This month’s Recipe Redux challenge is all about turning the little humble guys into heroes. Yes, you guessed it: seeds. A nutrition powerhouse often overshadowed by their nutty cousins, seeds deserve the right to shine like gold. I can’t wait to share with you my Persian inspired recipe and latest cooking show crave.
Spice Journey
Image source: ShaneDelia.com.au
As I struggle through our winter, my mind has been in exotic, hot locations thanks to Melbourne Chef Shane Delia. Spice Journey starts in his homeland, Malta, and continues through Lebanon and Iran exploring modern culture, gastronomy and those seductive, prized, golden ingredients we too appreciate today, like pomegranates and saffron. For a limited time you can watch episodes online here. Shane’s restaurant Maha rocks and he is savvy about courting bloggers and social media, but in person he is just like seeds, a humble guy turned hero, given the right platform to shine.
Rock the Casbah
Image source: Kate Spade NYC Rock the Casbah Range – courtesy Among the narcissi
Remember we chatted last month about research on wordsmithing menus or recipe names to turn up the appeal? And how well that worked for nutrition promotion too? Well I’m also fascinated about our urban dictionary and how language and culture evolves in the digital age. Like the word “noms”. The Clash song Rock the Casbah rose out of political unrest in Iran and though I don’t support the lyrics or the misuse of the song during war, it’s just one of those phrases that’s evolved and now stuck. To me it evokes breaking the ranks, going your own way or being strong and individual, whether that be in food or fashion. Just like we reported on the success of Aussie grown Chia seeds turning into a hero food. So all this melting pot of ideas has led us to my rockin’ granola recipe using pepitas, chia and unhulled sesame seeds with Middle Eastern flavours rolled in:
Rock the Casbah Granola
Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats; 1/2 cup pepitas; 1tbsp organic, unhulled sesame seeds; 1 tbsp chia seeds; 1 tbsp walnuts, roughly chopped; 2tbs raw almonds, roughly chopped; 2 tbs pomegranate flavoured Craisins; 2 tsp cinnamon; 10 cloves; zest of one Tangelo; 140g apple puree (apple sauce); 1tbs rose water; 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses; juice from 1/2 tangelo.
Method:
Combine dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Place wet ingredient in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until combined. Pour over dry ingredients and stir to coat and cover. Bake in moderate oven 150degrees Celsius on baking paper lined trays for around 1hour until golden brown. Turn mixture every 15minutes to prevent clumping. Pick out cloves before storing in a sealed container.
Enjoy with Greek yogurt or labneh with citrus segments, drizzle of honey and a pinch of saffron for pure indulgence. I’ve just got my fix of “noms” in the golden sun on the deck. And can’t wait to see what the other reduxers got up to. Thanks go to Sanna dietitian in Kuwait from Fit and Fancy for this month’s theme:
