Category Archives: nutrition

Simple vegan chocolate cake

May 21, 2023nutritioncake, chocolate, veganpetersan

Yoga Kitchen – Simple, healthy, and plant-based

Undoubtedly the easiest vegan cake ever

To make the dark chocolate cake below, you use a dead simple recipe that you can literally get done in an hour. Truly a cake for beginners with no baking experience.
The result is a deeply dark, juicy cake with the bitter flavour of dark chocolate. However, we do not use chocolate for it, but rather raw cocoa.

What ingredients do you need?

It is unimaginably simple. Just 5 ingredients, at least, if you leave out the water.

200 g sieved flour
130 g (or ml) of neutral-tasting oil you can fry with (e.g.: sunflower oil)
70 g sieved (raw) unsweetened cocoa
100 to 180 g whole, unrefined sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
500 ml boiling water

About the sugar: The original recipe specified 180 g of whole cane sugar. I reduced that, as I often do, to almost half (100 g), and used coconut blossom sugar. So adjust that according to your preferences.
As for the flour: I used a mixture of semi-whole and white wheat flour. That way, you get still some extra minerals and fibre in the cake.

This is how to prepare it:

It couldn’t be simpler:

Preheat your oven to 180°C (or 170°C for an oven with hot air circulation).
Grease a round baking tin of about 20 to 24 cm with some oil or line the bottom and edges with baking paper.
Mix the 4 dry ingredients flour, cocoa, baking powder and sugar in a bowl.
Then pour in the oil, stirring a little.
Finally, pour in the hot water and mix to a homogeneous, fairly liquid batter.
Pour the batter into the lined tin.
Bake for about 30 minutes at the bottom of your oven.
Let cool and remove from the springform pan.
Garnish with a topping of your choice

An example for a vegan topping:

For a luscious vegan top layer with chocolate and coconut flavouring:

Mix about 100 ml of canned coconut milk (17-23% fat content) with two tablespoons of cocoa and two tablespoons of agave syrup or whole (cane or coconut) sugar.
Spread this chocolate coconut cream on top of the cake.
Garnish with fruit such as berries or banana slices if desired.
Finally, put the cake in the fridge for one and a half to two hours.
Take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving.

Simple as that. This vegan cake certainly rivals its traditional counterpart in flavour and is remarkably moist thanks to the water. The texture is somewhat reminiscent of a flan, another archaeological find from my Flemish childhood.
Enjoy!
I found inspiration for this recipe at “The Happy Pear” from Ireland. Their website is full of delicious and healthy vegan recipes.

Do I need butter and eggs to bake cake?

The answer is no, of course.
Traditional cake such as the famous “quatre quarts” from French cuisine, always uses the following ingredients:

White flour
Butter
Eggs
Refined sugar

Okay, cake is not something you eat every day. It’s fun food. But the above list shows that the resulting classic cake is quite a chore for the body to digest as well as metabolise. The white flour, refined sugar and butter are high in calories but very, not to say totally “empty” of nutrients. The eggs provide a lot of cholesterol. We are so conditioned by the traditional pastries of our childhood. The above vegan recipe is very basic and consists of just 5 ingredients.
Opting for vegan pastries is good for your health, the environment and animals. It just takes the courage and initiative to step outside the known paths.

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Fruity cinnamon rolls

May 10, 2023nutritionbanana, cinnamon, fruit, veganpetersan

Yoga Kitchen – Simple, healthy, and plant-based

Sophisticated natural sweet

Cinnamon rolls are almost a cliché in the food world. Every fresh bakery or croissant stall has them. They are very easy to prepare purely plant-based. You can find the plant-based versions virtually nowhere on sale. Only at bakeries that already have a pure vegan offering, and there are very few of them. That’s how unwieldy, slow and conservative the food industry is, with its close ties to livestock farming.
We are happy to go ahead and make our own then!
The version below is very basic, gluten-free and consists of just 4 ingredients.
You can also prepare them in a raw version if you have a dehydrator.

What ingredients do you need?

