Turkish Dip

Turkish Dip – dip, topping, sauce or spread makes 1 ¼ cups

No gluten, dairy, legumes or nightshades

The Ottoman Empire introduced many culinary practices to southern Europe, including the use of nuts, herbs and spices pulverised to produce creamy (yet often dairy-free) sauces, dips and toppings. This recipe is based on a classic Turkish and Caucasus regional dish for Circassian Chicken. Poached chicken is served cold with this topping, which looks and taste like a cross between hummus and pesto.

Colourfully flecked, thick and flavourful, this protein, mineral and antioxidant-rich topping is wonderful as a dip for raw veg, or as a spread on crackers, bread or wraps. Or for a vegetarian main, use as a room temperature topping on cooked pumpkin, eggplant or courgette (accompany with quinoa or brown rice). Or dollop on fish or chicken; tofu kebabs or other BBQ fare.

½ cup gluten and dairy-free breadcrumbs (eg use crumbled or ground Venerdi or Bakeworks bread)
¼ cup homemade or top quality chicken stock*
   ***
½ cup walnuts
½ cup pistachios
1 tsp Spanish sweet paprika*
   ***
1 cup fresh coriander (about 1 supermarket plant), or mixed mint and parsley
2 small, or 1 large spring onion
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil*
1 large garlic clove
1 tsp herb salt with kelp*
   ***
6-8 Tbsp chicken stock*

Place the breadcrumbs in ¼ cup stock 5 minutes or more until well soaked.

In a sturdy frypan, toast walnuts, pistachios and Spanish paprika over low-medium heat about 3 minutes until fragrant, not browned. Place in a food processor with the soaked bread, coriander, onions, herbs, oil, garlic and salt. Process until well chopped. Add 6 Tbsp stock until creamy, but flecked with colour and texture. More stock can be added to thin as desired. Mixture will thicken further with standing.

Place in jar, cover and chill for up to 7 days.

Shopping and Preparation Tips*

Olive Oil: extra virgin olive oil is achieved by using cold mechanical pressure rather than the high heat and chemical solvents typical to most supermarket oils. These practices damage oils and the people who eat them. For information on which fats to choose for which purpose and why, see my TIPS article: The Fats of Life.
Paprika: only use top quality smoky, sweet Spanish paprika such as La Chinata. This is sold in small decorative tins in the supermarket. Ordinary paprika is usually stale, pale and without the punchy vigour this product contributes to dishes.
Stock: use homemade meat or fish stock from simmered bones for maximum flavour and nutrients, or vegetable stock (see The Shape Diet), or top quality purchased stock (theorganicfarm.co.nz). Most supermarket stock has sugar, wheat and artificial additives (see website TIPS: MSG).
Sea salt: is sea water dehydrated by sun. When mixed with seaweed or kelp (containing iodine and other minerals low in our soil) it is ideal in terms of flavour (interesting but not too strong) and mineral balance. Try Pacific Harvest or Malcolm Harker brands; both in health and gourmet stores. NOTE these are less salty in taste than other brands. Ordinary salt is taken from mines or sea and so highly refined over extreme heat that it contains nothing but sodium chloride. All other minerals are stripped away, such as potassium and magnesium which help regulate fluid balance and blood pressure. Bleach as a whitener and chemicals to prevent clumping may be added to table salt.

Beetroot and Dill Dip

Beetroot and Dill Dip/Topping/Spread makes 1 ¼ cups

Paleo; no gluten, dairy, legumes, onion, garlic or nightshades; with option for vegan

Fabulous colour that shouts nutritious good looks.

Excellent dip with sliced carrot, kumara chips or corn chips. Or for a hearty Chef Salad, you can toss pasta, quinoa or rice, cubed tofu or back beans, or steamed veg – or a mixture – with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Place on a platter. Make a depression in the middle and fill with the beetroot topping. Sprinkle with fresh dill or parsley. Surround with leafy greens. Read more

Recipes For A Long And Delicious Life (eBook with photos)

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Featuring the culinary star of:

• Modern medical research.
• Time-honoured traditional practices.
• Contemporary convenience.

Scrumptious dairy- and gluten-free fare to enhance your health, pleasure and longevity.

By MARIA MIDDLESTEAD, Reg. Clinical Nutritionist

* * *

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The answer comes packaged in the form of diverse and adaptable convenience foods with over 2,000 years of safe and venerated use: soy products.

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Let this book help you discover a new world of innovative yet simple recipes, tested by and designed for the tofu-shy. By using such products as soy-based yoghurt, cream cheese, milk and strategically incorporated tofu you can seamlessly update household favourites without fellow diners even noticing the difference. Try Salmon and Red Pepper Dip followed by Courgette and Walnut Fritters, Spanish Paprika Pasta, and Smoky Summer Salad with Mango Dressing. Save room though for a gasp-eliciting Mocha Cherry Gateau. While catering to your immediate visual and sensual pleasures, such dishes also promote the long-term good health and vitality essential for life’s sustained enjoyment.

