Four nourishing plant-based recipes to improve your gut health

When we feed ourselves, we're also feeding millions of microbes that live in our gut. So says Australian dietitian Dr Megan Rossi, now a leading research fellow at King's College London, where she is investigating how nutrition can help improve our digestive health.

And one of the best ways to feed our gut, Rossi says, is to feed it plant-based food. Whether or not you are a committed vegan, there's one simple way to look after your gut health: eat a range of plants filled with fibre and nutrients.

"It's not just about quantity, but also variety. The more diversity, the better," she writes in her new cookbook Eat More, Live Well. "The beauty of plant-based eating is it naturally makes your diet more abundant and diverse."

Here, Rossi shares four delicious recipes that are good for your tastebuds, and your gut.

​Eat-the-rainbow pancake stack

Nature features so many amazing colours, and this family-favourite breakfast celebrates just that. Alongside the array of gut-loving phytochemicals with their brilliant tones, these rainbow pancakes have just four simple base ingredients and not a food dye in sight. Ease, taste and gut-love flipped into one.

INGREDIENTS

Base

• 2 large eggs
• 2 ripe bananas (approx. 200g)
• 50g porridge oats
• extra virgin olive oil, for frying

Colourings (choose 1 per base)

• Pretty pink (betalain): 25g raw beetroot
• Mellow yellow (curcumin): 1 tsp turmeric
• Proud purple (anthocyanin): 40g red cabbage
• Go green (chlorophyll): 30g baby spinach leaves

Toppings

• live yoghurt, sweetened with honey
• fresh figs
• grilled banana
• berries, blitzed
• toasted mixed seeds

METHOD

1. Put the eggs, bananas and porridge oats, along with one of your plant colourings, into a high-powered blender. Blitz for 1-2 minutes until smooth and a little foamy on top. If you are making a second batch using a different colouring, pour the first batch into a jug and set aside. Rinse the blender and repeat the step above.
2. Heat a large frying pan (or two) containing olive oil over a low heat, and when hot pour in approximately 45ml (or 3 tbsp) of the batter per pancake.
3. Cook over a low heat for 2-3 minutes, until you see the top of the pancake start to bubble and dry over round the edges. This is the sign to flip it and cook the other side for another couple of minutes. Don't be tempted to increase the heat level, otherwise you'll lose the vibrant colours.
4. Repeat until you have used up all the batter. Eat immediately with your toppings of choice.

Storage Best eaten straight away – but can be kept in the fridge for 3 days, or frozen for up to a month layered between pieces of baking paper in an airtight container.

Serves 8

Beetroot, lentil and goat's cheese salad

Because boring salads have no place on my plate. This winning combo features layers of earthy flavours rounded off with creamy goat's cheese, and will give you a whopping 14g of fibre per portion. It might even have you making a double batch next time round.

INGREDIENTS

Base

• 2 x 250g pouch of cooked Puy lentils
• 4 large cooked beetroots, cut into wedges
• 20 sun-dried tomato halves, preserved in oil, roughly chopped
  

Dressing

• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp honey, or sweetener of choice
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and black pepper, to taste
  

Toppers

• 60g leaves of choice (eg, spinach, rocket, watercress)
• 160g goat's cheese, crumbled
• 60g hazelnuts, roughly chopped

INGREDIENTS

1. Place the lentils, beetroot and sun-dried tomatoes into a salad bowl.
2. Whisk together the dressing ingredients before pouring into the bowl. Mix well and let the ingredients absorb the dressing for at least 5 minutes (ideally 30 minutes if you have the time) while you prep the toppers.
3. Preheat the oven to 180C fan-forced (220C conventional).
4. Place the blanched hazelnuts on to a baking tray and bake for 5 minutes until golden. Set aside to cool, then chop roughly.
5. On a large serving tray, plate the green leaves, followed by the infused salad-bowl mix. Top with goat's cheese and the hazelnuts. Combine before serving – yum!

