Cook up an immune boosting storm this winter

Mung dahl

The medicinal spices in this dish, coupled with garlic, onions and ginger, make this an immune-boosting, nutrient-rich comforting dish for those short days and long nights.

Serves 6 

Ingredients

• 6 cups bone broth or vegetable stock

• 1 punnet green mung beans

• 1 tbsp ground cumin

• 1 tbsp ground turmeric

• 2 tsp ground coriander

• 6 cardamom pods, crushed

• Dried or fresh chili, to taste (optional)

• 1 tbsp ghee or coconut oil 4 large onions, sliced

• 6 garlic cloves, grated

• 2 thumb-sized pieces of fresh root ginger grated or finely diced

• 4 large carrots, finely diced

• 2 celery sticks, finely diced

• Salt and pepper to taste

• 3 large handfuls of chopped fresh coriander,

• 8 large handfuls of greens, such as baby spinach, or kale (stalks removed)

• Juice of 1 lime or lemon

• 1 lime or lemon, cut into wedges to serve

Steps

1. Bring water to boil in a large saucepan with a lid, add the mung beans, and simmer over a medium heat, for 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, dry fry the spices in a large deep frying pan for 1 minute over a medium heat or until fragrant – keep stirring to prevent burning. Add the chili now if you want this dahl to have a little kick.

3. Add the ghee or coconut oil to the pan and fry the onion and spices for 10 minutes until the onion is soft, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and ginger and fry for a further 5 minutes over a gentle heat, until softened and starting to caramelise.

4. After the mung beans have been cooking for 20 minutes, add the diced carrot, celery and the fried onion, garlic, and ginger mix; keeping back 6 tablespoons of this mix to garnish the bowls at the end.

5. Add salt, pepper, finely chopped coriander and then continue to cook, with the lid on, for another 15 minutes over a medium heat until tender. Add more liquid if needed, and stir at the bottom of the pan to prevent burning.

6. Chop up your choice of greens.

7. To serve, top each bowl of dahl with a spoonful of the spiced fried onions, the chopped cilantro leaves, greens, and a wedge of lime or lemon.

Turmeric Pumpkin Soup with Coconut and Lime

Serves 4

Warming, anti-inflammatory and immune boosting, this is the perfect make-ahead soup for those nights when it’s just too cold to cook. 

Ingredients

• 1 large brown onion, peeled and roughly chopped

• 2 tbsp coconut oil

• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped

• 15g fresh turmeric root, thinly sliced

• 20g root ginger, thinly sliced

• Half bunch fresh coriander well and roughly chopped, leaves reserved for garnishing

• 1 tsp chili flakes (plus more to taste)

• 1kg pumpkin, peeled and deseeded and cut into 2cm chunks

• 1 cup split red lentils, washed

• 1L organic vegetable stock

• 1 cup coconut cream (plus more to serve)

• Half a lime (plus more to serve)

• 1 tsp sea salt (plus more to taste)

• Add the coconut cream, fresh lime, thinly sliced spring onion and fresh coriander leaves when ready to serve.

Steps

1. In a large saucepan over high heat, cook the onion in the coconut oil till softened. Add the aromatics: garlic, turmeric, ginger, coriander stems/roots and chili, before cooking for a couple of minutes until fragrant. Add the pumpkin, lentils and stock, bring to a boil and then cover and reduce to a simmer to cook for 20min, or till the pumpkin is soft and the lentils are disintegrating.

2. Once cooked, use a stick or upright blender to puree the soup. Return to stove, add the coconut cream and heat through, but do not boil. Just before serving, add the lime juice and salt. Depending on the saltiness of the stock you used, you may need to add more salt here as pumpkin and lentils both need plenty of flavour.

3. Serve with extra lime wedges, a drizzle of coconut cream, spring onion and coriander.

4. This soup will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days; just add extra water when reheating if it thickens too much. If freezing, add coconut cream upon defrosting.

Content from:

Homespuncapers.co, Foodmatters.com