For eight rolls:

Four bananas, ripe but not overripe
40 grams of raisins
150 grams of pitted soft dates such as mazafati or medjoul dates
3 teaspoons of cinnamon
6 tablespoons of water

150 grams of pitted dates, roughly equivalent to 13 to 14 pieces

This is how to prepare them

Mix the dates with the water and cinnamon and grind in food processor or blender to a spreadable date paste
Preheat your oven to 130 to 140°C
Cut the bananas lengthwise into 4 slices
Place them on a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray
Bake them for about 15 to 20 min at 130 to 140°C until they have dried out a little
Spread the date paste on all the banana slices
Distribute the sultanas evenly, one at a time, over the banana slices
Roll one banana slice into a cylinder
Place that roll on a second banana slice and roll into a wider cylinder
Place that thicker roll flat on the baking tray
Repeat for the remaining slices
Bake the rolled bananas for another 15-20 minutes at the same temperature

Important tips for slicing the bananas:

The first time when I tried this recipe, I struggled not to break the bananas into pieces. Hence:

Use a very sharp knife
Lay the bananas flat, i.e. on their sides and cut along in the direction of their natural curve

Tip for making the date paste

In the original recipe, the author indicated to grind the date mixture with a blender. But unless you want to make double the number of cinnamon rolls, I recommend using a food processor with an S-shaped blade. It is very common in recipes to be asked to use a blender, when the amount of ingredients is just way too small not to make a mess, with everything splashing around and you having to scrape the sides of the blender every so often.

Serve the banana rolls the same day, as they don’t keep so well in the fridge.
The result is a beautiful symphony of different tones of sweet with the aroma of cinnamon woven through it.
Enjoy!

Healthy sweet

Be moderate with sweet. In our Western food culture, all attention goes to just two of the five tastes: salty and especially sweet.
Preferably use wholesome sweeteners such as fruit, dried fruit, and only then cereal syrups and sweeteners such as agave or maple syrup and concentrated fruit juices such as apple juice. Coconut blossom sugar is also fine.
If you do opt for cane sugar, take the unrefined version. White, refined sugars like granulated sugar (from beetroot) or white icing sugar are really not done for your health.
In most recipes found in cookbooks, the amount of sugar is usually excessive. From my own experience, you can easily reduce the amount of sweet by half for the same eating pleasure.

Surprising Carrot balls

May 10, 2023nutritioncarrots, raw, snack, veganpetersan

Yoga Kitchen – Simple, healthy, and plant-based

Light and healthy

These carrot balls have a very surprising composition. Usually, these kinds of sweet snacks make use of nuts. But here, no nuts at all! That makes these balls very light.
Moreover, they are completely raw and you are able to prepare them very quickly.

What ingredients do you need?

This will be it for about twenty to twenty-four pieces. All depends on how big you make them.

ca 80 grams of pitted fleshy, soft dates (Medjoul or Mazafati)
120 grams grated carrot
75 grams of sultanas, which you can pre-soak in warm water if necessary
A little sea salt
75 grams of oatmeal
two teaspoons of an allspice mixture
about 20 grams of grated coconut for the finishing touch

This is how to prepare them

First cut the dates into small pieces
Mix all the ingredients excepot for the grated coconut in a bowl and knead intensely until everything sticks together well
Roll balls of the mixture
Pour the grated coconut into a plate and roll each ball in it to coat the outside

And there you are. When I weighed out the 20 grams of coconut according to the original recipe, at first I didn’t believe that amount would be sufficient. But it was right as pie!
These balls store well in the fridge.

Is it preferable to eat raw or cooked food?

There are views on food that assume it is best to eat everything raw, and as little cooked as possible. And there are views to the contrary: that it is best to eat cooked food as much as possible, and avoid raw.
There is no doubt that cooked food is easier to digest than raw food. Raw food costs our intestinal system more energy to digest, leaving relatively less energy available to meet our energy needs. On the other hand, some nutritional value is lost in the cooking process. After all, many essential vitamins and interesting enzymes break down during cooking. In any case, all the more reason to prefer gentle, short cooking processes for vegetables that retain as much nutritional value as possible. Grains and legumes, on the other hand, should be cooked long enough. After all, you don’t eat them primarily for the vitamins, but for the energy, the proteins and minerals.
Personally, I believe the middle ground is golden. Healthy plant-based food can consist of both cooked and raw dishes. And depending on the seasons and your personal energy needs, you can vary the ratio between the two. In the colder winter months, it is best to eat a bit more cooked, and in the warmer period of the year, a bit more raw.

