Eat your way to better digestive health this Love Your Gut Week, on September 15-21, with three gut-friendly recipes
Want a happy gut? A growing bank of data is supporting the important role gut health plays in a myriad other areas of our wellbeing, including its impact on immunity, heart health, mood and even brain health. Fortunately, looking after your gut and nourishing your microbiome doesn’t have to be
hard work – it can be as simple as eating the right stuff.
This is why the experts at Love Your Gut (loveyourgut.com) have created these new easy and delicious gut-friendly recipes to help support a healthy gut microbiome. Each one is full of gut-friendly ingredients and nutrients, such as plant-based foods, fibre and fermented foods, plus prebiotics, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. And because eating a variety of foods results in more diverse gut bacteria, each of these gut-friendly recipes includes different microbiome-loving ‘hero’ ingredients. Ready to build a healthier body? Let’s get cooking!
Gut-Friendly Recipes
Poke bowl with sticky miso aubergine and kimchi
Poke bowls, with their mix of colourful vegetables, are always a nutritious choice, but this recipe boosts the gut-health benefits even more. We’ve replaced half of the sushi rice with mixed-colour quinoa to increase the fibre content of the poke base. As well as providing additional fibre and colours, varieties of the same plant contain different polyphenols which fuel the microbiome. The aubergine is cooked with miso paste and sprinkled with sesame seeds and there’s a generous portion of kimchi. Serve with a rainbow of salad veg.
Ingredients
Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
125g sushi rice
125g white, black and red quinoa
25ml rice vinegar
1 tbsp caster sugar
For the aubergine:
2 medium aubergines, cut into
5 cm cubes
2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tbsp white miso paste
1 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp sesame seeds
1 red chilli, finely chopped
To serve
Salad vegetables of your choice – avocado, radishes, peppers and thinly sliced red cabbage all work well
175g kimchi – look for kimchi from the fridge aisle that says ‘live’ to make sure that it contains good bacteria
Method
- Heat a roasting tin in an oven set to 230°C/210°C fan/gas mark 8.
- Meanwhile, put the rice and quinoa in a bowl and rinse with cold water until the water stays clear. Drain well and transfer it to a medium saucepan with 300ml water. Cover and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
- Line the hot roasting tin with greaseproof paper, add the aubergine and drizzle with the sunflower oil. Roast for 25 minutes, turning once or twice.
- When all the water has been absorbed by the rice and quinoa, take the pan off the heat and leave to stand for 10 minutes.
- Mix the miso with the vinegar, maple syrup and sesame oil. Once the aubergine is soft and golden, toss it with the miso mixture and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Return to the oven for 5 minutes or until sticky and bronzed, then sprinkle with chopped chilli.
- To season the quinoa rice, heat the vinegar with the sugar and salt to taste until dissolved. When the quinoa rice has rested, drizzle over the mixture and carefully stir it through.
- Divide the quinoa rice between four bowls. Top with the sticky miso aubergine and serve with colourful vegetables and a big spoonful of kimchi.
Roast hake with walnut salsa verde
Walnuts are good for gut-friendly recipes. Here they add a lovely crunch to salsa verde, a vibrant dressing made with polyphenol-rich herbs and olive oil.
Ingredients
Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
400g beetroot, peeled and halved (or quartered if large)
600g carrots, halved lengthways (or quartered if large)
3 tbsp olive oil
4 x 150g hake portions (or other white sustainable fish)
For the walnut salsa verde
25g flat-leaf parsley, leaves finely chopped
10g basil, leaves finely chopped
8 mint leaves, finely chopped
40g walnuts, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbsp baby capers, rinsed and drained
5 green olives, stoned and finely chopped
1 lemon, juiced, and zest finely grated
4 tbsp olive oil
Method
- Preheat the oven to 230°C/210°C fan/gas mark 8.
- Place the beetroot in a dish. Add enough water to come halfway up the sides and cover with a vented lid or pierced film. Microwave on high for 8 minutes, then drain well.
- Toss the carrots and beetroot with 2 tbsp of the olive oil and arrange, cut side down, in a roasting tin. Season with salt and pepper and roast for 30 minutes, turning halfway through.
- Meanwhile, make the salsa verde. Stir all of the ingredients together. Season to taste, then set aside.
- Ten minutes before the end of the cooking time, heat the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil in an ovenproof frying pan. Season the hake, then fry, skin side down for 3 minutes.
- Turn the hake, transfer the pan to the oven and reduce temperature to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6. Roast for 5 minutes or until it will flake, but is still juicy in the centre.
- Serve the vegetables and fish with the salsa verde spooned over.
Best Foods and Drinks to Boost Energy and Improve Focus
Burmese-style chickpea tofu
We’ve paired homemade tofu with Burmese-style salad ingredients, high in prebiotic soluble fibre to feed your microbiome and insoluble fibre to aid digestion.
Ingredients
Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 minutes (plus cooling)
Cooking time: 10 minutes
100g chickpea (gram) flour
½ tsp mild paprika
¼ tsp turmeric
For the salad
½ white cabbage, very thinly sliced
1 large carrot, peeled into ribbons
250g cherry tomatoes, sliced
50g pickled sushi ginger, drained weight
2 tbsp fresh coriander, leaves roughly chopped
2 tbsp crispy onions
2 tbsp crispy chilli oil, or to taste
For the dressing
1 lime, juiced
2 tsp caster sugar
1 ½ tbsp Thai fish sauce, or use tamari to keep it vegan and gluten-free
1 clove garlic, crushed
Method
- Grease a small loaf tin or baking dish (approx 10cm x 20cm) and set aside. Sieve the flour and spices into a bowl, then stir in 160ml cold water and season to taste with black pepper to make a batter.
- Heat 375ml water in a medium saucepan. Once it starts to simmer, whisk in the chickpea batter, then continue to stir over a medium-low heat until it thickens. Continue to simmer for 8 minutes to cook the flour, stirring often, then scrape the mixture into the prepared tin and leave to cool completely. The tofu can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days if needed.
- To make the salad, arrange the cabbage, carrot, tomatoes, pickled ginger and coriander on a serving platter. Mix together the dressing ingredients and drizzle over the salad.
- Turn out the set tofu and cut into 5mm slices. Arrange over the salad and garnish with crispy chilli oil and crispy onions.
