Here goes another round of #steemitiron-Chef challenge hosted by the a top chef here on steemit @progressivechef! This round is Celery and it's one of those vegetable I love and hate! Sometimes I really get these graving for crunchy sticks of celery and hummus or celery pieces in a soup is equally as divine because of how well they absorb the flavor of everything else when cooked. But other times it's the last thing I want especially when my stomach is a bit sensitive. I think we as humans have to listen to our own bodies and know whats best for us! Thankfully i'm in the mood for it at the moment :)

Spring is here in Catalonia! The flowers are in bloom, my plants are growing and it's warm enough to do some sunbathing during the midday. My food preferences are changing and instead of hot meals I'm gravitating to more raw and lighter dishes. My green leafy vegetables are really shooting up, so I wanted to enter a nice salad for this competition.

As you can see it was getting a bit over crowed in my pots, as I sown a mixture of seeds in there at different times. I thought now would be a good time to harvest some of these iron rich greens. The long thin ones are Japanese mustard greens called Mibuna, and the other is called Mizuna also a type of Japanese green ( I harvested them young, as you can see they are quite thin and would become more leafy with some more time). Still I think these are an excellent addition to the salads because of their beautiful shape.

Asparagus is readily available now and costing around 1.50 euro a bunch, I'm totally addicted to it at the moment. I've been told it's possible to find wild asparagus here but as yet I haven't stumbled across it. The day I find free asparagus I will be over the moon! A few years ago I used to visit a farm where you could pick asparagus yourself for a fee, it was so fresh and delicious! Nothing better than picking plants fresh, that's one of the reasons I grow my own leafy greens for maximum freshness!

Now celery is a staple in my diet as you can see here it's part of my weekly shopping. All these vegatbles are from the local organic cooperative and come with an honest price tag. It's important to note when eating both celery and asparagus I would recommend squeezing a lemon over them, because both are high in Oxalic Acid which inhibits the absorption of minerals like iron, the vitamin C in the lemon helps with the absorption of minerals!

With this in mind I wanted to make a dressing for the celery sticks. I really wanted to go for a flavor that jumps out against the rest of the salad, I was going for a slightly oriental vibe with the red cabbage and my mustard greens, so I had to make something to suit it.... of course SOY SAUCE.... but one problem I really hate store brought soy sauce and even health food store alternatives because of some of the ingredients they use. So I tried something I never done before and experimented with making my own soy sauce, and the results were quite surprising I'll share the ingredients now.....

Homemade Soy sauce...

Black strap molasses
Apple cider vinegar
fresh Lemon juice
pinch of Himalaya salt

Salad Greens

Purple cabbage
Carrots
Mibuna Leaves
Mizuna leaves
Asparagus
and of course Celery

On a base of Sesame Seed style humus

Spring onion
Green pepper
Basil and oregano
Pinch of Himalaya salt
olive oil
Tomato
fresh lemon juice
And some chopped Celery
(all blended to make a puree)

Garnish

with Toasted sesame seeds and sunflower seeds

In all honesty I would say my homemade soy sauce beats standard soy sauce hands down, it's tangy sweet and tasty and sooooo much healthier. I only used a tiny bit of blackstrap molasses because it is so rich, but it's packed with loads of iron and iron is one of the most important minerals we need! Apple cider vinegar is particularly good for keeping the gut healthy too! I hope you try it out, tell me what you think!

I hope you enjoyed the results, I certainly did!

Thank you to @progessivechef @steemit-ironchef and the sponsors @canadian-coconut, @donkeypong , @trophytokens , @voiceshares and @bambam808 for their support to Steemit-Ironchef

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