November is an exciting month as I’m going to further my cooking skills and education by becoming a certified Ayurvedic chef at Hale Pule in the beautiful landscape of the North Island of New Zealand.

Many of us, myself included, are aware of the power of food and how it has the ability to heal and transform our bodies and minds. When we approach eating from its true, sacred nature, it’s like no other medicine on the planet and when we harness its goodness, it enables us to further improve our health from the inside out.

The last cooking adventure I immersed myself in was a few years ago when I travelled to Kerala in India. It’s where I cooked up the pages and recipes for my Ayurvedic cookbook Eat Right for Your Shape. 

This year, I’ll be packing up my bags and joining the lovely folks at Hale Pule on the North Island of New Zealand for the certified Ayurvedic Chef course which runs from November 16th – 29th 2019.

The course is a one hundred-hour program, that teaches you how to incorporate the principles of Ayurveda into personal and commercial kitchens so that you can bring health and wholeness to every body.

Ayurvedic Chef Training is run by Myra Lewin who has been studying, practicing, and teaching Ayurveda and Yoga since the late 1980s. Myra holds a Certificate of Advanced Clinical Study in Ayurveda from Vinayak Ayurveda Chikitsalaya, Nagpur, India. She was grandfathered with Yoga Alliance as one of the first ERYT500s in the US, and is a professional member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA). Myra is also the host of two podcasts on holistic healing, “Everyday Ayurveda and Yoga at Hale Pule” and “Spark Your Intuition”.

If you’re considering joining the course, the certification is ideal for Ayurvedic health counselors and practitioners who want to better support clients' eating habits or for anyone looking to become a personal Ayurvedic chef, run a catering business, prepare healing food at a spa or wellness center or simply enhance your family’s or client's eating habits.

In the 100-hour certification program, you’ll learn:

• How to apply the principles of Ayurveda, including bhutas, doshas, agni, dhatus, food combining, gurvadi gunas and maha gunas, to every bite.
• The use of Ayurvedic herbs and spices to bring healing, balance and great taste.
• How to lead cooking workshops and one-on-one training for individuals desiring a healthy relationship with what and how they eat.
• How to prepare meals for different needs, including illness recovery, restoring balance and large group settings where people have a range of health issues.
• How to bring sattva into meals by creating a harmonious cooking environment, managing your energy as a chef, applying sustainable cooking practices and understanding the role of prana in food.
• In-depth instruction in meal planning, recipe development, kitchen management, cooking tools and food preparation.
• What it takes to cook with consciousness in a commercial setting, including catering events and professional kitchens.
• How to respond to trends in eating and work with clients based on their unique starting points.
• The many ways you can work as an Ayurvedic chef and tips to start your own business.

For more information you can visit the website here or walk through a typical day on the program here.

And to celebrate I’m sharing my delicious Eggplant Bharta and Dosas recipe from Eat Right for Your Shape for you all to enjoy.

Eggplant Bharta 

Serves 2

This kapha-balancing shaggy mash that can be eaten cold as a dip is perfect as a side dish or entrée. I encourage you to make a few serves ahead of time and keep it in the fridge to be enjoyed as a snack with batons of raw carrot, celery and cucumber. Note: It is recommended that all doshas eat tomato in moderation.

Ingredients

• 1 large eggplant (aubergine)
• extra virgin olive oil, for brushing
• 1 tablespoon ghee
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2.5 cm (1 inch) piece of ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• ½ small green chilli, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 tomato, finely chopped (to yield ½ cup)
• ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon garam masala
• Celtic sea salt, to taste
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves, to serve (optional)

Method

Cut three or four slits in the eggplant, then brush the eggplant with a little olive oil. Heat a medium frying pan over medium heat, then fry the eggplant for 10 minutes, turning frequently, until it is soft and charred. Remove from the heat. When cool enough to handle, remove and discard the skin. Mash the flesh and set aside.

Heat the ghee in a clean frying pan over medium heat and add the cumin seeds. Cook for 1 minute, then add the onion and cook for another minute. Add the ginger, garlic and chilli, then cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute.

