Tag Archives: cardamom

cooked, main dishes

Jeweled Rice

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Not that I’d have a special insight into Persian kitchen, but this recipe appealed to me so much, that I decided to simply let myself inspired by its flavors and colors.

And it’s wasn’t difficult at all 🙂 I used the raw pieces of cinnamon and cardamon and a handful of pumpkin seeds to boil them over the pressure cooker along with the basmati rice . When the cooker cooled out enough, I transferred the rice into a bowl and immediately added the orange blossom water and the hot saffron water so there’s enough fluffiness while for adding the rest of the ingredients. As they follow:

  • freshly grated carrots
  • a handful of cranberries and a few raisins
  • more pumpkin seeds, soaked or pistacchio
  • pomegranate seeds
  • ghee (look for organic one)
  • 7 spices mix (you can do it yourself, just put an emphasis on cinnamon)
  • grated orange peel on top

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For serving I used fresh leaves of lettuce and sorrel, for its sour lemony taste. That’s about it. The result was a true delight of hues and flavors, that revealed one by one, just like the motifs of an arabesque unfold to their true depth as you look further more.

deserts, raw

Energy Balls

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There’s one great thing about this desert: you can make it from whatever comes handy. All you need to have is some presoaked nuts and dried fruits, the rest is just improvisation!

I gathered some of my favorite ingredients along with a few tips of how to mix it:

– if you are in a bit of a rush and you don’t have any  presoaked nuts, go for those that require less hydrating time (cashews – 4h; sunflower seeds – 2-3h) instead of the ‘time consuming’ ones (almonds or walnuts – roughly 8h)

– if you’ve just made nut milk, you can use the leftover pulp

– extra fat is not necessary, but welcomed; especially when you’re using just the pulp (which is already fat depleted) instead of the whole nuts. go for a bit of coconut oil, cream or butter or, if you fancy chocolate, cacao butter. even tahini works out pretty well.

– dates or figs are the best to go with, but you can also use raisins, dried cranberries or plums. don’t forget to take out the pits 🙂 soak them for half an hour and strain;  if you have a high power food processor, you might not need to do this, but consider rinsing simply to have them safe and hygienic

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– mix these two base ingredients in the food processor – you should have more nuts than dried fruits or else the composition will turn out too sweet

– grated coconut is necessary as you’ll need something to eat up all the water from the soaked ingredients. otherwise the composition will be too sloppy and you won’t be able to mold it into balls. alternatively, you can use psyllium husks, a good source of dietary fiber which helps in providing a good transit, or plain oats

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– now you have to decide on the flavor: you can have choco mint balls or lemony balls, rose water balls or cardamom cinnamon balls, black or white, pink or orange, and so on. just use your imagination!

– always take into consideration that whatever ingredient you might add, the final texture should be doughy enough for you to shape the balls.

– you can make it crunchy by rolling the energy balls over a combination of grated coconut and sesame or poppy seeds. moreover, you can save some roasted nuts and add them either into the mixture or on the surface

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list of ingredients

1. base

  • presoaked walnuts/ cashews/ almonds/ sunflower seeds, etc
  • slightly soaked dates/ figs/ raisins/ plums/ cranberries, etc
  • coconut oil, butter or cream/ cacao butter/ tahini, etc

2. texture

  • grated coconut, psyllium husks, oats
  • poppy/ sesame seeds or roasted nuts

3. flavor

  • cacao powder/ carob
  • grated lemon/ orange peel
  • rose/ orange blossom water
  • ground cardamom/ cinnamon/ nutmeg, etc

 

raw, salads

Seasoned Lentils & Carrot Salad

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This salad is perfect when you expect more-than-just-veggies in your healthy bowl. Power to the carbs!

The main trick is not to overboil the green lentils as you would do it in a cooked dish. Test them with a fork – if they get easily squashed after being put off the fire, you’d better turn it into a soup 🙂 or try them: they shouldn’t taste like raw beans, but still keep a firm ‘al dente’ texture.

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Until the lentils get cold, you can prepare the dressing by mixing in a bowl cold pressed sunflower oil, soya sauce, lemon, grated ginger and thyme. If you love spices as much as I do, then this is the time to add some cardamom or cinnamon powder and some raisins.

The only thing left to do is to bring all ingredients together in your salad bowl. I usually use more carrots than lentils, but it goes different with each taste. I also prefer adding the onions at the very end so they don’t become too dominant.

If you’re not having the salad right away, don’t forget to check before serving how much dressing it still has – both lentils and carrots are great ‘suckers’. And to sprinkle with grated orange peel and sesame seeds!

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list of ingredients

  • green lentils – soaked overnight & lightly boiled
  • carrots
  • grated ginger
  • lemon juice
  • soya sauce
  • cold pressed sunflower oil
  • thyme (dry or fresh)
  • red or green onions
  • optional: cardamom, cinnamon, grated orange peel, raisins (or similar dried fruits), sesame seeds, sunflower sprouts