Supercharge your diet with these healthy recipes and salad 101

How to build a healthy salad

Salad chains need to get back in their boxes. It's just as affordable and easy to design your own using the freshest, most nutritious ingredients, minus the sugar- and salt-laden dressings. Work more vegetables into your life and drizzle them with smart fats. Get out of your salad rut with a kale, strawberry and avocado with poppy seed dressing sensation, go simple with a vegan caesar or dig your fork into an eggplant, pomegranate and minted quinoa masterpiece.

Building a healthy salad is a snap

Firstly choose a base such as mixed leafy greens, baby spinach, kale or rocket (arugula).

Add crunch with essential nutrients like beans, cauliflower, carrot, celery, cucumber, radish, sprouts or onion.

Next add a good quality protein such as quinoa, buckwheat, eggs or chickpeas.

Drop in some good fats like avocado, flaxseed oil, olive oil or tahini.

Sprinkle on some nuts or seeds.

Green it up further by adding flavoursome herbs such as mint, basil, coriander (cilantro) or parsley. Toss and enjoy.

Recipes

Tuscan kale slaw

Serves 3

All hail the mighty, illustrious kale; can it do no wrong? Whether you're already in a love affair with this powerful healing ingredient, or you're just in the courting stages, this crunchy kaleslaw will take your relationship to the next level.

INGREDIENTS

3 cups thinly sliced Tuscan kale
1/2 cabbage, thinly sliced
1 red capsicum (pepper), seeds and membrane removed, thinly sliced
1 small carrot, grated
parsley, or micro herbs, to serve (optional)

Dressing
120g (3/4 cup) raw cashews
40g (1/4 cup) sesame seeds
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
2 tablespoons sugar-free mustard

METHOD

Place all the dressing ingredients in a food processor with a generous splash of filtered water and blend until smooth.

Place the slaw ingredients in a bowl, stir through the dressing and serve.

Eggplant and green bean curry

Serves 4

There's nothing quite as disappointing as an undercooked eggplant, but the soft creaminess of a perfectly cooked eggplant is the epitome of culinary perfection. Slowly simmered and intermingled with sizzling spices, this curry will whisk you away to eggplant heaven.

INGREDIENTS

4 tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil
6 small eggplants, cut into 6cm wedges
300ml tomato passata (pureed tomatoes)
270ml additive-free coconut milk
300g green beans
Celtic sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
80g (1/2 cup) activated almonds, roughly chopped, to serve
handful of coriander leaves, chopped, to serve
juice of 1 lime
lime halves, to serve

For curry paste

1 large brown onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 thumb-sized pieces of ginger, chopped
1 large red chilli, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cardamom
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon curry powder

METHOD

Place all the curry paste ingredients in a food processor with 2 tablespoons of filtered water and whizz together for a few seconds.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the coconut oil in a large frying pan over medium–high heat and fry the eggplants until browned. Remove from the pan and set aside on paper towel to drain.

Heat the remaining coconut oil in the pan and cook the curry paste ingredients for about 3 minutes. Add the eggplant and stir so it is well covered in the paste. Add the tomato passata and coconut milk and simmer, partially covered, for 10 minutes. Lastly, add the green beans and cook for a further 6 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper, add the almonds, coriander and lime juice and serve with the lime halves on the side.

Strawberry granita

Serves 2

Ready for a transcendental experience? As your granita starts to melt, it becomes slushy and the texture, coupled with the flavour of the berries, is out of this world.

3 punnets of frozen strawberries, hulled
1 tablespoon rice malt syrup, or sweetener of your choice
2 tablespoons additive-free coconut milk
unsweetened coconut flakes, to serve

Place the frozen strawberries in a blender with the rice malt syrup or sweetener. Blend until smooth, and then transfer to a freezer-proof dish and place in the freezer until the top layer starts to freeze.

Remove from the freezer, return to the blender and blend again to icy flakes.

Divide the coconut milk between two glasses, add the granita, top with the coconut flakes and serve.

Raspberry spritzer

Serves 2

To think that only fizzy drink corporations can create a bottom-kicking beverage is the misconception of the century. The proof is in this delicious sparkling juice, guaranteed to dazzle drinkers with its bright pink hue and zinging flavours of raspberry and coconut.

Place it on the summer lunch table and wow your friends and guests.

125g (1 cup) frozen raspberries
125ml (1/2 cup) freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon stevia liquid, or sweetener of your choice
500ml (2 cups) sparkling water
6 coconut water ice cubes

Place the raspberries in a bowl and squash them with a fork. Set aside for 15 minutes. Transfer the raspberries to a fine mesh sieve, set over a jug. Add the lemon juice, then use the back of a spoon to push the raspberries through the sieve, scraping the outside of the sieve as you go.

Add the stevia and stir well. Add the sparkling water and ice and stir again.

Divide between two glasses and serve with a straw. If the raspberry settles at the bottom of your glass, give it a stir.

Recipes & images from Eat Clean Green & Vegetarian by Lee Holmes (Murdoch Books), $35