Sweet potato soup (serves 4)
This is a super simple, fast, delicious, nourishing and easy to digest meal that will make you feel good and energized.
What you need:
2-5 sweet potatoes
1 can of coconut milk
50g red lentils / person
1 celery stalk
(1 onion)
(A couple cloves of garlic)
Turmeric
black pepper
Cayenne pepper
What to do:
Chop the veggies and put them in a pot with the lentils. Cover with water and heat to a boil. Skim off any foam, and add spices and crushed tomatoes. After 10-15 min add the coconut milk. Blend the soup to a creamy consistency. Enjoy alone or with a nice salad with avocado and fried strips of Tempeh.
A few words on tempeh:
Tempeh is a traditional indonesian food made from fermented soy. The good properties of soy is that it contains all amino acids and is thus a very good source of protein. Unfermented soy is problematic because it has some very hard to digest compounds that mimic estrogen in the body, and if too much is consumed it will have an adverse effect on the endocrine system, making us too estrogenic with symptoms of moodiness, increased risk of cancer, feminine characteristics in men such as man boobs and low sex drive. etc. But when soy is fermented it loses all it’s negative effects and become a very nutritious and easy to digest source of vegetable protein. Soy also has the advantage of raising IGf-1 (insuline like growth factor-1) levels in the blood. Igf-1 is an anabolic hormone which means it will cause growth and regeneration of tissues. Too much can be troublesome, as can be the case when too much animal products are consumed habitually on a regular basis. On a vegan diet, especially long term, it might be a challenge to get the body to an enough anabolic state where it renews itself properly, we might feel unsettled and nervous and not sleep as good as we used to, and we might have a really hard time to put on healthy body mass. So for anyone on a vegan diet, and also for anybody who wants to get some of their protein from a plant source I strongly recommend tempeh as it’s super satisfying, easy to make and delicious.
Try it for breakfast with avoadoes and greens, or with your oats and/or smoothie if you’re into those in the mornings.
Here’s how to do it:
Get a pack of soy tempeh (there’s also other kinds out there such as grain and pea, but i prefer soy because of it’s amino acid content) cut as many strips as you’d like to eat and maybe a few extra to snack on later or to have with your next meal, Place the strips in a low dish and cover generously with olive oil, Tamari and a little applecidervinegar. The tempeh will soak all these in, without it will be quite dry. Let the strips soak in the juices for some minutes and then simply fry them in some coconut oil, or even better, grass fed ghee. To add some more building food to your vegan or vegetarian diet, add some fried tempeh strips to any meal of the day, or as a little satisfying snack if you need one, great with just some avocado, sauerkraut and some nice mustard. Mmm mmm mmm.
And some words on Ghee
Ghee is simply put pure butterfat, as in butter with all the water and protein removed. Usually it’s the protein in milk, especially an amino acid called casein that’s responsible for many of the adverse effect we might experience from milk products such as achy and swollen joints due to inflammation. In Ayurveda Ghee is considered a very sacred and medicinal substance, basically the essence of the essence of a humble, good willed and peaceful animal, the holy cow. Ghee is said to have the ability to penetrate tissue and go deep into to the body, carrying nutrients and medicinal substances deep into our cells. Ghee also has a lot of Ojas, an Ayurvedic term meaning essence, or crude life-force. In Chinese medicine this same concept is referred to as Jing. Generally all healthy animal fats contain a lot of ojas/jing. nuts and seeds, especially almonds are a good source of ojas, nut we must always remember to at least soak them in water overnight before consuming them. Back to ghee. If you are on a vegan diet i strongly recommend to make an exception when it comes to ghee as you will benefit greatly long term by having a few spoonfuls every day. Grass fed ghee contains the omega-3 fatty acids epa and dha which are anti- inflammatory and crucial for a healthy brain and nervous system as well as healthy hormonal functioning and balance. Grass fed ghee also has fat soluble vitamins d, a and k2 which are crucial for strong and healthy bones and teeth. ghee made from conventional dairy will have much much less of all these compounds, so get grass fed ghee or make it yourself from grass ped butter, the Irish brand Kerrygold is one of the best I know.
Here’s how to do it:
Get your butter in a skillet or pot and heat it up on the lowest heat possible. As it melts it will begin to boil. Let it simmer and bubble and as white foam start to collect keep skimming it off. After some time the ghee will turn clear and you will start to see the bottom of the pot. Skim off any arising foam as well as you can. Pour the ghee through a cheesecloth or coffeestrainer and let cool down. discard the stuff you skimmed off. In India they mix it with sugar and give to kids and it might be pretty caramel and delicious. Probably not the healthiest thing for a westerner tho. The process of making ghee is great to turn into a prayer, ceremony and meditation, Infuse it with all your goodwill and healing intention for yourself and the world. Store it in a glass jar in room temperature out of light, it will stay good easily for about two-three weeks so make a batch that will last this long. Add a spoon or two to all your meals and see how full, satiated and happy it will make you feel. Bless the cows who transformed the essence of the earth in to this hormonal health nectar.
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