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KIMCHI & QUINOA SALAD (serves four)
This zingy probiotic salad is a doddle to put together once you have made yourself a delicious jar of kimchi. For a lower FODMAP option, use fermented carrots or radishes. I keep precooked quinoa in the freezer, packed flat in freezer bags, so that I can throw this salad together in minutes. To make it a more substantial meal, add some shredded cooked meat or fish, or a couple of soft boiled eggs, some fried tempeh or a handful of cooked adzuki or black beans.
INGREDIENTS
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400g cooked quinoa (175g dry quinoa – see instructions)
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8 chestnut mushrooms or large button mushrooms
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200g pink radishes or breakfast radishes
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2 handfuls of coriander leaves
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300g kimchi
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cold pressed sesame oil
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4 handfuls (100g) soft salad leaves
If you don’t have precooked quinoa, cover the dry quinoa in cold water and leave to soak for 6-12 hours at room temperature. Rinse through a sieve until there is no soapy froth, drain and put into a lidded saucepan with 175g water. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid, turn down the heat and simmer until the water is all absorbed (about 10 minutes), check by pulling back the quinoa to see the bottom of the pan.
Turn off the heat but leave the lid on the pan for another 5 minutes and then tip the quinoa out onto a plate to cool. It’s worth cooking larger amounts and storing in the freezer, just use from frozen as it will defrost quickly.
Slice the mushrooms and thinly slice the radishes, put ¾ of these into a mixing bowl and reserve the rest. Add ¾ of the coriander leaves, the quinoa and most of the kimchi to the bowl, drizzle in a good glug of sesame oil and mix well. If you are using cooked pulses, add these now. Check for seasoning – you shouldn’t need any salt or lemon as the kimchi is salty and sour, but you might want to add more oil.
Put a handful each of salad leaves into 4 large dining bowls and top with the salad. Arrange the remaining mushrooms, radish slices, kimchi and coriander leaves on top and add any protein that you are using.
GREEN BEANS, ROAST BEETS, LABNEH & CARMELISED BUTTER (serves four)
This cooked salad has a little bit of everything, roasty sweet, clean, creamy, spicy, crisp and the indefinably moreish quality of caramelised butter. Crunchy chickpeas, beets, onions and pistachios raise the fibre content of this dish in the most elegant way and nigella seeds are said to calm the antisocial side effects of too many pulses.
INGREDIENTS
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250g raw beetroot
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olive oil
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sea salt
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250g green beans
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1 small red onion
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150g labneh
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25g raw pistachio nuts - lightly crushed
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½ quantity of spicy, crunchy chickpeas
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30g caramelised butter
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½ lemon
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½ tsp nigella seeds
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan. Scrub the beetroots and trim any really rough bits of skin, slice into quarters (or more if large) and put into a mixing bowl. Drizzle with a little olive oil and a couple of pinches of salt, turn to coat and tip onto a baking tray. Roast gently for about an hour until tender to the point of a knife. Set aside to cool until just warm.
Steam the green beans until just tender, refresh under cold water, drain and pile onto a large serving plate. Slice the red onion in half from root to tip and then into long thin slices, cover in tepid water for a few minutes, drain and refresh with cold water. Scatter over the green beans. Slice the beetroot quarters in half, scatter over the plate and place rough pieces of labneh over the vegetables. If you have time, leave the salad for ten minutes for the beet colour to bleed into the labneh.
Scatter the crunchy chickpeas, crushed pistachios and nigella seeds over the salad just before you eat. Drizzle with warm caramelised butter. Quarter the lemon half and nestle the pieces into the salad.
Eat with teff pancakes or flatbread, broad bean hummus and steamed greens or a salad of bitter greens.
BLACK RICE SALAD WITH PRESERVED LEMON (serves 6)
Italian black rice is packed with antioxidants, has a rich, nutty flavour and satisfying chew. Preserved lemon, sweet carrots and broad beans stud the deep purple of the rice and a generous handful of raisins make each mouthful a perfect balance of sweet, sour, salty and savoury. When you eat rice cold, you benefit from the resistant starch that has formed as the rice chills, keeping your microbes happy and well fed.
INGREDIENTS
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300g black rice (also called venus rice, riso nerone or riso venere)
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250g carrots
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250g broad beans (podded weight)
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115ml olive oil
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a bunch of spring onions
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100g raisins
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120g preserved lemon rind, chopped
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liver cider vinegar
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English mustard
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black pepper and sea salt
Rinse the black rice well, drain and put into a large lidded saucepan with 600ml of water. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently until all the water is absorbed. Turn off the heat, but leave the lid on for another 5 minutes before tipping the rice onto a plate to cool. When cool enough, chill completely in the fridge for at least an hour.
Preheat the oven to 220ºC/200ºC fan. Scrub and slice the carrots slantwise into 1cm pieces. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a medium saucepan and add the carrots, turn them over to completely cover in the fat and then put a lid on and allow them to completely soften over a medium heat. Set aside to cool.
In the same saucepan, bring some water to the boil, add the broad beans and bring back to the boil. When they come to the surface, refresh in cold water and drain.
Put the chilled rice in a mixing bowl and add most of the spring onions, most of the carrots, most of the beans, ¾ of the preserved lemon and the raisins.
Make a dressing by shaking a good glug of cider vinegar, heaped tsp of mustard and about the same amount of olive oil in a lidded jar until emulsified, taste, adjust for acidity and pour this over the salad. Mix everything well and taste for seasoning – it shouldn’t need any salt.
Pile into a gorgeous bowl, or serve individually. Scatter the top of the salad with the reserved onions, carrots, beans and preserved lemon. Eat any leftovers within 48 hours of cooking the rice.