Add the tomato and ground turmeric, coriander and cumin, then continue to cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes. Add the mashed eggplant, garam masala and salt. Stir to combine and cook for a further
2 minutes.

Top with the coriander leaves (if using) and serve with Indian dosas.

Indian Dosas

Vata and Kapha. To balance pitta, omit the fenugreek

MAKES 10

Ingredients

• 110 g (3 3⁄4 oz/1⁄2 cup) urad dal

• 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• 
pinch of Himalayan salt, plus extra to taste

• 210 g (7 1⁄2 oz/1 1⁄2 cups) quinoa flour
• 1 litre (35 fl oz/4 cups) filtered water,
• plus extra for soaking ghee, for shallow-frying

Method

Soak the urad dal and fenugreek overnight in a bowl of filtered water with the salt.

Rinse the dal, place in a blender with the flour and blend to a fine paste. Add enough of the water to make a thin batter. Pour into a large heatproof bowl.

Heat the oven on 200°C (400°F) for 10 minutes, then turn the oven off.

Sit the bowl in the oven for 15 minutes or until the batter is slightly bubbly and frothy (this fermenting step is optional – the taste is the same whether you do it or not). Remove from the oven and season with salt.

Heat a frying pan over high heat and add a small amount of ghee. Ladle about 80 ml (21⁄2 fl oz/13 cup) batter into the pan and quickly swirl to spread evenly over the base of the pan.

Add a few drops of ghee. When the edges are looking crisp, fold the dosa in half and remove from the pan. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Before the days of pasta being made out of zucchini and pizza bases out of cauliflower, the Greeks were making lasagne out of eggplant. Who knew they were so food-forward?

But forget Hercules. If we’re going to talk about all things Greek and dreamy, we have to have the Moussaka conversation. If you’ve never heard of Moussaka, it’s similar to a lasagne; it uses silky and smoky eggplant, lamb mince with a gorgeous tomato-based sauce with lots of delicious herbs and spices and a creamy, cheesy layer.

If that’s not a plan for perfection, I don’t know what is!

But alas, while this delicacy is down-right delicious, it tends to cause people to have upset stomachs... a running joke in my family, if you know what I mean.

This time, I’ve decided to cut to the cheese (sorry), and make a Lamb Moussaka – Supercharged style.

In order to do so, we’re going to have to go through this layer-by-layer.

First, we have the eggplant layer – sweetly deep, purple eggplant. Did you know eggplant is high in a phytonutrient that can help protect the brain from damage?  Just like humans, eggplants can be bitter if they’re not cared for properly. Before you start to assemble your moussaka, be sure to slice, salt and then drizzle or spray the eggplant with olive oil. This gets rid of that bitter taste. Note to self: this doesn’t work on bitter humans AKA instagram trolls, but you can try.

Next up, we have the lamb mince. While lamb is traditionally used in this Greek delicacy, you could swap it out with beef or even lentils for a vegetarian option! The optional addition of bone broth here gives it an extremely rich flavour and increases the gut-healing benefits of this dish. You can read more about my love for bone broth here. Bone broths are amazing for healing and sealing the digestive tract. Vegetarians can switch it up by using vegetable stock for great results.

For the creamy layer, I’ve used Meredith Dairy Sheep’s Yoghurt Pot Set. While it’s no traditional white cheese, it certainly makes this dish perfectly creamy. Coconut yoghurt also does the trick if you're avoiding dairy.

Lastly, we have nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast gives our Moussaka that perfectly cheesy flavour. Nutritional yeast is actually known as a complete protein, containing all of the essential amino acids!

So, get ready to throw on your favourite toga, break some plates and get cooking, Supercharged Style!

Supercharged Moussaka, Lamb or Lentil Your Choice

Serves 4

Ingredients

For creamy layer:

• 500 gm thick yoghurt (pot set is good) - I used Meredith dairy pot set sheep’s yoghurt (or coconut yoghurt for dairy free)

For topping:

• ¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes

Eggplant layer:

• 2 TBS olive oil
• Pinch sea salt
• One large eggplant (sliced, salted, then drizzled or sprayed in olive oil).