Vegan Coconut Rocks

April 10, 2023nutritionbanana, coconut, sugar, veganpetersan

Yoga Kitchen – Simple, healthy, and plant-based

Tropical sweet

Even without added sugar, you can hit high peaks in terms of sweetness. These super simple soft biscuits, reminiscent of the archetypal coconut rocks, consist of just two to three ingredients.
Banana takes over the role of egg whites as a texturiser. (Whew!)
You have them prepared in no time.

What ingredients do you need?

For twelve pieces:

about 340 g peeled bananas
75 g grated coconut
a pinch of salt
optional: 3 tablespoons of dark chocolate drops

This is how to prepare them:

Preheat the oven to 165 °C.
Mash the bananas finely, with a fork or in a food processor.
Add the coconut and the pinch of salt and mix until homogeneous.
Add the chocolate drops if wanted and mix well.
Place a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray and spoon 12 mounds of the batter onto the paper.
Let bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown.
Let cool for at least an hour before munching them.

Is all sweet equal before the law?

The human species has a distinct preference for sweet taste. Perhaps because our distant ancestors evolutionarily associated sweet taste with energy density.
In the last 50 years, consumption of sweet and sugary foods has increased dramatically. Many people struggle with obesity, and the incidence of diabetes resulting from unbalanced eating habits has never been higher than today.
Should you therefore ban sweet? No. But moderation is the message. And preferably choose wholefood sweet. Fresh dates, bananas or other fresh and dried fruits not only give us their heavenly flavour, but also bring vitamins and minerals. This, unlike crystallised or powdered refined sugar.
A tip: gradually reduce the sweet level of your dishes, until you learn to enjoy the subtle sweetness of sweet vegetables and cooked grains again. Be moderate with fruit, and prefer the whole fruit rather than just the juice.

What is the true cost of imported tropical fruit?

Imported tropical fresh fruits such as bananas, mangoes and coconut products, for example, have a huge carbon footprint due to long-distance transportation. They are also available all year round, whatever the season. Transport by plane – madness for agricultural products – scores the worst, but transport by ship and truck is also wasteful. Rail transport seems to be the most favourable ecologically for food products.
The origin of food products can give an indication of the means of transport used, although as a consumer you can never be sure.
That is why it is better to consume regional or local seasonal fruit, and to keep a limit on tropical fruit coming from very far away.

Three tofu marinades

February 28, 2023nutritionmarinade, plant-based, protein, tofu, veganpetersan

Yoga Kitchen – Simple, healthy, and plant-based

It’s the marinades that make the tofu

Plain, white tofu has virtually no flavour. You can see that as a drawback, or as a positive. Because it allows you to add any flavour to this healthy supplier of plant protein. Moreover, it allows you to add structure to your cooking habits.
If you set aside half an hour at the weekend to dice a large block of white, firm tofu and make a few different marinades, you’ll immediately be set for the week.
Here are three examples of marinades. Besides, there is no brake on your creativity and you can replace these marinades with your own favourite combinations.

Oriental style marinade with peanut butter and sesame oil

This sweet and spicy marinade is excellent with rice or noodle dishes, accompanied by grilled and steamed vegetables.
Ingredients:

200 g firm white tofu
2 tablespoons of peanut butter
one tablespoon of soy sauce (tamari or shoyu)
1 tablespoon of vinegar (e.g. apple cider vinegar)
2 tablespoons maple, rice or agave syrup
Two tablespoons of sesame oil
2 finely chopped garlic cloves
A good chunk of ginger, grated or very finely chopped

Greek style marinade with olive oil and lemon

This fresh and sour marinade is ideally suited as a substitute for feta cheese in salads, but is also very tasty slightly warmed up.
Ingredients:

