Black Bean and Black Rice Salad

I've been lacking the inspiration to blog lately - as you may have noticed!

To get me back on track, my friend Deb suggested a recipe. Excellent idea - thanks, Deb!

This salad has loads of ingredients but is healthy, dead simple (although you need time to cook the beans) and you can add any protein you fancy - chicken, salmon, even a poached egg.

1. Dried black beans take 55 minutes to cook at a simmer. You can substitute canned ones if you'd prefer. I cooked dried ones and threw the black rice in at the 20-minute mark as it takes 35 minutes to cook. They're happy co-cooking in the pot together!
   
2. I dry roasted pine nuts, hazelnuts, almonds and pepitas in a cast iron fry pan (that means no oil - if you ever toast nuts and seeds, know they produce enough of their own oil not to require any additional). You could use any nuts and seeds.
   
3. I drained a can each of green lentils and chickpeas (you could cook them from dried if you want to)
   
4. In a large, flat bowl, I threw in cherry tomatoes, torn up baby bok choy from the garden, diced red capsicum and celery - just because that's what I had to hand. You could add spinach, rocket, snow peas - anything really - then I added the drained lentils and chickpeas
   
5. Once the rice and beans were cooked, I drained them and put the colander under the cold tap to cool off - then popped that in the bowl too
   
6. I dressed it with pumpkin seed oil (this is so good! I hadn't used it in ages and stumbled on it in Aldi last week!), fig syrup (you could use pomegranate molasses or a vincotto), salt and pepper and some strips of fried chicken.

It'll last a few days in the fridge, will travel well for a work lunch and is filling and high in protein (so keeps you feeling fuller longer).

Enjoy!

Gravlax

This is a very easy way to dazzle your friends and family! (Well.....if they like smoked salmon that is, then they'll love this.)

Gavlax is simply cured salmon. It has the same texture as smoked salmon and you serve it in much the same way. You need to cure it for a minimum 2 days - longer is better, like 4. And it'll last, well-wrapped, in the fridge for at least a couple of weeks.

I adapted this recipe from BBC Good Food.

Ask at the fish shop for a centre piece of salmon, skin off. For this batch, I had about 700g. At Christmas, I did two pieces (yes - just chucked them in together) of about 500g each. It's not a science.

In the Nutri-bullet or food processor, blend:

• 75g sea salt flakes (no need to be exact - but it's a fair bit and necessary for the curing process)
• 75g/ml something sweet - some recipes use caster sugar or brown sugar - I used 100% pure maple syrup and I reckon it was better
• 1 small bunch of dill (20g)  - just pluck off the frilly bits and leave out the major stalks
• A good slug of vodka or gin - I used gin
• 8 - 10 juniper berries - I found dried ones at the green grocer
• A few black pepper corns
• Some grated lemon zest

Tip the green sludge into a plastic bag. (Think about recycling the one the fish came in.) Add the fish and squish it about a bit to make sure it's well covered. Roll the bag closed, trying to eliminate all the air you can. Pop it in a small-ish dish so the fit is snug, then weight it down with a few cans of whatever - tomatoes, coconut milk - anything heavy. I can get 5 cans on mine! Chuck it in the fridge.

If you remember, turn it over in a day or two.

After 4 days or so, take it out and slice as thinly as you can (you can see mine is not very thin.... I need new knives...). 

I served it on pumpernickel bread, with a dollop of black caviar (just Lump Fish roe from the supermarket - not the fancy-pants Beluga Fish caviar from your drug dealer!!) and a little dressing made of dill, Dijon mustard and a little more maple syrup or honey - in the Nutri-bullet.

There you have it people. Go forth and cure!

Asian Salad

I made this salad last week. I think it would have looked better in a black bowl, but if you can get past the fact it doesn't look amazing, it did taste sooooo good, it could happily be a lunch on its own. I think mint is herb de jour at the moment but does make everything taste summery and what's not to love about that?

Here's what's in it:

• Asian cabbage - slice as finely as you can
• Chopped honey-roasted peanuts (I used honey roasted because they were on the bench, but as it so happened, they were a great)
• Fresh peas - raw
• Celery - diced to about same size as the peas
• Grated carrot - to save it being complete anemic - you could add red pepper too if you like
• Loads of chopped mint
• Spring onions, skinny slices
• Lots of sesame seeds

For the dressing, in a jar:

• A good slug of sesame oil
• A small splash of tamari (or soy)
• A drizzle of fish sauce
• A big squeeze of lime juice
• As much chili as you care for - or not
• Some crushed garlic
• Some minced ginger - again, if you like it

Optional extras:

• Some like the crunchy bite of a packet of noodles
• Fresh chopped coriander
• Vietnamese mint (kinda tastes like mint and coriander to me!)
• A squirt of honey in the dressing if you don't use honey-roasted peanuts

And if you can't be bothered making dressing, buy the Thai dressing at the supermarket in the Asian section - it's not bad! But I'd still recommend some sesame oil as well.

Just in whatever portions you like to your tastes. Give it a good shake and pour on.

We had it with grilled pork steaks but it's also be yum with chicken. Works for the 'no carbs after 3pm' kick Geoff and I are currently enduring.