Lamb layer:

• 750 gm minced lamb or beef (or use 1 cup of cooked lentils for a vegetarian option)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 2 cups tomato passata
• 2 tbs tomato paste
• 1 cup bone broth (optional)
• 2 tsps oregano

Method:

• Pan-fry the eggplant frying pan over medium–high heat in batches until browned. This should be about 2-3 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
• Pan-fry garlic in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Add mince and cook until browned, stirring frequently to remove any clumps. Or add lentils if using.
• Place remaining ingredients in and stir. Reduce the heat to medium-low to reduce the sauce down until it is nice and thick and the liquid has evaporated.
• Meanwhile preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease a baking dish.
• Place a layer of cooked mince (or lentils) at the bottom and top with eggplant slices then add yoghurt and smooth it on top.
• Repeat until all the three layers are complete – this may be two or three times, depending on your baking dish. On the very top layer of yoghurt, sprinkle with nutritional yeast flakes.
• Bake for about 20 mins until golden.

In 2019, the vast majority of people globally understand the importance of eating healthy and staying in shape. However in other parts of the world some people especially if they find themselves sociodemographically behind the curve, find it harder and studies show that this is due to having more pressing issues to deal with. Because healthy/fresh food can be more expensive than the alternatives, sadly they simply lack the opportunities and resources to tap into popularised healthy eating.

On the flipside, the same can also be said about very busy working individuals, in spite of many having the means to buy high quality food- they find it difficult to have the time to think about what they’re consuming, follow an organized dietary plan, do the grocery shopping, cook their own food, and this often results in unbalanced nutrition.

Interestingly whatever side of the fence you are on both areas can result in inadequate nutrition and nutritional deficiencies which in turn can affect individual health outcomes.

Meal kits have become very popular in that last couple of years as many people are buiser than ever in their lives and havent always got the time to devote to meal preparation and cooking. Meal kits can make it easier for people as the pre-portioned and usually partially-prepared ingredients and recipes make it easy for people to have a quick step system towards creating a “home cooked” meal.

Usually costing between $10-20 per meal portion the average amount of preparation and cooking time is generally around ten to twenty minutes and this gives customers the opportunity to skip the grocery store aisle and make it easier for them to enjoy healthy, enjoyable, and fresh foods.

Are meal kits in fact what they claim to be?

If you search across the web you’ll find some real life find meal kit resources and reviews which show real time photographs of the process and experience.

Riley and John, a father/daughter team created a series of cute photographs showing their meal kit experience. They recounted that the meal took less than 30 minutes to make, and delegation was the key. When the meal was ready they also enjoyed it at the kitchen table which is a great way and place for families to connect. One part of our busy lifestyles is that eating together has become a thing of the past for many families and they tend to eat at different times in different rooms, in front of the TV or on the couch. They also noted how healthy and fresh (locally sourced) the meal was.

Leah Ingram, a money saving expert agreed that meal kits were a positive experience for her. One of her tips inluded noting her favourite recipes, which she has made again, holding onto the recipe cards and making a note of the ingredients to use on her future shoppng trips.

Meal Kits Canada offers some lovely meal kits prep pics and recipes of meal kits in Canada. Kyle Prevost, is a well-known blogger and entrepreneur in the person finance space, as well as a full time highschool teacher. He’s busy and time poor and says that “while meal kits haven’t made me into a 5-star chef, they have allowed me (a rookie’s rookie in the kitchen) to make a wide variety of fresh, delicious, nutritious meals in only 30 minutes.”

SweetPhi, a food blogger from Wisconsin, agrees “For healthy, organic and ‘special dietary accommodating’ meals food kits work well. One of her personal favourites includes Sun Basket, a service she tried and now enjoys them on the reg to keep her healthy and satiated.