200 g firm white tofu
2 tablespoons of nutritional or noble yeast flakes
Two tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon of dried oregano
3 tablespoons of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Spicy Mexican style marinade with chilli and paprika

A pungent, spicy marinade for lovers of spicy Mexican flavours. Ideally to use in wraps, with beans, vegetables and, for example, slices of fresh avocado. These are best eaten hot, by briefly frying the tofu with the marinade in a pan.
Ingredients:

200 g firm white tofu
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon plain white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder or two finely chopped or pressed cloves of garlic
sea salt to taste
1 teaspoon paprika powder
1 teaspoon of oregano

This is how to proceed:

Mix all the marinade ingredients in a bowl and stir in the cubed white tofu. Transfer the marinated tofu into glass jars, for instance with a span seal. This marinated tofu will keep for 1 week in the fridge.

Nutritional info: white firm tofu from the brand The Hobbit, per 100g product.

This gives a good indication of the nutritional values for firm tofu. Tofu from other manufacturers may of course differ from these exact values.

Energy	Carbohydrates	Sugars	Fat	Sat. Fat	Protein	Fibre	Salt
503 kJ/120 kcal	2,1 g	0,5 g	6,1 g	1,0 g	13,5 g	1,4 g	0 g

Is fermented tofu better than regular tofu?

Fermented tofu looks like ordinary tofu but has undergone a fermentation process. As a result, the flavour is slightly acid. Two advantages:

the tofu is slightly more digestible
this tofu has a more distinct flavour

In fermentation processes, bacteria grow and produce acids and enzymes. The enzymes trigger the digestion process, the acids provide stability and favourable acidity for the digestion process.
Fermented tofu is ideally suited for cold preparations with tofu, for example as an alternative to animal feta cheese. Great solution if you are vegan yourself or are visiting a friend or relative who does not eat dairy products.

Cocoa peanut butter cookies

February 21, 2023nutritioncocoa, peanut butter, peanuts, veganpetersan

Yoga Kitchen – Simple, healthy, and plant-based

A quick and easy cocoa treat

Biscuits with peanut butter as an ingredient can be found here and there on the internet. I chose this recipe because, except for the sugar present in the (optional) dark chocolate granules, no other sugar is added. It is the banana that provides natural and mineral-rich sweetness. At the same time, the bananas give the soft, cohesive and springy texture to these soft biscuits. This is an example of how bananas can be the perfect egg replacements in sweet recipes.

The ingredients for approx 10 pieces:

220 g peanut butter
280 g ripe, mashed bananas
about two and a half tablespoons of oat flakes
about 35 g unsweetened cocoa powder
a pinch of salt
optional: two tablespoons of dark chocolate granules or drops

This is how to prepare them:

Grind the oat flakes into flour in your blender or food processor.
Mix the oat flakes and cocoa powder well.
Mix the mashed banana and peanut butter in a food processor until they form a homogeneous mixture.
Add the dry mixture to the liquid mixture and mix well.
Finally, spoon the chocolate drops through the mixture.
Set the mixture in the fridge for an hour and a half to stiffen.
Spoon out the batter one spoon at a time and finally roll 10 balls of the biscuit dough between your fingers.
Place the balls on a sheet of baking paper with enough space in between.
You may want to flatten the balls a bit with the back of a spoon.
Bake for a maximum of 10 to 15 minutes (depending on your oven) in a preheated oven of 165°C.
Let the biscuits cool on a wire rack before eating them.

When I first tried this recipe, I was very sceptical when I saw the sticky batter.
Dirty fingers guaranteed! But the result paid off. Soft, springy biscuits with a deep, dark chocolate flavour.
Yet another vegan treat that doesn’t take much time. One hundred per cent vegan baking fun with respect for all creatures of life.

This recipe is a personal interpretation of a recipe from the cookbook “Secrets d’endurance” by Christophe Berg. Highly recommended for anyone who values health. Especially endurance athletes will find themselves appealed by the many inspiring recipes, all with few, but varied and healthy plant-based ingredients. The booklet (in French), by the way, is published by that great publisher La Plage, which has lots of vegan titles in its range.

