This is my less than stellar, but very interesting entry for this second week of the Medicinal Gourmet Cooking Collective challenge. Today I have made two dishes that are good for the liver, featuring plenty of the colour green, and a sour taste! The first dish that I made is one of my favourite salads, Tabbouleh! This is not only very green but also has the sour element of lemon in the dressing. This was accompanied by the strangest dish I have made in a long while! It was kind of an experiment, because you never know if something will work until you try.. and it wasn't half bad.. I'll call it a broccoli and mushroom flat-bread with fresh basil and tahini! The tahini gives this dish its sour element as it contains quite a lot of lime (when i make it!)

Here are the dishes I made with the ingredients

1. Tabbouleh

This salad is just loaded with liver enhancing ingredients and tastes so different from any regular type of salad I have made. It contains mostly parsley, mint, and sometimes coriander. That is mixed with a generous amount of finely chopped cucumber, tomato’s and red bell peppers. There is a little bit of carbs in the form of cracked wheat, but you can also use gluten free options such as Quinoa. The dressing couldn't be simpler consisting of just freshly squeezed lime and olive oil and seasoning. Take a look at how the chopped ingredients look:

Ingredients (all finely chopped)

- Fresh Parsley leaves
- Fresh Mint Leaves
- Fresh Coriander
- Cucumber
- Tomato’s
- Red Bell Pepper
- Cracked wheat/bulgur wheat/quinoa etc (Slightly undercooked and cooled)
- Lemons / Limes
- Salt/ Pepper
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil

How I made It:

This is one of the easiest salads to make.. but takes the dedication to chop the ingredients properly. The incredible taste of Tabbouleh happens when each mouthful has a mix of all the ingredients and in the right proportions. The mint really lifts this salad, and it works so well with the dressing and other ingredients.

• Dice all the vegetables very finely.
• Mix them all in a bowl and add the cooled cracked wheat. Leave for 20 minutes for it to absorb the juices.
• Add the dressing just before serving. Best served chilled or slightly chilled.
  

2. Flat bread with roasted steamed broccoli, mushrooms, tahini, pomegranate and fresh basil.

The main liver hugging ingredient in this dish is the broccoli. To keep its health benefits to a max I gently steamed it until just al-dent and then briefly grilled it to give it a light charred taste. The basil is also a lovely addition to the taste and medicinal quality of this dish. The use of tahini instead of tomatoes is somewhat questionable for this dish, but as i live on Tahini i thought i would give it a try. It does work, and also would work well with a tomato sauce in addition. The pomegranates add a sweet and slightly sour element, as well some freshness and colour to the dish. I chopped this into triangles and ate pizza style (of course!).

Ingredients:

- Dough as per your preferences. Check out @vegan.niinja s' post for an awesome gluten free pizza base recipe. Mine is made with organic whole wheat flour.
- Broccoli
- Fresh Basil
- Arugula
- Pomegranate
- Mushrooms
- Tahini Sauce
- Seasoning

How I made It:

• I Started by Making the tahina dressing. I used a good tahni paste and mixed with a little water, fresh lime and finely chopped or crushed garlic. Finally I seasoned it with a little salt and mixed it well. The sauce should be a similar thickness to a pizza tomato sauce.
• I chopped the broccoli into small pieces and steamed it for a few minutes to soften then up. Once just cooked I grilled them very briefly on a hot grill to give just a little char.
• At the same time I fried some mushrooms in olive oil and added a little soya sauce.
• Finally I chopped the arugula and basil.
• I rolled out a flat-bread into a circle and fried one side on a pan until cooked. I then flipped it over and added the tahini sauce and other ingredients quickly.
• I cooked it until the bottom was crispy and starting to char.
• Best eaten HOT!
  

Here is how it turned out.. It was very satisfying!

 

I hope this has been fun for you.. I had a good time making all of this and trying out something I would never have tried otherwise! It was a tasty and balanced meal and my tummy, tongue AND liver are all happy for it!

If you didn’t see the original post for this challenge you can click the image below. Please do join us this week, there are still three days left!

The Medicinal Cooking Collective Challenge Week 2 Guidelines:
Cooking For The Liver & Gallbladder / Wood Element


/@eco-alex/the-medicinal-cooking-collective-week-2-guidelines-cooking-for-the-liver-and-gallbladder-wood-elemen

 

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