Pamper your loved ones this Easter with these recipes from our Ayurvedic chefs. Serve a delicious spinach salad with pine nuts accompanied by piccata of courgette on creamy polenta and tomato sugo. For dessert, serve an Indian saffron cake on coconut cream with roasted pineapple. Start with the coconut cream as it needs to be refrigerated for 6 hours.
Recipes for 4 servings
SPINACH SALAD WITH PINE NUTS
400 g baby spinach
2 tbsp pine nuts
100 ml orange juice, freshly squeezed
30 ml balsamic vinegar, dark (min. 8 years old)
30 ml orange vinegar
20 ml water
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 pinch of cinnamon
1 tbsp raw cane sugar
½ clove of garlic, pressed
Salt, pepper
Olive oil
Sort the baby spinach, wash, spin dry and arrange on four plates. Roast the pine nuts in a frying pan over a low heat until they are light brown. For the marinade, bring the ingredients, except the olive oil, to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Drizzle the spinach with a little olive oil, pour the marinade (may still be slightly warm) over it and mix gently. Sprinkle the pine nuts over the salad before serving.
PICCATA OF COURGETTE WITH POLENTA AND TOMATO SUGO
TOMATO SUGO
6 tomatoes
2 shallots
3 cloves of garlic
olive oil
1 tbsp raw cane sugar
1 pinch of cinnamon
50 ml Verjus (alternatively apple cider vinegar)
Salt, pepper
2 tbsp oregano, fresh, chopped
Score the tomatoes crosswise with a knife, place in boiling water for about 30 seconds, rinse with cold water, peel off the skin and cut into cubes.
Finely dice the shallots and garlic and sauté in a pot with a little olive oil until translucent. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, let it caramelise for about 1 minute and then deglaze with Verjus. Now add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and possibly some more sugar according to taste. Let it simmer on the lowest heat for at least 30 minutes and add the oregano just before serving.
PICCATA (VEGETARIAN)
2 courgettes
3 eggs
80 g mountain cheese, grated
50 g parmesan, freshly grated
2 tbsp flour
Salt, pepper
Oil, for frying
Wash the courgettes, remove the ends and cut into approx. 1 cm thick diagonal slices. Season with salt and pepper and let stand for 30 minutes.
Mix the eggs and the grated cheese to a dough. Now turn the courgette slices in flour and then in the egg-cheese mixture.
Heat the frying oil in a pan and fry the breaded vegetables on both sides until golden brown. Place the courgette slices on kitchen paper so that excess fat can drain out.
PICCATA (VEGAN)
2 courgettes
30-40 ml vegetable broth
80 g flour
Mustard, medium hot
2 tbsp flour
100 g coarse breadcrumbs
Oil, for frying
Salt, pepper
Wash the courgettes, remove the ends and cut into approx. 1 cm thick diagonal slices. Season with salt and pepper and let stand for 30 minutes.
Mix vegetable broth and 80 g flour until smooth. Coat the courgette with a thin layer of mustard, coat both sides first in flour, then in the dough and finally in the breadcrumbs.
Heat frying oil in a pan and fry the breaded vegetables on both sides until golden brown. Place the courgette slices on kitchen paper so that excess fat can drain out.
POLENTA
1 tbsp Ghee or vegan alternative
300 ml milk or vegetable milk
300 ml vegetable broth
1 pinch of nutmeg
1 pinch of turmeric
70 g corn semolina
Salt, pepper
Bring Ghee, milk, vegetable broth and nutmeg to a boil in a saucepan. Add turmeric and corn semolina and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Then set aside, covered, to allow the corn semolina to swell. The polenta should have a slightly creamy consistency. If the mixture is too firm, you can add a little more liquid.
Finally serve the courgette piccata and the creamy polenta with the tomato sugo.
INDIAN SAFFRON CAKE WITH ROASTED PINEAPPLE ON COCONUT CREAM
SAFFRON CAKE
2 cups spelt semolina
2 cups spelt flour
½ cup raw cane sugar
1 cup sunflower oil
1 tbsp tartar baking powder
500 ml almond or rice milk
1-2 pinch of saffron, ground
Sesame seeds and almonds, for sprinkling
Put all ingredients, except sesame seeds and almonds, in a mixing bowl and mix with a food processor or hand mixer for about 5 minutes. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for about 40-50 minutes at 170 °C (cover with aluminium foil towards the end of the baking time, if necessary). Let the cake cool, cut into pieces about 2 cm wide and sprinkle with sesame seeds and almonds.
COCONUT CREAM
250 ml coconut milk
25 g agave syrup
3 g Agar Agar
2 tbsp coconut flakes, fine
200 ml almond cream
1 tbsp rose water
Bring the coconut milk, agave syrup, Agar Agar and coconut flakes briefly to the boil in a saucepan, stirring constantly. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate for 6 hours.
Whip the cooled mixture with a food processor or hand mixer until creamy, add the almond cream and rose water and whip again for about 1 minute. Sweeten to taste.
ROASTED PINEAPPLE
½ pineapple, fresh
4 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp pistachios, ground
Peel the pineapple, remove the core and cut the flesh into bite-sized pieces.In a non-stick pan, bring the maple syrup to the boil and add the pineapple pieces. Allow the fruit to cook down until a light crust forms around the pieces. Then remove the pineapple from the pan and sprinkle with pistachios.
Now arrange the coconut cream, saffron cake and pineapple pieces on a plate.