Serves 4

Spinach and ricotta ravioli revamped

Coming from an Italian family, homemade ravioli has always been part of our celebrations. But after moving to London and realising I didn't have the time or skill, it was either forgo one of my favourites or conjure up an easier and quicker alternative ... and so these delicious stuffed pasta shells were born. I couldn't let my microbes miss out on the feast, so I've ensured they contain over a third of your daily fibre needs and prebiotics too.

INGREDIENTS

Rich tomato sauce

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, grated
• 10 sun-dried tomato halves, preserved in oil, chopped (approx. 85g)
• 20g basil, roughly chopped
• 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 200g passata

Stuffed pasta

• 250g fresh spinach
• 24 conchiglie shells or 12 cannelloni tubes (about 175g)
• 1 x 400g can of mixed beans, drained and rinsed
• 120g peas, fresh or frozen
• 250g ricotta
• 150g feta, crumbled

Toppers

• 20g pine nuts
• 20g parmesan, grated

METHOD

1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and add the garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes until aromatic and then add the sun-dried tomatoes, chopped tomatoes, 200ml water, basil, passata and some seasoning. Cook on a low heat for around 20 minutes with the lid off.
2. In the meantime, make the pasta filling by heating a large saucepan and adding a splash of water and the spinach. Pop a lid on and let the spinach wilt for a couple of minutes. Then transfer to a sieve and squeeze out the excess water before putting into a food processor.
3. Add the beans and peas, and blitz until roughly smooth (approximately 2 minutes). Stir in the ricotta and feta.
4. Preheat the oven to 180C fan-forced (200C conventional).
5. Lightly oil an ovenproof dish (approximately 25cm x 30cm). Pour in the tomato sauce and spread out in an even layer.
6. Rinse the saucepan and fill with water. Bring to the boil and cook the pasta shells for 2 minutes less than the pack instructions, so they're just cooked and holding their shape. Drain the shells and, once they're cool enough to handle, stuff them with the filling and put into the tomato sauce. Repeat until you've filled all the shells.
7. Scatter the pine nuts and grated parmesan over the top and pop into the hot oven. Bake for approximately 20 minutes until golden brown.

Tip Short on time? Scrap the tomato sauce recipe and use your favourite ready-made tomato and basil pasta sauce.

Storage Keeps in the fridge for 3 days. The uncooked filling can keep in the freezer for up to 1 month. Defrost overnight in fridge, then stuff your shells and bake until piping hot.

Serves 4

Ultimate raspberry and white choc muffins

Inspired by the muffins I used to get from my local bakery, these muffins combine my two favourite things: white chocolate and plants. The raspberries are a top source of gut-loving polyphenols too. What's more satisfying than a sweet, moist muffin, and knowing that you're five plant points closer to your 30 for the week?

INGREDIENTS

• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 150g live thick yoghurt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 60ml extra virgin olive oil
• 3 medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped (approx. 50g), or 3 tbsp sweetener of choice
• 1 very ripe banana (approx. 100g)
• 275g spelt flour, or wholemeal flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds
• 100g white chocolate chips
• 150g grated carrot (approx. 2 carrots)
• 100g frozen raspberries

To decorate

• 12 raspberries, frozen or fresh (approx. 40g)

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 175C fan-forced (195C conventional). Grease a 12-hole muffin tin and add a disc of baking paper to the bottom of each to prevent sticking.
   
2. Blitz the eggs in a blender for 30 seconds until a little foamy. Add in the yoghurt, vanilla extract, olive oil and dates, and blitz for 30 seconds or until smooth.
3. Mash the banana in a large bowl, and then pour in the mixture from the blender.
4. In another large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, poppy seeds and chocolate chips. Then pour in the wet mix, followed by the carrot and raspberries. Combine into a thick batter.
5. Fill each muffin hole evenly with batter (approximately ¼ cup). Push one raspberry into the top of each muffin, before placing the tin in the oven.
6. Bake the muffins for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean (minus any melted white chocolate), then place the muffins on to a rack to fully cool.

Storage These can be kept in an airtight container for 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months.

Makes 12 muffins

This is an edited extract from Eat More, Live Well by Dr Megan Rossi, Penguin Life, RRP $35. Photography: Andrew Burton. Buy now