serve with lime wedges, nuts, noodles and any additional protein of your choice. MIX!

There you go Yogis! This is one of our recipes from Monday Munchies, a little sharing of food love after class, this one was requested by Julia. Love my yoga friends.

namaste 

Liz


Camembert/Brie Potato Pie

| Liz Thomas

The last time I ate this I was 16 years old and eating at a relative of my boyfriends “relos” house. He always hated it when we had to go, I on the other hand loved it. His relatives were of Italian heritage and they, along with the wealth of multicultural friends I had during highschool, taught me how to eat well! I remember this dish vividly although I did not ask for the recipe, it was so delicious as was my first taste of Frangelico I was offered after dinner. I will always be grateful for such experiences.

This is a wonderful dish that is easy to prepare ahead of time, refrigerate and pop in the oven when required, perfect for dinner parties as a side dish or served with a crisp salad for lunch on a cool day. Here is my interpretation of a long-held memory tweaked with the experience of a few years in between. Honey and cheese are a match made in heaven that I first tried in a french restaurant on toast! Sounds weird tastes amazing 🙂

Camembert/Brie Potato Pie

Camembert/Brie Potato Pie

Ingredients

1                          wheel of brie or camembert cut into eight wedges

500g                   peeled potatoes

2                          garlic cloves squashed against the chopping board

60 g                    butter

splash  milk

1/4 cup              grated cheese

1 tablespoon    fresh thyme leaves

1 onion               sliced finely

1                           teaspoon honey

extra oil

camembert/brie potato pie

Method

  1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees C.
  2. Boil potatoes and garlic  in salted water for 10 mins or until soft.
  3. Whilst cooking potatoes prepare onion, thyme and 20 g of the butter ready for cooking in a small saucepan.camembert/brie potato pie
  4. Drain potatoes, remove garlic skin and garlic if desired.
  5. Mash potato with milk and remaining butter.
  6. Cover the base and sides of 20cm dish with mash potato,
  7. Place brie wedges on top,  spoon the rest of the mash around the wedges pushing potato between the spaces.
  8. Leave the top rough sprinkle with cheese. Bake for approx 30mins until the cheese has browned on top.
  9. Whilst baking slowly cook onions in the saucepan with the thyme leaves butter and some extra oil is required.
  10. Turn up the heat on the onions when the pie is ready. To frizzle them, cook on high till brown. Add the honey at the last moment stirring off the heat. Pour over the pie.
  11. Garnish with thyme leaves and flowers if you have them.

IMG_5389

Enjoy! Namaste Liz 🙂

 

Mushroom, Potato and Leek soup……… starring Chervil

| Liz Thomas

Simple yet special with Chervil

I love my Farmers Market in Moruya (voted no#1 in Australia!) and this week there was a lovely new stall holder with homebaked goodies and home grown herbage. I just think its fabulous that our farmers market allows the home gardener to bring in their excess produce to share with the community.

Chervil, is not commonly available in regular retail outlets and I haven’t grown it. It has a beautiful, delicate anise flavour with fern-like foliage that is very pretty. Apparently it had traditional medicinal properties for memory and wellbeing. The origins of its name come from Greek and means to enjoy! This recipe certainly fits the bill.

I like to try something new from the market, this week its Chervil is my challenge ingredient. I am no “Iron Chef” however when our beautiful spring weather turned a little blustery I was keen to put on the fire, probably for the last time for the year and get a soup happening.

EAT MORE VEG! is my mantra of the moment so here we have a simple lovely warmer for a cool day in Spring or Autumn/Fall if you are in the northern hemisphere 🙂

The result is a bit special so go ahead and grow your own or find a friend with some, of course it would be great with parsley too.

IMG_0771-0.JPG

Mushroom Potato and Leek Soup

INGREDIENTS
500g peeled potato
6 roughly chopped mushrooms
3 medium leek whites, finely sliced
1 small garlic clove roughly chopped
1 litre stock, I think mine was chicken, who knows in my freezer! powdered is fine.
butter or olive oil
nutmeg
chervil roughly chopped

METHOD

1. Sweat leeks in frying medium on low, add mushies and garlic and cook for a further 5mins.
2. Add potato and stock, simmer for 15mins.
3. Grate half a whole nutmeg or half a tsp of ground nutmeg, season with S & P.
4. Wizz in the blender and serve for a healthy version or add cream for an indulgent one.
5. Serve with abundant chervil and perhaps some homemade bread.
6. ENJOY!

Namaste Liz