21 Aug Banting Appetizers To Whet Your Appetite
Banting is the buzzword for a way of eating that has gained a lot of ground and credibility recently. It was pioneered in the 1800’s by a Dr. Harvey in London, who treated an obese man called Mr. Banting successfully by using a low carb high fat diet – now referred to as LCHF (for those of you still wondering what on earth that stands for!).
Our own local sports guru Professor Tim Noakes has revived this diet as an effective way to lose weight and stay healthy. The idea is that you eat a diet high in healthy fats, which help you feel fuller for longer, low carbs to avoid triggering cravings, and a moderate amount of protein.
We have put together a couple of banting appetizers for those of you who prefer the vegetarian and vegan ways. Serve them as an entrée of simply as a light meal or snack.
Sesame Noodle Salad Wraps
Shirataki noodles are a godsend for those on a low-carb diet. They are made from the naturally carbohydrate-free Konjac plant, which is rich in Glucomannan, one of nature’s richest sources of fibre. Here’s a recipe for some delicious little noodle wraps:
Ingredients
• 1 package superlite angel hair noodles
• 1/4 cup coconut vinegar
• 2 tbsp erythritol
• 1.5 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tbsp tamari sauce
• 1 minced garlic clove
• 1 tbsp minced ginger
• 1 tsp finely chopped fresh chilli (optional)
• 1 cup shredded cabbage
• 1 cup shredded kale or spinach
• 1/4 cup shredded carrots
• 1/8 cup fresh coriander
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• Lettuce leaves as wraps (butter lettuce is a good option)
Instructions
• Follow the instructions on the shirataki pack to cook your noodles
• You can cook them on high for a little longer with a bit of coconut oil to add more flavor if you like
• Whisk the vinegar, erythritol, sesame oil, tamari, ginger (and the chilli if you’ve opted for some extra pep)
• Toss the noodles, cabbage, kale, carrots, coriander and sesame seeds together
• Place a heaped tablespoon in individual lettuce leaves, using the cupped parts of the leaves as little containers
These little wraps are great because you can pick them up by hand for a delicious, tasty bite either as a starter or a finger food to hand around pre-dinner.
Kale Chips Drizzled With Tahini Lemon Sauce
For the kale chips
Ingredients
• 1 bunch of fresh kale
• Olive oil
• Salt
Method
• Preheat oven to 150°C
• Wash and dry the kale – make sure it’s properly dry so it will crisp in the oven
• Remove the center stems of the kale by cutting down each side or stripping them by hand
• Tear the kale into pieces if the leaves are big
• Drizzle oil and sprinkle salt on the kale and softly toss with your hands
• Place the kale pieces on a baking tray and pop in the oven
• Bake for 5 minutes. Check that the heat distribution in your oven is causing uneven browning and rotate the tray if this is the case
• Remove from the oven and let them cool while still on the tray
For the Tahini Lemon Sauce
Ingredients
• 1/2 cup tahini
• 2 to 4 large cloves garlic
• 4 to 5 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 to 6 tablespoons water
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne (optional)
Method:
• Blend all the ingredients together in a food processor or with a handheld blender. The tahini will thicken with the lemon juice, so add more water or lemon if it is too thick. You want a smooth, pourable consistency.
• Add the salt and cayenne
If you want a quicker version, you can always get yourself some ready-made kale chips here.
Place the kale chips either on individual plates or a platter and drizzle with the sauce. You can drizzle this delish sauce over practically anything veggie and also use it as a dip for raw veggies julienne. Yum!
(adapted from: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/lemon-tahini-sauce-354109)
Baked Pesto Mushies with Cashew Cheese
Ingredients
• 20 button mushrooms (or Portabellini’s, actually any mushrooms of your choice, as long as you can stuff it. Just adapt the amount of cheese for bigger mushrooms)
For the pesto
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 spring onions
• 2 cups basil leaves
• 1/2 cup chives
• 4 small red chillies
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• Juice from half a lemon
• Salt to taste
For the cashew cheese
• 3/4 cup cashews
• 2-4 tablespoons water
• 1 clove garlic
• 3 teaspoons nutritional yeast
• Juice squeezed from half a lemon
• Salt to taste
To make the pesto
• Crush the garlic and loosely chop the herbs, chilli and spring onions
• Place these and the rest of the ingredients into a food processor to chop finely
• This is your basil pesto
To make the cashew cheese
• Soak your cashews overnight or for a few hours at least
• Pulse in a food processor with the water until the mixture is smooth
• Crush the garlic and add it, along all the remaining ingredients to the cashew mixture and pulse again
• You can refrigerate the presto and cheese for a few hours to let the flavor develop if you have the time.
Putting it together
• Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
• Wash and de-stem the mushrooms
• Spoon the pesto into the mushrooms
• Add a dollop of the cheese on top
• Grind some black pepper over your mushies
• Bake in the oven for 10-20 minutes, or until the mushrooms are cooked
Serve on a platter for a tasty morsel that will have everyone’s mouths watering and ready for more. This vegan cheese can be used as a divine spread on banting friendly cracker breads too.
(adapted from: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/recipe-baked-pesto-mushies-with-crunchy-cashew-cheese/)
Devilled Eggs With Hot Chilli Sauce
Here’s an yummy option for those of you who are vegetarian and eat eggs.
Ingredients
• 4 large hardboiled eggs
• 1 medium avo
• 2 teaspoons chilli sauce
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• Sea salt to taste
• Ground black pepper to taste
Method
• Peel the eggs and cut in half length-wise
• Scoop out the yolks into a bowl
• Mash the yolks with avocado, hot sauce and lemon juice and season with sea salt and ground pepper to taste
• Refill egg whites with the yolk and avo mixture
Place the mon a platter, or an egg per small plate and garnish with a spot of chopped parsley. Quick, easy, delicious and Banting!
Enjoy these little entrées, whether you are Banting or not, what’s not to like? Bon appetite!
(For some more simply delish Banting recipes, take a look at the book by the guru Tim Noakes himself, it’s called the Real Meal Revolution).
suzanne
Posted at 08:42h, 25 AugustCarrots [nightshade] and cashews?…! i thought these were fairly verboten in the Real Meal diet?
specially since I’m a fan of both…. [smile].
The chili sauce has sugar and sunflower oil in it, and so on.
but all sounds delish!