So if you’re too busy to cook and work long hours and have no time for food prep, then meal kits are a tasty, healthy and fresh way to eat. The only other fact is that perhaps the biggest stumbling block to making the leap would be price as this way of eating can be more expensive than simply buying the ingredients. You could also gift a lovely hamper from Boyd Hampers.

If you’ve ever visited a school playground at lunchtime, I’m sure you’ve seen the all-mighty roll up.

These fruit straps (if you can even call them that), are a frequent and common snack among lunch boxes nationwide. Roll ups are seen as an easy and tasty way to get some fruit into your kids.

Unfortunately, a lot of the time these convenient snacks contain not so convenient ingredients, and are laced with maltodextrin, sugar, oil, artificial colouring and you know the rest...

To be honest you know what i think they don't actually contain a lot of? Real fruit. Roll ups contain fruit puree, which is basically fruit that’s stripped of all its fibre and essential nutrients, leaving us with just fructose and sugar.

In fact, I found a roll up the other day with over twelve ingredients which made me question why we associate them with fruit at all! I know. You’re just as shocked as I am right now.

I’d like for you to take your mind back to the good ol’ days, where children were sent off to school with apples from the farm down the road and a handful of just-picked bright blueberries from the garden. Doesn’t that just sound blissfully wholesome?

Previous generations would be blown away if they had a sneak-peek into what’s in our kid’s lunch boxes and even more so, what’s going into their tummies.

Generations before us grew up knowing exactly where they food came from. They visited farms where fruits and vegetables grew or even picked their own, preserving the excess bounty as jams and pickles to be eaten in the months that followed. They ate seasonally, not out of choice, but because that’s all they knew. They knew that winter was the time for grounding stews with root vegetables, summer was for mangoes and spring was the time for sweet green peas and juicy lamb chops; it just made sense.

Sadly, our connection between our social and agricultural landscape has become barren and dry. We’ve completely lost touch with our earth’s seasonal wisdom and how it has the power to provide our bodies with the exact nutrients and life forces we need to flourish through the extremes.

We’ve forgotten that food is at the heart of the home. We’ve become accustomed to the remnants of fruit being placed in kid-friendly plastic packaging with a million and one other unrecognisable food ingredients and don’t even give it a second thought.

This revelation sparked me to create my own fruit roll-ups for my latest book, Supercharge Your Life, made with just three simple ingredients, not twelve.

You can even wrap them around your fingers like the traditional ones!

By swapping out pre-packaged foods filled with ingredients we can’t even pronounce, and our bodies don’t quite understand, with real and wholesome food, we’ll be able to thrive naturally.

Food that’s considered, selected, prepared, served and enjoyed with genuine love and thankfulness will bless your body and your loved one’s bodies far more than you know. This is the key to having a simply supercharged life; its food made simply and life made simpler.

Less really is more!

My food philosophy is easy: eat real, unmodified foods as close to the state that nature provides, as this enables our bodies to function at their best. This means I run towards foods that are grown or reared naturally and are free from as much chemical intervention as possible. Food should be savoured, smelled and experienced, not chowed down on too quickly.

For the Strawberry and Chia Roll Ups, I’ve used strawberries because they’re the best flavour, obviously - it’s not even worth arguing over. I’ve even used berries from my own backyard!

Of course, you don’t need to roll up (pun intended) your sleeves just yet and turn into a master gardener just to enjoy this healthy little snack. I know it’s not possible for everyone to grow their own garden, but it’s possible to start a little herb wall or veggie patch anywhere, which you can read more about in my post entitled How To Create a Kitchen Garden.  

That being said, you can buy berries from the supermarket or farmer’s market, just opt for chemical-free and organic where possible. If berries aren’t in season, you can make these easy roll ups with a multitude of fruit combinations to fit in with whatever season you’re in.

Some of my favourite flavour combinations include:

• Raspberry + mango
• Apple +sweet potato
• Peach + banana
• Strawberry + basil
• Raspberry + vanilla
• Apricot +cinnamon +turmeric

Don’t be scared to play around with different flavour and fruit combinations. You can even use frozen fruit. Once you’ve chosen your fruit or fruits of choice, combine them with omega-3 rich chia seeds.

