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dairy-free

121 Vegan

mung bean salad: vegan delight nourishing your health

This recipe – mung bean salad – is 100% vegan and 100% easy, and keeps in the fridge surprisingly well! It also uses very few necessary ingredients (mung beans, sun-dried tomatoes, shallot, fresh mint and cilantro, and a splash of lemon juice).

Why did we choose mung beans, a legume, to make this satisfying, nourishing salad? Legumes make a great salad, and they add flavor without any unhealthy dressing. In particular, mung beans’ nutty flavor and crunchy texture work well with many unconventional flavor combinations. Here, we dress up our mung bean salad with refreshing mint and cilantro, sour-sweet sun-dried tomatoes, and a spicy pepper (optional). This way we are highlighting the natural flavor in mung beans without overpowering them. What’s more, unlike leaf-based salads, this mung bean salad can be made well in advance and leftovers keep surprisingly well! Because the flavors develop over time, this delightful salad tastes best after a a few hours in the fridge. Enjoy!

Vegan • Grain, Potato, and Nut Free • Low Glycemic • Gluten Free • Nutrient Dense • Delicious • Easy

 

124 Vegan

Vegan Ash: Persian Soup with Unforgettable Flavors

If food could be enlightened, what would it taste like? I surmise that enlightened food would be entirely plant-based and would derive its flavor only from wholesome herbs and gentle spices.  In other words, better nourishment would take our mother nature’s fresh gifts and transform them into a delectable dish.  This Vegan Ash is a perfect example of a better nourishment for both you and our planet. Using only fresh herbs and plant-based ingredients, this dish is rich in flavor.  Though vegan ash is light, it will leave you pleasantly satisfied.  Traditionally, this thick soup is made with lamb meatballs.   See, e.g., a Persian cuisine blog. Envisioning a planet-friendly dish, however, we enriched our vegan ash with homemade mint and walnut pesto.   Other ingredients include yellow split peas, black wild rice (it’s low in cabs and rich in antioxidants), cilantro, parsley, onion, turmeric, cinnamon and water.   While we prefer black wild rice for its nutty flavor, feel free to use your favorite rice instead.

You will note that the cooking time is nearly two hours. But don’t let this discourage you: that’s the duration of largely passive simmering. The pot brimful of Vegan Ash will quietly simmer while you work from home or enjoy the time with your loved ones. And when you are ready to have dinner, you can enjoy the freshly cooked soup!

The inspiration for our version of this soup came from Naomi Duigud’s recipe “Pomegranate Ash with Meatballs” published in Taste of Persia 107 (2016), also available on Kindle: Taste of Persia (Kindle version). If you are interested in Persian cooking, this remarkable cookbook will guide you through new cooking adventures with flavors you’ve never tasted before.

Vegan • Low glycemic • Flavorful • Easy • Nutrient-dense • Sugar-free • Delicious

 

61 Vegan

Mung Dal to Delight Your Senses and Your Body

In a starring role of our mung dal are the healing super spices.  And all of them are familiar:  cardamom (or cardamon), garam masala, turmeric, ginger, chili flakes, pepper and caraway seeds.  Did you know that cardamom has powerful antioxidant and blood-pressure lowering properties? Take a look at : https://www.livestrong.com/article/338907-health-benefits-of-cardamom/.  Did you know that turmeric absorbs by your body substantially better when combined with with black pepper? See, e.g., University of Massachusetts article.   And garam masala comprises of all the healthiest spices. See https://www.healingplantfoods.com/health-benefits-of-garam-masala/. 

Mung Dal, red lentil dal, vegan, turmeric, cardamon, easy by foodjoya

For this recipe, we simmer the magical spices in a warming tomato sauce and then combine them with mung beans.  Are you out of mung beans? Be sure to improvise and use red or green lentils or both.  We recommend making this dal several hours, or up to a day, in advance to give the flavors a chance to blend and deepen.  Although the ingredients are few, and the dish is very easy to make, you will be impressed with its intense flavors!  Make this mung dal for dinner and you’ll be licking your fingers!  This is a recipe to treasure. 

