Shopping list:
2.chicken breasts
2.salmon fillets
- kale
Flaked almonds
Turmeric
2.avocados
1.mango
1.small punnet cherry tomatoes
1.tin black beans
Fresh coriander
Ground coriander
Paprika
Oregano
Ground cumin
Small pot Greek or coconut yoghurt
3.red onions
4.sweet potatoes
3.limes
Garlic
1.tin coconut milk
Curry leaves
Cinnamon stick / cassia bark
Frozen sweetcorn
1.small courgette
Nigella seeds
Crushed dried chillies
Red split lentils
Coconut oil
Wednesday: Sweet potato and black bean chilli, 40 mins (VG)
A budget friendly and comforting way to ease you into a healthy veg-filled week
Peel and cut up all the sweet potatoes into smallish chunks, drizzle with coconut oil and salt and bake on a tray for 35 mins until soft.
Meanwhile, finely chop one red onion and a few garlic cloves and fry off in a pan in a tablespoon of coconut oil with a good pinch of salt. Once they’re soft, add in a teaspoon of ground cumin and paprika and half a punnet of halved tomatoes. Let them fry for a few minutes before adding half the tin of black beans and a few handfuls of sweetcorn. Add 100ml of water and let simmer until the potatoes are ready – you can add chilli to taste at this point too. Once they are, stir half the potatoes into the chilli mixture (you’re saving the rest for Thursday) and serve with brown rice, a spoonful of yoghurt (coconut is great) and plenty of lime and coriander.
Thursday: Thai sweet potato soup, 10 mins
Light, zingy and incredibly fragrant yet still comforting enough for the misery of January
Fry a roughly chopped onion and a garlic clove in a teaspoon of coconut oil until soft. Add a teaspoon of ground coriander and a teaspoon of paprika. Pour in the coconut milk and potatoes and bring to the boil. Add a teaspoon of fish sauce, a handful of coriander and blend until smooth. Season to taste.
MAKE IT VEGAN: Leave out the fish sauce and use a splash of soy sauce and lime juice
Friday: Super veggie daal, 35 mins (VG)
Friday night calls for Indian food and this supercharged veg-centric daal is the solution. Treat yourself to a few poppadoms whilst you’re at it
Put one mugful of red split lentils in a pan with three mugs of cold water. Do not add salt (this will toughen the lentils at this stage), but add a cinnamon stick or small piece of cassia bark and a few curry leaves. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 25 minutes, adding half a bag of the kale, a handful of sweetcorn and a handful of halves tomatoes. In a separate pan, fry a few cloves of chopped garlic with a tablespoon of coconut oil and a teaspoon of turmeric and ground cumin until fragrant but not brown. Take off the heat and stir in to the daal once it’s cooked then leave to relax a bit whilst you prepare the topping.
Roughly chop a courgette and fry over a very high heat using a small amount of coconut oil with a teaspoon of Nigella seeds and a teaspoon of dried chillies. Serve on top of the daal.
NOTE: You can use almost any veg you like in this. Root veg are great in the body of the daal, and carrots or mushrooms work well as a topping.
Saturday: Blackened salmon with mango and avocado salsa, 10 mins
A vibrant colourful and well-balanced fish supper with an amped up salsa to make it sing
Sprinkle the salmon fillets with Cajun seasoning and set aside while you make the salsa. Roughly chop the rest of the tomatoes, the last onion, the remaining coriander, the rest of the black beans (rinsed), mango and avocado and mix together in a bowl with salt and juice of a lime. Pan fry the salmon skin side down in a hot non-stick pan for about two minutes until crispy, and sear very briefly on the other sides if you wish, taking care not to overcook it. Serve on top of the salsa.
MAKE IT VEGAN: Swap the salmon for extra firm tofu
Sunday: Turmeric chicken and kale salad, 25 mins
Gently fragrant juicy chicken breast atop a vibrant green winter salad
Mix a tablespoon of yoghurt with a level teaspoon of turmeric and a pinch of salt and pepper and smear all over the chicken. Set aside for ten minutes.
Marinate the kale by putting the rest of the bag in a bowl with a tablespoon of olive oil, a good pinch of salt and the juice of half a lime, then massage it into the kale for a few minutes until the membranes are broken down.
Pan fry the chicken on a medium heat until the outside is starting to char and it is cooked through (about eight minutes depending on the size of your chicken breasts) then rest on a plate covered with foil whilst you slice an avocado. Scatter the sliced avocado, a teaspoon of dried chilli flakes and a handful of flaked almonds all over the kale then serve the chicken breasts on top of the salad.
MAKE IT VEGAN: Exchange the chicken for the biggest, meatiest portobello mushrooms you can find and marinate them in soy yoghurt before frying