Heartwarmingly raw

February 9, 2023nutritionbeet root, raw, red beet root, smoothie, veganpetersan

Yoga Kitchen – Simple, healthy, and plant-based

A warming and invigorating smoothie

Some people enter the new year with a headache, indigestion and a hangover.
I chose to enter the freshly new year on January 1st 2023 already very sober and healthy. In the name of my decades-old habit of eating as healthy as possible, I prepared this wonderfully simple raw smoothie with a generous add-on of fresh ginger. And I then slowly spooned it out, savouring each and every bite. And immediately the tone was set!

This is what you need:

The quantities below are meant for one serving.

A juicy, ripe pear. The juicier, the better.
One quarter of a big raw red beetroot.
The juice of half a lemon.
Approximately half a centimetre of a toe of fresh ginger.

Ready in the blink of an eye

Peel the pear, remove the seeds and core and cut into pieces.
Wash the piece of beetroot thoroughly. You can also peel the beetroot thinly if necessary. Next, cut it into pieces.
Press the lemon to extract the juice.
Remove the peel from piece of ginger.
Bring everything into the cup of a strong blender and blend until you get a homogeneous texture.

Done! Pour into a large glass or bowl and enjoy it, slowly and mindfully.

More than just macro and micronutrients

Raw fruits and vegetables are foods with low energy density and high density of nutrients such as minerals, vitamins and all kinds of secondary plant substances.
We in the West have a tendency to stare ourselves completely blind at the chemical composition of food products. Food certainly and surely acts on our bodies in a much more sophisticated and subtle way than you can tell just from the amount of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals and vitamins alone. Other, older food teachings do take into account these subtle effects, which can affect our organs and our whole body system very differently. I am referring here especially to Ayurveda, traditional Chinese nutrition and macrobiotics.
For example, red beetroot is said to have a strengthening effect on the heart and a relaxing effect on the liver. It improves blood quality.
The pear belongs to foods of a sweet-sour earth-wood type. It stimulates blood circulation and has a moistening effect, including on the lungs and throat.
Fresh ginger root is strongly warming, helping us in winter to ward off the cold.
And finally, the strongly sour-tasting lemon juice not only provides precious vitamin C, but also has a cooling effect.

Does modern science contradict traditional nutritional teachings?

Each of the traditional dietary teachings does have its incomprehensible, probably historically and culturally determined, sometimes somewhat warped taboos. For instance, eating raw vegetables is strongly discouraged in Ayurveda. With what we know today about the thermal sensitivity of vitamins and other secondary plant substances, this taboo appears a bit incomprehensible. However, we don’t have to dismiss everything just like that. It is better to look at what findings contemporary nutritional science comes to and whether they can also be compatible with ancient wisdom. Modern food science has the merit of unravelling the material chemical, biochemical and bacteriological phenomena of digestion and absorption and providing keys to optimise them.
The findings of traditional dietary teachings often look at food through an energetic lens. This way, they consider its direct effects on fluid and heat balance of the body. They provide surprising insights and tools to promote the proper functioning of our bodies throughout the seasons in a way that modern science sometimes overlooks.

Healthy jam

November 21, 2022nutritionfruit, sugarpetersan

Yoga Kitchen – Simple, healthy, and plant-based

A precious gift from Indian Summer

Fruit, at least with the exception of tropical regions, is only available during a short period of the year. It is late summer, the transition between summer and autumn. Fruit is harvested and the fruits are ripe and can be picked. According to the Eastern view of energy and the seasons, it is one of the four transitions between the four major seasons where the earth energy is most strongly tangible.
Sometimes the harvest is so exuberant that it is impossible to eat all that fruit before it spoils.

What are the nutritional benefits of fruit?

Fruit is a great gift from nature. It contains:

Water
Vitamins
Minerals
Fibres
Plenty of carbohydrates, much of which are relatively fast-absorbing sugars

Fruit contains little protein and almost no fats.
If you eat the fruit whole, the absorption of sugars slows down somewhat. It is much healthier for maintaining healthy blood sugar levels than drinking fruit juice.
Read more information on the best way to enjoy fruit here.

How best to store fruit?

