Peter Vaughan's Naturally Balanced Recipes for Cancer SuPPort

I've chosen these three recipes as my first for Cancer Support to provide you with some reliable and useful dishes that you can incorporate into your daily diet. I describe my cuisine as Naturally Balanced and I think that these recipes summarize what I mean by that description very well. Finding the natural balance within a dish gets easier and easier once you build up your repertoire of reliable basic recipes. To a basic dish you can twist, turn and tweak around to suit your palate, or more importantly to suit the season that you are cooking in. Cooking in balance with the seasons is basic common sense and I encourage you to seek the most local and healthiest produce around.

Cooking is a very special gift and I always encourage anyone, whatever level of skill and experience to simply just have a go and enjoy whatever you finish up with. In the words of his holiness the 14th Dalai Lama "cooking is very much like falling in love, it's best done with reckless abandon!"

Happy Cooking!
Pete

    Rillette of avocado with tarragon  

The word 'Rillette' is a French description for course pate and sounds so much more sophisticated. This makes a great starter for a dinner party & enjoy the left over rillette for lunch the next day with raw vegetable sticks and crisp breads.

Avocado is packed full of good fats. It's rich in lecithin 'A brain food' and also copper, which aids the formation of red blood cells. It is even believed to beautify the skin, so it is perfect to eat when trying to impress!!

Makes .
4 portions

Ingredients
4 ripe avocados ripe (should feel soft but not squashy)
1 bunch of fresh tarragon (or use chives if unavailable)
6 spring onions finely chopped (or use 4 medium shallots)
Juice of 1 lemon
100ml of soya cream
1 teaspoon of rock salt (optional) and plenty of freshly crushed black pepper

Method
Cut the avocado in half and then into quarters and you should be able to peel the skin from the flesh with ease.
To remove the leaves from the tarragon, simply turn the herb upside down and run your fingers down the stem, thus removing the leaves. Chop just the leaves coarsely ready to add to the rillette.
Chop the avocado into a rough dice and add to a large bowl with the sliced onions, tarragon, seasoning, soya cream and lemon juice.
Mix everything together using a fork. This will help keep the texture of the avocado. Adjust the seasoning if necessary and then cover the surface with foil to prevent the mixture from turning brown.

Serving suggestions
This coarse pate goes very well with salads and grilled breads such as home made naan (a traditional Indian bread)
Or why not try it spread onto little biscuits or oat cakes and serve as mini snacks or canapés before a meal.

Health notes
Avocado is naturally rich in lecithin 'A brain food' and also copper, which aids the formation of red blood cell. It is also believed to beautify the skin, so it is perfect to serve when trying to impress!!

    South American Rice & Bean Pulao

Pulao is the South American word used to describe a stew. This is an interesting rice & vegetable dish packed full of aromatic herbs & spices such as cinnamon, cardamom and even cloves. There is clear evidence that many spices and herbs are beneficial to our mind and bodies. This recipe will help you increase your repertoire as it is very versatile. Eat it hot or enjoy it cold as a lovely salad the next day. You will never get bored of this recipe as you can change the vegetables, herbs and spices according to the seasons.

Serves 4 portions

Ingredients
200g of basmati rice
500ml of vegetable stock
1 x 255g tin of red kidney beans drained
1 onion peeled and finely sliced
100g of frozen peas
2 courgettes diced
1 head of cauliflower cut into small florets
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh coriander leaves
Juice of half a lemon 
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil (unrefined if possible)
2 cinnamon sticks broken in half
2 cloves, 2 green cardamom pods (both spices crushed)
2 teaspoons of curry powder
1 teaspoon of sea salt (optional)
fresh coriander leaves to sprinkle over the top

Let's Cook
Leave the rice to soak in a bowl of cold water while you prepare the other ingredients.
Heat a suitable saucepan on a moderate heat and add the sunflower oil. Once the oil has slightly heated add all the spices except the fresh coriander. Now add the sliced onions and sweat for 1 minute.
Add the peas, cauliflower florets and courgettes. Continue to cook gently for a further 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Drain the rice and add to the pan, along with the kidney beans and stock. Turn up the heat and bring the Pulao to the boil. Then turn down the heat to low and cover with a lid.
Leave to cook until all the water has been absorbed and the rice is cooked through, approx 10 minutes. Once ready, adjust the seasoning with salt if desired and add the lemon juice.
Serve in a suitable warm bowl with fresh coriander sprinkled over the top.

    Dairy Free Chocolate Fudge Cake

Everyone deserve a little treat every so often and this chocolate cake recipe is sure to be a winner with anyone who eats it. The recipe has been passed through my family and is very reliable and easy. It produces a really moist and easy to freeze and store cake.

I strongly advise using organic Cocoa powder, as many people do not realize that the cocoa bean plant is one of the heaviest sprayed crops of pesticides. Choosing organic makes perfect sense; it helps you & helps the environment.

It also makes sense to avoid any foods containing hydrogenated fat. This a chemical way of making the texture of oil more pleasing and also increases the shelf life of the food item, it is often found in margarines. Go & visit your local health food shop and discover a wonderful world of healthy margarines.

Makes 1x 6 inch cake

Ingredients
100g of soya or Sunflower margarine (Not Hydrogenated)
200g of fair trade unrefined caster sugar
2 organic eggs beaten
2 tablespoons of organic cocoa powder
170g of self-raising flour *
1 teaspoon of baking powder *
6 tablespoons soya milk

    Do eat this only a an occasional treat because of the white self-raising flour and baking powder which contains lots of sodium

Let's Cook!
Cream the margarine & sugar together in a bowl with a whisk
Add the eggs and cocoa powder (sieved) and beat well.
Sieve flour into mixture and fold in.
Add the soya milk and mix well.
Pour into a lined, greased baking tin and bake in moderate oven (170C) for approximately 30 - 35 mins, depending on the depth of the cake.
Take out of the oven when firm to the touch.
Turn out onto cooling rack.

Chocolate Fudge Icing
50g of dairy free margarine
1 tablespoon of sieved cocoa powder
4 tablespoon of icing sugar unrefined if available (sieved)
1 tablespoon of soya milk

To make the Icing
Heat the butter in a pan and then add the milk followed by the icing sugar and cocoa powder. Stir well until a smooth and creamy, but not runny, fudge topping forms.
When the cake is cool slice in half and then beat the cream until thick and add the raspberries. Spread on the cake base and then place the other half on top. Cover with the fudge icing and serve.