If chia seeds don’t tickle your fancy, feel free to swap them out with flax seeds or even hemp seeds. Then, sweeten to your personal taste preferences. I personally like using honey or rice malt syrup in these, but you can also use stevia or another sweetener of your choice.

These roll ups are perfect for school snacks, study breaks and even for the work fridge. All you need is three ingredients and an oven. If you have a dehydrator, feel free to use that instead of the oven but be aware that the timing may vary.

The mighty roll up is great for snacking because you can portion them out to help with the impossible feat of controlling your portions. They’re even better because you can play tug-of-war with them (no, this is not giving me permission to play with your food, but the option’s there).

If you’re looking for other perfect and healthy homemade lunch box or weekend family friendly snacks, check out my Golden Granola Clusters, Golden Gut Oatmeal Cookies and Turmeric Fudge in this FREE ebook made with delicious Golden Gut Blend.

My fruit leather is one for the whole family to love and fight over! Enjoy them and let me know what you think in the comments down below.

You can grab a copy of the book here: Supercharge Your Life

Strawberry and chia roll-ups

{makes about 12}

• 500 g (1 lb 2 oz/313cups) strawberries, hulled and halved
• 2 tablespoons chia seeds
• 2 tablespoons rice malt syrup, or stevia powder to taste

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 65°C (145°F) or its lowest temperature and line two baking trays with baking paper.
• Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse for about 30 seconds, until puréed. Pour onto the baking trays and spread out evenly with a spatula.
• Dry in the oven for at least 3 hours, until the mixture is no longer sticky and the consistency is leathery but not crisp (see tip).
• Cool to room temperature, then either slowly peel the fruit off the baking paper or use a sharp knife or a pair of scissors to cut into portions with the paper still on to stop them sticking. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3–4 days. When ready to use, roll up portions and secure with string.

Supercharged Tips

• To test whether your fruit roll-up is ready, pick at a corner and start to peel it slowly off the paper. If it pulls apart or seems sticky or damp, it needs to go back in the oven.
• To make the other flavour combinations, replace the strawberries with the same volume of the suggested ingredients, and combine with the chia seeds and rice malt syrup in the same way.

Every blogger needs a breakfast bowl, and this bowl right here is the bowl of all bowls. In fact, I’d say it’s the king of the bowls.

Personally, I go to sleep dreaming of breakfast but if you, like many others, don’t really like breakfast, your world is about to change because my Nourishing Breakfast Bowl defies breakfast norms. It’s absolutely delicious, satisfying and will keep you full all morning long. While breakfast bowls are currently all the rage, eating your veggies goes beyond trends; they never go out of style. Luckily for us, this breakfast bowl celebrates veggies with their vibrant colors and delicious flavors, in all of their glory. It’s definitely a bowl that’s worth waking up for.

This breakfast bowl, from Supercharge Your Life, perfectly exemplifies how a little bit of meal preparation can go a long way. If you haven’t got a copy of Supercharge Your Life yet, it’ll teach you all you need to know about meal preparation, the best ways to enjoy veggies and, serves as a reminder that purposeful and fulfilling eating is possible even if you’re short on time, feeding a big family or are a strapped-for-cash student.

If you’re new to creating supercharged dishes, you need to start with your ingredients. First and foremost, when starting out, don’t try to do so much that you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just begin slowly by including more fresh ingredients and don’t be restrictive. As you become more comfortable with using whole foods, try to include as many colours as possible in your dishes – you’re aiming to eat the rainbow so that you can fill your body with a variety of nutrients, which is why a breakfast bowl is a good way to start. Diversity is the key to good health and good health begins in the gut, read more about gut health on my gut blog here. 