We can preserve vegetables over the long term in a very eco-friendly way through the lacto-fermentation process. However, fermentation of fruits is more difficult. It is a delicate matter. Because they are packed with natural sugars, which results in alcohol being produced by the fermentation processes.
To preserve fruit in an environmentally responsible way, you can use one of the following techniques, for example:

Storage in a naturally cool room (such as a cellar or basement). This can only be done for certain types of (hard) fruit.
Cooking and then sterilising. This was popular with our grandparents.
Drying or dehydrating.
Making jam or jelly.

Our grandparents stored their apples almost all winter by stacking them on racks at regular intervals in the cellar.
Sterilisation is associated with loss of nutritional value. Vitamins and enzymes are broken down by intense heat.
Drying or dehydrating fruit is very suitable for hot, dry southern regions. Hot air or the sun is used for this purpose. Here at home, even with climate change, really dry summer heat is rare and unpredictable. We need to use a dehydrator. Dehydration extracts the water from the fruit. If it is done at a temperature below 42°c, the nutritional value of the fruit remains almost intact.

And then there is jam, or confiture, as the French say.

The classic way of making jam was by cooking the fruit with 1 kilogram of sugar for 1 kilogram of fruit. And then, possibly depending on the type of fruit, one could add a binder or thickener such as pectin. There is then such an excess of sugar in the jam that bacteria and yeasts do not survive, and this will keep the fruit from spoiling.
The cooking process used to take a long time, which is not necessary at all.
In my youth, people used plain white, refined beet sugar for jam. Even today, people apply that principle for the commercial, classic jams you find in supermarkets. Only in organic shops can you find jams sweetened in a healthier and alternative way, totally omitting artificial chemical sweeteners such as aspartame.

Here is a much healthier alternative for preparing your own, homemade jam. You can apply this to the fruit from your own garden or when you have a large quantity of fresh, organically grown fruit at your hand.

What you need

One kilogram of fresh, washed and cut fruit
300 ml of concentrated apple juice
The juice of one or two lemons
4 to 6 grams of powdered agar-agar
A small amount of water

This is how you proceed

Bring the chopped fruit together with the water to the boil.
Let it continue to simmer on a low heat until the fruit becomes soft.
Add the concentrated apple juice and bring to the boil again.
Next, pour in the lemon juice.
Stir in the agar-agar and mix well.
Leave to simmer gently for another 2 to 3 minutes.
Turn off the heat and if wanted and necessary, mix the fruit mass to a homogeneous texture with a hand blender.
Spoon the jam into cleaned glass jars. Immediately screw on the lid.
Let cool and then store the jars of jam in a cool, dark place.

The amount of agar agar depends a little on how firm you want the jam to be. Manufacturers state the dosage on the packaging. For a firm, jelly-like thickness, use about four to six grams of agar agar per litre of liquid.
The lemon juice provides a acid note in terms of flavour. It also has the advantage of making the environment of the jam a little more acidic, which further improves the shelf life of your jam.
Once you have opened a jar, store it in the refrigerator.
Bon appétit!

Why is eating according to the seasons better?

We live in a society where we have fresh fruit available all year round, because it is hauled in from all over the world, from all latitudes and often by plane. Therefore, this results in a huge hidden carbon footprint for those products.
Also, our food culture disrespects the connection with the seasons. And that is a pity, because eating according to the seasons ensures, that you are better in harmony with the energy of your environment. Our bodies also go through an energetic cycle every year, making it more beneficial to consume or not consume certain types of food depending on the period of the year. The excess of sweet and high-calorie fruits does not happen to come by coincidence just before the winter period, when food is scarce. Thus, the body had access to an excess of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients before entering the scarcity of winter.

Energy balls with nuts and dried fruits

October 24, 2022nutritionenergy, fruits, nuts, veganpetersan

Yoga Kitchen – Simple, healthy, and plant-based

Little energy bombs

Dry fruits and nuts belong to the food items with a high energy density.
Firstly, they are very nutritious: they contain many minerals and nuts in particular contain healthy fats. Furthermore, they contain a relatively high amount of energy per unit weight, expressed in calories. You only need to eat a little bit of them to quickly reach a decent calorie intake.
However, calories are only a flawed way of measuring nutritional value. You can read more about that at the end of this post.