Vegan • Starch- and Sugar-free • Grain-free • Aromatic • Low Glycemic • Nutrient-dense • Delicious • Easy

58 Paleo-friendly

Open Paleo Cherry Pie: A Decadent Fruity Treat

Sweet cherries are a versatile fruit with natural sweetness. Their perfect companions are cinnamon, cardamon and pecans. These wholesome ingredients meet together in this decadent paleo cherry pie. Just like all my dessert recipes, it is gluten-free, sugar-free, and overloaded with fruit. In place of flour, I use almond flour and ground pecans. (I don’t use coconut because, according to a renowned anti-inflammation expert, it may not be the healthiest choice. Take a look at https://www.drweil.com/diet-nutrition/nutrition/thumbs-down-on-coconut-oil/. ) When you bake it, you will find the filling luxurious and the crust perfectly moist and flaky.

Curious how this recipe came about? I invented this dessert on a rainy wintry day, craving summer fruit. When I was growing up, one of my favorite summer fruits was sweet cherries. When they were in season, I would gobble fresh cherries by the pound. But we also concocted a medley of desserts out of this versatile fruit. We boiled black cherry preserves, wild cherry jams and compotes, layered jellos, and blended smoothies! And so, on a cold murky day, this pie pays homage to my fruit-filled memories of childhood summer. Because it is overloaded with fruit (as most of my desserts are), the paleo cherry pie is quite light. And the ingredients are simple and easy to find: frozen sweet cherries, almond flour, pecans, cinnamon, cardamom, honey and eggs. If you are not into spices, let me explain why I am using them. Cinnamon is probably the perfect companion to cherries (its flavor is even similar to cherry pit), and cardamom gives depth to cinnamon. (This fact I learned from the experts at Cook’s Science. ) With an extra egg yolk, the crust turns out juicy and flaky. You will also notice that the crust is of a perfect golden color, not burned. The recipe below will tell you how to accomplish the crust of a perfect color. Every time I bake this pie, the delicious sweet smell of the summer fills up my entire home. That alone makes baking worthwhile. And a slice of this decadent pie is a cherry on top!

If you wish to make this pie in advance, the unbaked crust can be refrigerated overnight. You can assemble and refrigerate even the entire pie the day before baking it.

Paleo Cherry Pie close up by foodjoya
Paleo Cherry Pie close up by foodjoya

Nutrient-packed dessert • Paleo • Dairy-Free • Gluten-free • Delicious • Easy

60 Paleo-friendly

Paleo Kabocha Squash Pie: a Festive, Healthy Delight

Would you like to bake an unmistakably delicious, tried-and-true pie for your holiday table? The custard will inevitably turn out fluffy, sweet and glossy, and the crust perfectly moist. Then read on. From this post, you will learn how to make a perfect and healthy delight destined to become the glory of your holiday dinner. This decadent dessert (Paleo Kabocha Squash Pie) is sugar-free, flourless and requires only a limited number of ingredients (kabocha, olive oil, almond flour, pecans or walnuts, honey, eggs, a dash of milk and spices). Did you know that kabocha squash is sweeter, fluffier and richer in flavor than pumpkin? (Take a look at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabocha.) Thanks to these properties, bite after bite the custard made with kabocha squash tastes better than the one made with pumpkin. Now let me tell you why my crust turns out moist and perfect. To avoid burning and drying, I place the crust only on the bottom. Although I tried various techniques for a wraparound crust, none of them were up to snuff. Prebaked crust was a disaster, and even unbaked crust and frozen unbaked crust burned and hardened. Only when I concentrated the crust on the bottom, it turned out moist and tasty, complementing the fluffy custard. I recommend that you do what I did – place the crust only on the bottom. For further tips and your perfect festive Paleo Kabocha Squash Pie, follow the recipe below!

Nutrient-packed dessert • Paleo • Gluten-free • Delicious • Easy