It’s Eat more Fruit and Veg Day
When it's freezing outside, fruits and veg seem to disappear into the background. Luckily we've got an excellent and super healthy combo that will take winter veggies to the top of your menu!
You’ll find it much easier to get your family to amp up their veg intake: Carrots and Mushrooms – an eye candy side dish for a special dinner.
What we love most about this combo is that the sugar content of the carrots is much reduced with the addition of roasted mushrooms making the total dish much lower in carbs. And the more you increase the mushroom ratio the more you reduce the carb content!
Carrots are really tasty alone, but delicious mushrooms add a touch of elegance to regular carrots. And if you’d like to take this dish up even another notch, add a sprinkle of thyme, the perfect seasoning for a carrot and mushroom combination!
Raw Pad Thai with Spicy Sautéed Mushrooms and carrots
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS:
Peanut dressing:
¼ cup peanut butter
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp maple syrup
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 clove garlic, finely grated
1 tsp fresh ginger, finely grated
500g portabellini mushrooms, sliced
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp sriracha, sambal oelek or any similar hot sauce
¼ purple cabbage, shredded finely
4 carrots, peeled and julienned or spiralised
2 large courgettes, julienned or spiralised
1 red chilli, seeds removed and thinly sliced
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
½ cup coriander leaves
½ cup bean sprouts
½ cup roasted salted peanuts, roughly chopped
Fresh lime wedges, for serving
METHOD:
For the dressing:
Place all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk.
Add a splash of warm water if you’d like to thin it out slightly..
Taste to adjust any seasoning and set aside.
Heat olive oil in a large frying pan and sauté the mushrooms on high heat until lightly golden.
Remove from the heat and drizzle with a little of the peanut dressing and the spicy chilli sauce. Toss to coat.
In a large mixing bowl add the cabbage, carrots, courgettes, chilli, spring onions and coriander. Add a little drizzle of dressing and toss.
Add the mushrooms and mix everything well.
Plate the salad and sprinkle with bean sprouts and peanuts. Serve with chunky lime wedges
And here we’ve got a super healthy and dreamy delicious combo that will take winter veggies to the top of your menu! Mushrooms and cauliflower are two of our favourite inclusions in a vegetable-based soup.
Together they also make a quick and easy plant powered dinner or side dish. Roasted mushrooms are simply yummy served on a bed of garlic infused cauli rice and a combination of roasted cauliflower and roasted mushrooms is perfect over pan fried gnocchi! Super nourishing, easy to whip up and insanely addictive!
Vegan Cauliflower Soup with Turmeric Roasted Mushrooms
Serves 6-8
INGREDIENTS
75g raw cashew nuts
1 large white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 kg cauliflower, roughly chopped, stem included
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 litre vegetable stock
1 x 400g tin cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 small bunch fresh thyme sprigs
Zest and juice of 1 large lemon
500g mixed cultivated mushrooms, sliced into similar ±5cm pieces
1 tsp ground turmeric
2-3 fresh thyme sprigs
Olive oil, for cooking
Salt and pepper, to taste
METHOD:
Place cashew nuts in a heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water.
Set aside.
Heat a generous drizzle of olive oil in a medium pot.
Add the onion and cook until very soft.
Add the garlic and cook briefly until fragrant.
Add the cauliflower and turmeric and stir everything together well.
Pour in the chicken stock and drained beans.
Add the thyme sprigs loose or bundled up with kitchen string for easy removal.
Bring everything to a simmer and cook until the cauliflower is tender.
Remove and discard the thyme sprigs.
Add the soaked cashew nuts, lemon juice and lemon zest.
Transfer soup mixture carefully to a high powered blender and blend on high until very creamy. Alternatively use a stick blender in the pot.
Taste to adjust seasoning.
Heat oven to 220˚C with the fan on.
Place mushrooms in a bowl and season with salt, pepper, turmeric, thyme and a drizzle of olive oil.
Toss to mix well.
Spread mushrooms out in a single layer on a large baking tray.
Roast for 5 minutes until golden but retain some nice bite.
Ladle the silky hot soup into bowls and top generously with golden roasted mushrooms.
Finish with an extra drizzle of olive oil.
Serve with some rustic chunky sourdough on the side and enjoy!
Recipes and image supplied by the South African Mushroom Farmers’ Association
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