In the example below, we combine nuts and dry fruits to create a delicious plant-based snack that you could even eat for breakfast. And all with raw, unprocessed produce, with no added sugars.

What do you need?

The number of balls depends on how big or small you roll them.
You get about a total of 320 grams of finished product with the quantities suggested below.
From this you get about 24 pieces with a diameter of about one and a half centimetres.
Take 80 grams of each of the products listed below:

pitted tamarind paste
cashew nuts or white almonds
grated coconut
raisins

The tamarind is also called the Indian date. The fruit is also well known in South America and the rest of Southeast Asia. The seeds of the tamarind are rock hard, and these have to be removed. Look carefully on the packaging to make sure you have the pitted version. The pulp of tamarind is sold in packets of about 150g to 200g in Asian and Indian shops. Tamarind has a pleasant, fresh sour-sweet flavour.

This is how you make the energy balls:

Cut the tamarind paste into smaller pieces with a sharp knife. Remove any remaining seeds.
Add the nuts to the bowl of a food processor and pulse them to a fine, granular powder.
Add the grated coconut and pulse a few more times.
Set the finely ground nut and coconut mixture aside.
Now add the tamarind and sultanas to the bowl of the food processor and pulse them finely.
Continue to grind the tamarind and sultanas until a sticky mass with a doughy consistency forms.
Then knead the fruit mixture and nut-coconut mixture together well with your fingers.
Roll balls of approximately equal size between your fingers and hands.
The balls will keep for a full week in a sealed container in the fridge.

Kneading is solid work for fingers and hands! You’ll get muscular forearms!

Take the above recipe as a general model for this kind of healthy snack.
You can make your own combinations from the following ingredients:

Nuts such as: walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews, hazelnuts …
Whole grains such as: buckwheat, oat flakes or other cereal flakes …
Dried fruits such as: sultanas, cranberries, plums, apricots, figs, dates …
Spices such as: pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom …

Use your creativity and be guided by your tastes and what you have available.
Preferably buy organically grown ingredients in bulk, which further saves packaging waste and is often cheaper.

Approximate nutritional value of these energy balls, per 100g of product:

Energy	Carbohydrates	Sugars	Fat	Sat. Fat	Protein	Fibre	Salt
459,5 kcal	48,6 g	29,8 g	28,7 g	15,3 g	8,5 g	10,8 g	0,032 g

Calorie counting, does it make sense?

The energy value of a food product, expressed in calories, is a theoretically calculated amount of energy that would be released if you were to burn the food product completely to ashes in a closed vessel and then measure how much heat energy is released in the process.
But of course, we humans are not a closed vessel, nor do we burn our food completely to ashes!
Further, the energy from our food acts on our organs in a much more complex way than just heat energy.
As an example, to 1000 kcal steamed cauliflower, your body will react completely differently than to 1000 kcal smarties or some other criminally unhealthy candy.
Furthermore, eating 1000 kcal of food of any kind does not mean that your body will also absorb 1000 kcal of it. Some of your food will digest, some will not. Also depending on what your individual digestive system can handle. Indeed, a lot depends on the condition and diversity of your gut flora.

So calories are very, very relative as a measure of one’s nutritional intake and give little or no relevant information.
They are only useful if you already have a varied and balanced diet.
In the following cases, with a balanced diet, it may possibly make temporary sense to monitor and adjust your calorie intake:

If your weight is really too low and you need to gain weight for health reasons.
If your weight is really too high and you need to lose weight for health reasons.
Or if you want to build muscle or lose fat in a controlled way as part of a strength training programme (body-building).

In these cases, it comes down to eliminating excess or deficiency in nutrition by ajusting portions. Or by changing the ratios between carbohydrates, fats and protein and thus creating a better balance.

What is the right portion size for a meal?

