This is my entry for the Medicinal Gourmet Cooking Collective Challenge. In this first week we are cooking for the Fire element, the heart. This dish is one that includes many ingredients that are very beneficial to a healthy functioning heart. There is plenty of the colour red, and just about all the ingredients are beneficial to the body in one way or another. It is minimal in carbs and sugar, with whole wheat organic flat bread being used instead of the thicker white flour based pitta bread. I have even had some fun and added beetroot juice to the dough to make the flat bread pink! It isn’t really that hard to make a meal that much more healthy and tasty, and by doing this challenge I have discovered some new ideas that were really delicious. I also tried out a roasted red bell pepper tahini dip, which looked a beautiful pink and tasted really good too!

So I hope this meal can inspire you to add a few more things to your next meal and have some fun and enjoy whilst also being so good for you. I did want these photos and presentation to be so much nicer, but I got distracted by a whole drama whilst cooking and in the end finished at 4pm instead of 2pm and was too hungry and rushed to really plate it properly.. Nevertheless, its was still delicious!

Here are the dishes I made and how I made them

1. Beetroot Flat bread with Flaxseed

Ingredients

- Whole Wheat Organic Flour
- Cooked beetroot purée or beetroot juice
- Salt
- Flaxseed
- Baking Soda

How I made It:

This flat bread is made like any other but includes beetroot purée or juice.

• Mix the flour and beetroot in a bowl.
• Add Salt and a little warm water and mix well. Keep adding water and mixing and kneading until it forms a nice pink dough ball
• Add Baking Soda and flax seed and mix and leave covered for a half an hour.
• Roll out a very thin golf ball size piece of dough and then fry on a dry hot pan on both sides until it is slightly browned and puffy.
  

2. Roasted Red Pepper Tahini

Ingredients:

- Tahini (sesame paste)
- Red Bell Peppers
- Garlic
- Lemon / Lime Juice
- Salt
- Water
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil

How I made It:

• Start by roasting the bell peppers in the oven or in a pan for about 15-20 minutes until the skin is charred and they are soft.
• Leave to cool and then peel the skin and burned parts off.
• Purée or blend the bell pepper.
• Add the remaining ingredients to the mixer and blend until it forms a paste.
• Add a little water to the mixture and blend until smooth and creamy.
• Best served chilled from the fridge.
  

Here is how it turned out.. It WAS delicious!

 

3. Chocolate Mousse with avocado and walnut.

Ingredients

- Ripe soft avocado
- Pure Coco Powder
- Vanilla Essence
- Date Syrup or Honey
- Coconut Milk
- Walnuts
- Salt
- Mint

How I made It:

• Cut the avocado in half and scoop out the green soft flesh into a bowl.
• Add the Coco Power, vanilla essence, just a little coconut milk, date syrup, and salt and blend well until it forms a smooth paste.
• Leave to cool in the fridge.
• Serve with walnuts and a sprig of mint.

Here is how this turned out..

Let me just say that it was surprisingly good. I cleaned it out as quickly and timelessly as I would any flour based high sugar mousse.. Five stars and I made it in about 5 minutes!

And now my heart thanks me for all this medicinal food, which I enjoyed maximally. There was not sacrifice on flavours, tastes, and I certainly didn't have to eat anything I didn't totally enjoy! Thanks for stopping by and please do let me know if you enjoyed these ideas in the comments.

If you would like to read more about this challenge please check out this post:

https://steemit.com/medicinal-cooking/@eco-alex/the-medicinal-gourmet-cooking-collective-join-us-for-a-different-kind-of-food-challenge

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