THE HEALTHY HAPPY KITCHEN for all blood types by Sue Visser
Lesson 6: SAUCES, DIPS AND SALAD DRESSINGS YOGHURT SAUCE FOR GREEN VEGETABLES, DIPS OR SALADS
Blend of a cup of yoghurt with a teaspoon of honey and a tablespoon of olive oil. Add a dash mustard and some herb salt to taste.
LIGHT AND LEAN ONION SAUCE
This sauce keeps well in the fridge. It can be served with green vegetables or used as a light, low fat dip.
1 large onion or two smaller onions
50ml lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey
50ml olive oil
1 teaspoon herb salt
1 clove chopped garlic
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Light a candle when you work with raw onions or cook chillies, and you will have no more tears. Peel and chop the onions and boil or steam them until tender. Alternatively, stir fry them in a tablespoon of the olive oil and let them simmer with a tablespoon of water on low heat until soft and glassy. Cooked onions provide a creamy base for the sauce, without the burn! Place all the ingredients in a deep bowl and process thoroughly with a hand-held blender. You can also use a food processor or an electric blender. Keep the sauce in the fridge.
Variations
Yogurt, chopped herbs, lemon juice or a little mayonnaise can be added to the basic sauce. A red onion will make a beautiful pink sauce or party dip. Use 30ml balsamic vinegar instead of 50ml lemon juice. Try the red onion sauce with steamed or roasted butternut. Top with fresh basil leaves or chopped parsley. Use 30ml tarragon vinegar instead of 50ml lemon juice. This sauce is lovely with fish or chicken. Add a small, fresh chilli instead of the mustard for more of a kick, especially for party dips.
FIERY RED DIP
This dip contains tomatoes and red peppers, so use the alternative recipe if you need an all-type red dip. If you can find some fresh peppadew peppers, you are in for a treat as they have a unique flavour, with quite a hot tang. This dip can be served with carrot and celery sticks, apple slices or lightly steamed green beans for the lean and light eaters, or offer thin slices of rye toast or rice crackers.
3 fresh peppadew peppers, minus the pips and chopped
Or: 6 bottled peppadews
Or: 1 large red sweet pepper with a small chilli
1 large chopped tomato
1 clove fresh garlic
½ teaspoon herb salt
50ml lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey 50ml olive oil
1 small sweet potato, chopped and boiled
Blend all the ingredients together, using a hand-held blender or a food processor.
ALTERNATIVE RED DIP FOR ALL BLOOD TYPES
Some people, especially blood type A, don’t enjoy chillies and A-secretors and B-secretors need to avoid tomatoes, so here is a milder red dip.
2 carrots, chopped and boiled till soft
2 teaspoons paprika powder
50ml lemon juice or 30ml balsamic vinegar
50ml olive oil
½ teaspoon herb salt
2 teaspoons honey or brown sugar
1 clove fresh garlic
1 tablespoon chopped onion
Blend all the ingredients together, using a hand-held blender or a food processor.
Variations
These red dips can be served at parties. When next you serve a cream of vegetable soup, add a swirl of yoghurt and top it off with a blob of red dip. Serve the red dip with fried slivers of ostrich meat, fish or chicken. Spread red dip onto rice crackers and add a pile of fresh lentil sprouts, mixed with grated cheese.
RAISIN RELISH
This sauce is very versatile and can be used on salads, vegetables, for dips, on yoghurt and even breakfast cereals. It can be made on the spot, and the sweetness can vary according to your requirements. The raisins make it very sweet – far sweeter than just adding raisins to a dish. The combination of raw onions with raisins is said to be very healthy. By adding lemon juice or vinegar and some oil, the Glycaemic Index of the raisins is lowered to a more tolerable level.
1 very small onion, chopped
100ml seedless raisins
50ml lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
Optional: the grated rind of a whole lemon
100ml olive / grape seed / canola oil
A pinch of herb salt
Blend all the ingredients in a tall container, using a hand-held blender. Taste it and you will find that you cannot really detect the onion! Add more onion to make a more savoury relish for salads or serve as is on salads, cereals or yoghurt.
Variations
1 Breakfast or desserts. Leave out the onion and salt. Add a chopped apple and a little more lemon juice. Serve with yoghurt, fruit salad or with chopped bananas for dessert. Add a pinch of ginger or cinnamon powder. Use this mixture to make the morning oats or muesli more interesting.
2 Vegetable or curry relish. Add a large, chopped onion and more lemon juice or vinegar. Add a small chilli and some ginger, if liked, for a quick chutney for your curry. Spoon this mixture over steamed root vegetables like butternut, sweet potato or parsnips.
3 An unusual salad. Chop up a few lettuce leaves into the bottom of a salad bowl. Sprinkle on some olive oil and lemon juice and a dash of herb salt. Top with raw, grated parsnips or carrots and butternut. Spoon over some raisin relish and garnish with a few onion rings.
POOR MAN’S PESTO SAUCE
Pesto sauce is usually made with pine nuts that are very expensive. This recipe uses ground-up sesame seeds, almonds or walnuts. Parmesan cheese can be substituted for pecorino cheese, made from sheep’s milk.
100ml olive / canola / sunflower oil
50ml lemon juice / apple cider vinegar
3ml herb salt
1 clove garlic, peeled
6 small spinach leaves
10 sprigs fresh basil
100ml grated parmesan cheese
50ml ground-up sesame seeds / almonds / walnuts
Tip the oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic into a tall container. Add a third of the chopped green leaves and process with a hand-held blender. Keep adding more leaves. If the mixture gets too solid, add a little more oil or lemon juice. Stir in the grated cheese and ground-up seeds or nuts. Do not worry if the mixture looks a bit runny. After a day in the fridge the sauce becomes more solid. It keeps well in the fridge.