If preparation is where you feel most challenged, clear off the work surface and get ready for some fun and interesting meal-prep and cooking ideas:

• Chop up or spiralise raw vegetables such as carrots, celery, zucchini (courgettes) and capsicums (peppers) into strips, batons and sticks, and store in the fridge. Then all you need do is whip up a guacamole or pesto for a delicious snack. I’ve used spiralised cucumbers in this dish so, if you’re looking for a time-saver, spiralise them in advance and enjoy their benefits in this bowl later.
• While I've used a fried egg for this recipe, if time isn’t on your side, a boiled egg can do the job too. Eggs can be hard-boiled in muffin trays in the oven allowing you to cook a few batches of 12 at a time and store them to add quickly to salads and bowls for extra protein. Simply preheat the oven to 175°C (345°F), place a whole egg (in its shell) in each muffin hole, no water, and bake for 30 minutes. Cool in iced water if you need to peel them immediately. Of course, if you’re vegan or have an aversion to eggs, scrambled tofu or tempeh would work well in this bowl too - whatever works for you is always the best option.
• One of the best parts about breakfast bowls is the fact that you can sneak in as many vegetables as you can into your first meal of the day. One of my favourite ways to eat vegetables is by sautéing or stir-frying them. Sautéing or stir-frying vegetables involves cooking them in oil in a frying pan, wok or saucepan over high heat and stirring them often. In fact, the word sauté́ comes from the French for ‘jump’. The high heat means vegetables cook quickly, minimising nutrient loss, while the frequent stirring ensures they don’t burn or stick to the pan. This method can be used if you want a slightly crisp texture. It’s more involved than boiling or steaming, but it’s a great option because the vegetables retain much more flavour. Better yet, when combined with a bit of heat-resistant oil (such as coconut oil), spices and/or a marinade, sautéed vegetables can convert even the most staunchly anti-veg family member.
• When choosing a pan to use, try to pick a large one that can hold all your veggies in a single layer and one that’s relatively shallow, so the vegetables can be cooked evenly, and any steam can escape. To sauté́ vegetables, heat some oil in the pan over medium to high heat. Add the chopped vegetables, preferably starting with them all at the same room temperature. Stir them frequently until they’re nicely browned and cooked through. Season to taste and serve quickly.
• Liberal use of spices is the mark of a considerate cook. Ensure you add them just before the end of the sautéing process, so they have a little time to warm slightly and release their fragrance and flavour. Fresh herbs can be added after cooking or towards the end. Now here’s another warning: if you’re adding cheeses or sauces to your vegies, add them in closer towards the end so they don’t overcook or burn. The best vegetables to sauté́ are cabbage, carrots, onions, corn, asparagus tips, baby artichokes, capsicums (peppers), mushrooms, sugar snap peas, zucchini (courgettes) and leeks. Here we’ve used green beans, spinach and kale to help you get your green on, but feel free to use whichever greens you have sitting in your fridge.

Speaking of greens, no breakfast bowl can be complete without the mighty avocado. Well, it can, but that’s just a sad breakfast bowl that I want no part of. Avocados provide a hefty source of essential fatty acids and a creaminess like no other; it’s an absolute essential.

While this bowl does use rice, if you’re not feeling it, you could use quinoa, buckwheat or omit it altogether. Whatever floats your boat or drains your grain… or not.  

• This bowl is relatively quick to make and can include any vegetables that you may have lying around. If you want to start practicing your meal prep, this is the perfect way to begin! Prepare some of the ingredients beforehand and use them in this dish for the most uplifting and nourishing breakfast ever. It’s your new go-to. This versatile breakfast bowl truly has it all and is the perfect meal to have when there’s ‘nothing to eat’. Just please promise me that you won’t be intimidated by the ingredients list – it’s basically just a giant bowl of food which is my favourite type of food. This bowl is a true celebration of vegetables and is a great reminder to keep life interesting and colourful. But use whatever veggies you like, YOU DO YOU!

This nourishing bowl is warm, comforting, satisfying and off the scale when it comes to health. It’s truly #bowlgoals as it includes all bowl essentials - grains, protein, greens, avocado, nori and a satisfyingly creamy sauce. If you’re wanting new recipe inspiration or more healthy tips, be sure to get your copy of Supercharge Your Life here.

