Tag Archives: ginger

Roasted Parsnip Soup

29 Nov

Here’s the November article from Bodhi Tree’s Breathing Room Newsletter. I also made this soup for a recent Monday Night Supper Club potluck. It worked very well as an amuse-bouche garnished with a little thyme and a baby parsnip. Delish!

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Yoga, in its purest form, is about being present and aware in every moment of your life. We are all built with five tools that act as a gateway to this present moment awareness: the senses. Some moments your senses may be engaged with perfect clarity; you are aware that you feel the body you’re in, see the colours around you, hear the sounds in your environment, taste each morsel you eat and smell every aroma that wafts your way. Other moments, due to stress, routine or the mind’s games, your senses may be clouded, or on auto-pilot.

Along with the senses, asana, meditation and pranayama use drishti (focal point), intention (love!) and mantra (om) to help you focus, calm the mind and bring about present moment awareness, if only just for a second. What’s great about these techniques is that they can be applied outside of yoga as well, to work, relationships and even cooking.

This month’s recipe stars parsnips, which are abundant at farmers’ markets as Autumn matures. Using a recipe that focuses on one ingredient will help you engage your five senses, becoming present and aware as you’re cooking. Pay particular attention to how the parsnip’s aroma changes from raw to cooked. It’s an experience you won’t want to miss!

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Roasted Parsnip Soup

1 kg/2.2 lbs. parsnips, cut in half
1 large onion, sliced
1 head garlic, top ¼” cut off
2 carrots, cut in half
2 stalks celery, cut in half
2 Tbsps. olive oil
2 tsps. fresh ginger, minced
1 tsp. fresh thyme, minced
1 L/4 cups vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste
freshly grated nutmeg to taste

Preheat oven to 375 F. Arrange all vegetables on a parchment lined baking sheet, drizzle with olive
oil and toss with salt and pepper. Bake 40 minutes, until vegetables are soft and garlic is golden.

In a large pot, squeeze garlic out of its peel, combine with roasted vegetables and stock. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Purée in a blender or food processor. Add ginger, thyme, nutmeg and season to taste. Garnish with fresh thyme and roasted baby parsnips.

Serves 4-6.

Happy Cooking!
Jacinthe

Butter Chicken or Tofu with Saffron Rice

8 Nov

One of the things I miss about living in Toronto is getting the quarterly LCBO magazine, Food & Drink. The recipes are some of the best I’ve ever tried, including this Butter Chicken.

Seriously, this is a dish that you’ll want to break out when you really want to impress. It looks like it’s complicated, but really it’s just the same ingredients added repeatedly at different stages of the process. Especially a garlic-ginger purée that’s super easy to make and can be frozen for other uses.

Magic ginger-garlic purée!

Chicken marinating in a spiced yogurt mixture.

Tomatoes and spices boiling down.

Sieving the tomato mixture after it has reduced.

I made this for the latest Monday Night Supper Club potluck, which happened to be on Halloween. I dressed up in a beautiful sari I received as a gift and went East Indian style! Lori Andrews over at The 10 Cent Designer made this Cucumber Dill Salad that went perfectly.

Butter Chicken – Slightly adapted from LCBO Food & Drink Holiday 2008 Amaya Restaurant Toronto

Combine and let marinate for 20 minutes:
lb./454 g chicken or 1 block/454 g extra firm tofu
1 tsp ginger puree (recipe below)
1 tsp garlic puree (recipe below)
1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 tsp garam masala

If using chicken, bake at 425 F for 10-12 mins.

In a large pan combine and let simmer (med-low heat) until tomatoes are breaking down (about 25 mins):
1 can (2 cups/16 oz.) diced tomatoes, juices reserved
2 tsp ginger puree
2 tsp garlic puree
2 cardamom pods
2 cloves
1 bay leaf
1 cup reserved tomato juice (more…)

A Red Green Smoothie

21 Oct

Green drinks/smoothies are one of my favourite breakfast meals or snacks. There are so many combinations of fruits and vegetables to use, usually whatever you have in your fridge! I add protein powder in to make them a full meal that will keep me satiated for around 3 hours. The trick is to use a very good blender. Otherwise, you’ll end up with pulpy slush that isn’t very appetizing. In this version, I added a beet, which not only lends its beautiful colour to the drink, but also its vitamins and nutrients!


Red Green Smoothie

1 small beet, peeled and cut into wedges
3 cups greens (kale, swiss chard, lettuce, mesclun)
1 stalk celery
1 small carrot, peeled
1/2″ fresh ginger
1 apple (or pear, nectarine, peach, whatever’s in season)
1 banana
1 tbsp fresh parsley
1/4 cup fresh juice (cranberry is my fav)
1 serving’s worth of protein powder
water

Place everything in a blender and add enough water to almost cover. Blend until super smooth. You can stop and start the blender to let the larger pieces settle to the bottom. Pour into your favourite smoothie glass and enjoy! Keeps in the fridge for about 2 days.

Happy Cooking!
Jacinthe

Curried Carrot and Ginger Soup

24 May

Here’s the original article from Bodhi Tree’s May 2011 newsletter.

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Surya Namaskar, or Sun Salutations, are often the first series of poses that many new yogis learn; a sequence of postures designed to warm-up the large muscle groups and invigorate the body. Doing a few salutations to the sun is a great way to self-practice while bringing focus and clarity to the mind. For  students who are building a self-practice at home, or for beginner teachers, the basic formula of these salutations is easy to build onto, allowing you to incorporate different poses on a whim, or according to a plan. That said, it can be easy to fall into a Sun Salutation rut, repeating similar poses due to their ease, but not necessarily challenging your body and expanding your mind. (more…)

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