February Veggie Bowl

Today, we are going to be unconventional… On a Valentine day, as food bloggers, we are supposed to present some lovely meltingly chocolate cake or a fancy appetizer that puts you in a romantic mood.
But it doesn’t really feel like it. Right now, we are not looking for more candies and cakes but for some simple, tasty and regenerative food. A new approach to friendship and love?

The good news is the recipe that follows will probably be more useful to you than some glamorous Red Velvet Vanilla Cupcakes with a Poppy Frosting J
 
Inspiration for today’s recipe comes from the type of lunch Eloïse and I usually have during our working days. Every Wednesday, we meet to create new recipes. The day starts at the Edgar Quinet market where we can find very good quality products, sometimes organic, very often from the region. There, among fresh fruits and vegetables, we find inspiration for new savory and healthy recipes. Even if we like proposing easy recipes, food blogging requires creativity, sense of esthetics and originality. But what about unpretentious and genuine food?
 
This week, we decided to ignore rules J. Therefore, we are suggesting you a meal that we would typically eat in our day-to-day lives. A meal made of seasonal and affordable vegetables. But still, it is very poetic to us!
 
This bowl is made of beautiful Swiss chards cooked with ras-al-hanout, Moroccan style carrots (chermoula) and a delicious raïta sauce. Roasted sunflowers give this bowl a crunchy and tasty touch!

February Veggie Bowl
Serves 2

Swiss chards
1 bunch Swiss chards, sliced
2 onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ras-el-hanout*
1 pinch black pepper
Some sage leaves
 
In a wok, heat the spices in oil. Add garlic, onions and sage. Let brown for a few minutes.
Pour the chards. Add some water (½ to 1 cup should be enough). Cook for 10 minutes over medium heat.
 
* If you do not find ras-el-hanout, you can mix some of the following: coriander, turmeric, cardamom, ginger and cloves.
 
‘Chermoula’ carrots
1 pound /600g carrots, sliced into rounds
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp paprika / cayenne
1 tsp cumin
1 or 2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
 
In a saucepan, heat the spices in oil. Add garlic and let brown for a few minutes, over low heat.
Pour carrots. Add some lukewarm water (1 cup). Cook covered for 15 minutes. Add cilantro at the end.
 
Raïta
200g soy yoghurt
½ lemon, juiced
1 tsp mustard
¼ tsp pepper
¼ tsp turmeric
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt
 
Pour all ingredients into a bowl. Mix with a spoon.
 
Seeds
150g sunflower seeds
1 rosemary sprig
 
In a pan, pour seeds and rosemary leaves. Let brown for 2 or 3 minutes.
 
Arrange the bowl the way you like. Play with colors. Enjoy!

What does Ayurveda say about this?

A simple meal, digestible, warm and satisfying. These are the watchwords for this winter season. Winter is the kingdom of Kapha with which it shares the same qualities. In most places, it's colder, cloudy, foggy, rainy or dry and heavy. We just want to curl up at home and hibernate. Because winter is colder, many people may also experience symptoms of Vata if they already have an imbalance, especially in late winter when the wind is back and when the climate is irregular. Therefore, adopting a diet to pacify Vata and Kapha is important during the months of January and February.

What are the attributes to look for? A warming food, more liquid, spicy, digestible and nutritious.

Why nourishing and satisfying? Because in winter our appetite is increased and it is normal. Indeed, cold temperatures close pores and superficial connective tissue. This reduces the heat loss. The heat of the peripheral system is then gathered inside the body, in the stomach thereby increasing the digestive metabolism and therefore the appetite.

In terms of taste, we will focus on more balanced flavors incorporating the 6 tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, astringent). The excess of sweet, salty and sour increases Kapha, while the excess of bitter or astringent increases Vata. We must therefore find the right balance and above all choose the right spices for the season :)

Thus, we have prepared this simple and delicious meal.

• Some carrots (cooked) with their sweet taste, their warming metabolic action and their catabolic effect on digestion and elimination (laxative). Cooked carrots decrease both Vata and Kapha. Carrots are alterative (they purify the blood), they protect the lungs, are a tonic for the lungs, skin and eyes. As alkaline food, they help to rebalance the acidity (illness, pain). In addition, cooking with cumin (spicy and bitter flavor) and paprika (spicy and sweet taste) exhales their action on digestion.

 

• The chards with both sweet and bitter flavors, are warming for the metabolism and catabolic for digestion, which promotes digestion and elimination. Chards reduce all 3 doshas. They also have a diuretic action (good for removing Kapha accumulation in winter). They are rich in calcium, iron and magnesium, Vitamin A, C and E. The combination with garlic, onion and sage sublime their sweet and dense side (nutritive). Ras-el-hanout is a mixture of spices which composition tends to vary according to the recipes (same as curry). It still remains a carminative mix, antispasmodic and catabolic for digestion and elimination. Its spicy flavor - but not burning - blends perfectly with the sweetness of the chards.

• For both recipes, we favored cooking with olive oil to honor our Mediterranean origins. This oil is preferably not heated or at very low temperatures (as it burns at very low temperatures). Cooking with ghee or sesame oil would be recommended by Ayurveda, but we just wanted its unique flavor. And finally, no one is perfect ;)

 

• A creamy yogurt sauce, spicy and moisturizing to accompany these yummy veggies. Despite the soy controversy, it remains a very healthy and easily digestible vegetable protein intake. As we say in Ayurveda, any food (if organic, untreated ...) is good by nature. It depends for whom, how, when, and in what quantities. In all cases, it should be consumed organic and without GMO. Its cooling effect on metabolism can disturb Vata and Kapha if it is not combined with carminative and heating spices. That is why we have combined it with lemon mustard, turmeric, salt, pepper and rosemary.
  • Sour lemon with a heating effect on the metabolism.
  • Spicy and hot mustard
  • Olive oil has a sweet taste
  • Turmeric mixes the bitter, the spicy and the astringent tastes. In addition to its miraculous virtues, it gives a nice color to the sauce
  • The sweet and astringent rosemary, ideal to treat our winter ailments