Nourishing Breakfast Bowl

This is the king of breakfast bowls, and you’ll feel like royalty sitting down to this collection of vibrant ingredients in the morning. Loaded with greens, wholesome brown rice, gorgeous orange sweet potato, satiating eggs and a super-tasty tahini-based dressing, this is a great recipe for preparing food mindfully and honouring yourself.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet potato, peeled and sliced thinly lengthways
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted, plus extra as needed
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 heaped tablespoons blanched almonds
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 spring onions (scallions), chopped
• 250 g (9 oz/2 cups) sliced green beans
• 450 g (1 lb/1 bunch) kale, stems and spines removed, roughly chopped
• handful baby English spinach leaves
• 2 eggs
• 370 g (13 oz/2 cups) hot cooked brown rice
• 1/2 telegraph (long) cucumber, spiralised into noodles
• 1 avocado, peeled and sliced
• 2 sheets nori, torn, or handful dried nori strips
• toasted sesame seeds, for sprinkling (optional)

Dressing

• 65 g (214 oz/1/4 cup) tahini
• 60 ml (2 fl oz/1/4 cup) filtered water
• 60 ml (2 fl oz/1/4 cup) lemon juice
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• few drops liquid stevia or your sweetener of choice
• 11/2 teaspoons wheat-free tamari or coconut aminos
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

To make the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a jar, seal tightly and shake until combined.

Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F).

Place the sweet potato in a roasting tin, drizzle over half the coconut oil and bake for 10–15 minutes, until cooked. Season with salt and pepper.

Toast the almonds in a dry frying pan over medium heat and set aside.

Heat the remaining coconut oil in a frying pan over medium heat and sauté the garlic and spring onions for 1–2 minutes. Add the beans and kale, and stir-fry for 3–4 minutes, until cooked through. Add the spinach and cook for 1–2 minutes, until wilted. Move the greens to one side of the pan and fry the eggs to your liking, adding a little more oil if needed.

In two wide shallow bowls, arrange the brown rice, spiralised cucumber, cooked greens and avocado, then top with the almonds, sweet potato, nori and a fried egg. Drizzle the dressing over and sprinkle with sesame seeds, if using, and pepper.

By nature, human beings are creatures of habit. We wake up at the same time, eat the same breakfast every day, worry about the same things, have similar thoughts, go to the same takeaway place for lunch, take the regular commute home, eat meat and three veg for dinner, watch some TV and go to sleep at the same time.

Yawn.

It’s time to shake things up a bit and breakfast or lunch is a great place to start.

Personally, one of the ways I love to change up my daily routine is by travelling. While it’s something I’m fortunate enough to do due to my work, exploring is one of my passions.

Whether it’s a road-trip, train-ride or plane-ride somewhere overseas, travelling allows us to open our eyes to new ways of being, exotic cultures and of course, delicious food. Travelling has given me a deep sense of appreciation for various cultures across the world, and a new outlook on life, and even if traveling involves just taking a new route to and from the office, it’s a great habit to get in to.

One of my all time favourite places that I’ve ever visited is Sri Lanka. Not only is it absolutely beautiful and authentically rich, the food is out of this world. From the curries to the dahl, Sri Lanka does no wrong. There’s one meal in particular that stands out to me: egg hoppers. Before I ever visited, I had never heard of egg hoppers and now I make them regularly at home and the family loves them too.

If you’ve never visited Sri Lanka or heard of the mighty hopper, we’ve got some catching up to do! 

Egg hoppers, also known as appam, are a fermented crepe made of rice flour and coconut milk, and topped with a gooey fried egg. This makes it excellent for the gluten-intolerants among us. Or you know, everyone basically!

The hopper has a crepe consistency and is in the shape of a bowl, giving it the ability to carry as many fillings as you like, making it the real MVP. Plus, who doesn’t love eating food out of bowls?