From their hormone-balancing isoflavones, a critical ratio of amino acids that stimulates metabolic efficiency, key antioxidants to discourage abnormal cell growth, hard to obtain fatty acids critical to routing the inflammatory symptoms of most diseases, to their unusually advantageous proportion of calcium to magnesium essential in the right ratio for healthy sleep, moods, hearts and bones – soy brings an impressive menu of physiological and culinary benefits to your table.

While superbly advantageous in their own right, soy products also provide an easy substitution for modern, highly manipulated dairy products. By minimising your dairy intake you can limit its contribution as: the # 1 dietary source of adverse endocrine disruptors (linked to the growing incidence of hormonal problems and sub-fertility for both men and women); the # 1 most likely food sensitivity in New Zealand; an inflammatory protein source that respected scientific studies associate with the development of diabetes; and a poorly absorbed calcium content that can encourage osteoporosis.

Enjoy Maria’s latest e-book, which can only be purchased from this site.

Maria Middlestead - Clinical Nutritionist, Auckland. Call (09) 418 5422

LEGUMES – Why and How To Love Them

Most people would acknowledge that a diet without vegetables would be missing important nutrients. However they might be missing out on an equally significant category of food: legumes.

Legumes are characterised as seed bearing pods such as fresh peas and beans; dried and sprouted beans, split peas, dhal and lentils; soy products and peanuts. They are among our oldest cultivated plants – lentils were grown in Central Asia in 7,000 BCE. So esteemed was this classification of food that each of the four prominent families of Ancient Rome sought to enhance their status by taking one major type as their name: Cicero from the word for chickpea; Fabius from faba bean; Lentulus from lentil; Pisa from pea.

Masala Noodles

Serves 4

(No gluten, dairy or nightshades; with options for cane sugar, animal/plant protein)

This looks gorgeous on a big platter – its creaminess yet spicy grunt contrasts with the fresh clarity of cool fruit. A flavourful and popular vegetarian dish, there is a list of numerous other protein possibilities. All the ingredients are available at the supermarket.

Bean Burgers

Makes 12
(No gluten or dairy)

Even people of otherwise refined sensibilities commonly exhibit a murmuring pleasure from food eaten messily by hand with primal juices dripping. These burgers can be fried, baked or barbequed. Consume sedately as patties – accompanied by salad or mixed steamed vegetables – or serve on toast or buns. Offer an assortment of stack-your-own components: lettuce, tomato, gherkin, cooked onion and mushrooms, mustard, relish, aioli or Green Herb Dressing (see The Shape Diet).

Creamy Salmon Sauce/Dressing/Dip

Makes 2 cups
(No gluten, dairy, cane sugar, egg; with options for nightshades and soy)

Thick, creamy and flavourful, you can make this in 10 minutes and employ it in a multitude of creative ways. Although the sauce warms up well just tossed with the likes of hot pasta or veg, if preferred first warm it gently over very low heat (don’t let it bubble). The jalapeno peppers contribute a tangy, mild oomph. ‘Hot’ foods like this have also shown the ability to minimise pain and to thwart pathogenic invaders (see my HEALTH STORE report: How To Thwart Fungal, Yeast, Viral, Bacterial and Parasitic Invaders – and Build Strong Immunity).

Fluffy Breakfast Pancakes

Serves 4
(No gluten, dairy or cane sugar)

Watch these disappear. High in calcium, hormone-balancing isoflavones, and vitality-sustaining protein, low GI, yet delicate of structure, these will entice even the breakfast-phobic. No one will ever guess the ingredients involved. Maple syrup is a classic topping, or try new Apple Syrup, which is available in supermarkets and is free of added sugar.

TOFU TEMPTERS

(Mostly vegan options; no gluten, dairy or cane-sugar – plus options for nightshades)

Tofu Quick Tip

This is my favourite way of easily using tofu. It solves many a lunch and dinner dilemma. Guests assume it is cheese. Yet it has more protein, little saturated fat, and none of the adverse hormone disruptors of modern dairy products.

Carrot Cake with Chocolate Icing

(No gluten, dairy or cane sugar; with options for soy)

It is challenge enough to produce moist and fluffy baking that is gluten– and dairy-free, but a chocolate icing without added sugar is a culinary Everest. The cake achieves sweet stimulation courtesy of dried and fresh fruit, a little honey, plus spices and vanilla. Thanks to maturing flavours, it tastes even better the next day. Alternatively, the batter can be poured into paper-lined tins and baked as muffins. The icing is rich and creamily convincing despite some non-traditional ingredients. The trick with any dietary substitution is to achieve equivalent flavour, as well as consistency or structure. One of the hurdles here is to offset the natural bitterness of the cocoa content. This is compensated for with a date puree (pre-soaked into sweet succulence) although few taste testers will recognise its presence. For the creamiest result the dates are best soaked overnight.