It is a misconception to think that you have to eat your stomach full.
It is sometimes said in Ayurvedic health teachings that you should scoop up a volume of food the size of your two fists per meal on your plate. That makes sense somewhere. After all, our stomach is a very elastic organ. The more we eat, the more the stomach stretches. The bad news is that once stretched, it retains its larger volume, making it easier to eat just a little too much next time. So it becomes a vicious cycle in the long run.
A golden tip for better digestion and health: Chew as long as possible before swallowing.

Tempeh with mushrooms

October 17, 2022nutritionpetersan

Meet a real vegan protein champion

Tempeh is made from yellow soybeans. Mixing those beans with a fungus (Rhizopus oligisporus) and letting them ferment creates a kind of cohesive cake that is very nutritious and has a typical aroma of its own.
Tempeh is Indonesian in origin. Many people are not yet familiar with this plant-based super protein source. You can commonly find it in organic grocerry stores, organic supermarkets, in Asian supermarkets and I have found them a few times in regular supermarkets too.

In terms of texture, it is a perfect meat substitute, with a firm “bite”. The dish below makes tempeh also enjoyable for people who are not so into Asian flavours. It is reminiscent of an autumn or winter hunting dish and could very well be served with cranberries, for instance.

What you need:

For 4 generous servings:

400 g tempeh
1 medium-sized onion
1 to 2 cloves of garlic (optional)
250 g Parisian mushrooms or other mushrooms, or a combination of both
one and a half to 2 tablespoons tamari (soy sauce) or sea salt to taste as you prefer
a generous tablespoon of almond paste
a generous tablespoon of sesame paste (tahini)
two teaspoons of cumin seeds
one teaspoon of thyme
black pepper, ground
a quarter teaspoon of ground nutmeg
a bunch of fresh parsley

This is how you get it done:

Cut the tempeh into smaller pieces. If you are starting from the cylindrical tempeh stumps, you can, for example, cut them into discs, which you then quarter crosswise.
Chop the onion and garlic cloves.
Make the mushrooms clean and cut them into thin slices.
Finely chop or cut the fresh parsley.
Place the tempeh in a steamer basket over boiling water and steam for about 10 minutes(optional).
Then let the tempeh drain a little and cool.
In a wok or large pan, bring a little water to the boil and sprinkle in the cumin seeds and thyme. Allow to boil for a few moments.
Add the onion and garlic to the herb broth and cook together until the onion becomes slightly translucent.
Add the tempeh pieces, stir and simmer together for about five minutes with the lid on the pan.
In the end, add the sliced mushrooms to the pan, stir well and let the mushrooms soften for about five minutes with the lid on.
Sprinkle with black pepper: about 5 to 8 brisk turns of the pepper grinder.
Next, add the ground nutmeg.
In the meantime, combine the almond paste, sesame paste and tamari in a bowl and pour some hot water over them (approx 200 ml).
Mix with a fork or a whisk until the mixture becomes homogeneous.
Pour the mixture into the pan with the tempeh and mushrooms and stir.
Turn off the heat and add the parsley. Stir to combine. Your tempeh with mushrooms is now ready.

You can serve the tempeh for example with a warm, steamed or roasted vegetable dish and some wholemeal rice or another grain. Raw vegetables or some fermented vegetables also go well with this tempeh dish.

Why steam tempeh beforehand?

According to some authors, steaming tempeh beforehand has the effect of opening up the structure of the tempeh a little, allowing the flavours of the sauce or marinade to penetrate more deeply. But it can also be done without.

Can you deep-fry tempeh to make it crispy?

.
Tempeh also lends itself very well to frying in oil, or even deep-frying. I personally am not a fan of that. I prefer softer cooking techniques. If I do want to add a line of oil, I would rather do it at the end. In this recipe, the tempeh is simply simmered along with the onion and vegetables. When you heat oil, do it gently so as not to exceed the maximum recommended temperature, which by the way is different for each oil.

Approximate nutritional values of tempeh per 100g product(*)

Energy	Carbohydrates	Sugars	Fat	Sat. Fat	Protein	Fibre	Salt
722 kJ/172 kcal	0,8 g	0,6 g	9,9 g	1,6 g	16,9 g	No info	0,1 g

(*) Based on the values as mentioned on label of Belgian manufacturer De Hobbit

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