Seriously, bowl food is the best kind of food. Think about it: you can serve salads in a bowl, smoothies in a bowl and now eggs in a bowl but this time, the bowl is the hopper! Isn’t that exciting?

When exploring the local streets of Sri Lanka, you’ll see egg hoppers as far as the eye can see. They fill street vendors, local eateries and even the fanciest of hotel restaurants. That’s truly one of my favourite things about Sri Lanka – its shared love of cultural cuisine. It’s a delicious dish for everyone to enjoy, locals and tourists alike. And the good news is, even the kids lap them up.

My first time trying an egg hopper was a magical experience. It was from a tiny street vendor and was filled with a red sambol and herbs. I still remember my magical first bite; it was like a crispy crunchy pizza but even better and hooked me in straight away. Definitely love at first bite. I’m officially a turned egg-hopper lover and I know you’ll love them too!

While not everyone can ‘hop’ on the next flight to Sri Lanka to try out an authentic egg hopper, there are other ways to embrace foreign culture and this recipe does just that.

I’m sharing my take on a this traditional dish with a recipe from my latest book, Supercharge Your Life. My book, which you can buy here, serves up information and inspiration to help you consume with purpose and embrace recipes from all over the world through your own kitchen! It’ll shift your thinking in terms of cooking with a purpose and loving every minute of it.

These hoppers are a combination of a comforting and nourishing crepe with a gooey and delicious fried egg that’s dripping with yolky goodness. They’re a simple and impressive dish that works perfectly for the whole family. While you can have the hopper plain, there are a range of fillings to choose from. This includes tomatoes and herbs, fried eggs, curries, vegetables and even yoghurt.

For these delicious Supercharged Egg Hoppers with Peanut Sauce, I’ve created a fried egg and peanut masterpiece that’ll convert even the non-egg lovers among us. Forget what you know about eggs for breakfast: they’re not just for scrambling or frying or binding in a cake. Eggs are extremely versatile and delicious. They’re more than just a pretty face, being high in protein, vitamin D, vitamin A and omega-3 fatty acids.

While Sri Lankan’s use a proper hopper pan, this recipe doesn’t require any fancy equipment, just a regular frying pan because 'aint nobody got time for that' 😉

Think of these cute, crepey edible ‘bowls’ as a beautiful housing that envelops a variety of fillings of your choice. Fried eggs, baked tomatoes, leftover veggies, and covered in peanut sauce, coconut or sambal. My version doesn’t include the typical yeast, so the lattice handiwork when pouring the batter into the pan helps to achieve the desired, if somewhat flatter shape. It’s time to bring the tastes and flavours of Sri Lanka to your own kitchen.

And now for the real question: who’s ready for brunch?

Supercharged Egg Hoppers with Peanut Sauce

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 egg, whisked
• 160 g (53/4 oz/1 cup) rice flour
• 375 ml (13 fl oz/11/2 cups) coconut milk
• pinch of sea salt
• olive or coconut oil, for frying

Toppings

• 4 eggs
• torn spring onions (scallions), chopped
• roughly chopped peanuts
• coriander (cilantro) leaves
• lime wedges, to serve

Peanut sauce

• 70 g (21/2 oz/1/4 cup) natural peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons wheat-free tamari or coconut aminos
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/8 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 80 ml (21/2 fl oz/1/3 cup) warm filtered water

Method:

To make the peanut sauce, combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until thoroughly mixed.

Beat the whisked egg, rice flour, coconut milk and salt together with a fork until smooth. Heat about 1 tablespoon olive oil in a small frying pan with rounded sides.

Using a small spoon or squeeze bottle, drizzle about 60 ml (2 fl oz/1/4 cup) of the batter over the base and sides of the pan in a thin layer, leaving holes in the mix (like the picture).

Cook until bubbles form on the surface and the edges are golden, then remove carefully with a spatula and set aside.

Repeat the process with the remaining batter.

Fry the eggs in a separate frying pan and place one on top of each hopper.

Spoon over some peanut sauce, scatter over the spring onions, chopped peanuts and coriander, and serve with lime wedges.