Momma Green

Simple Gut Friendly Fermented Salsa Recipe

As we have discussed in our previous articles one of the best things you can give your family, besides love and affection, is the gift of health… and the best way to help your family stay healthy is to provide them with healthy, gut nourishing foods. A great dish to serve up on the weekends is our gut nourishing, fermented salsa. It’s everyone’s favorite and it can be used as a dip for chips, on sandwiches, as a salad dressing, or as a topping to almost any dish. This recipe requires simple ingredients yet is so amazing that everyone will enjoy the taste, if you happen to have some leftovers just store them in the fridge to slow the fermentation process and your salsa should be beautiful for another couple of weeks.

Ingredients are simple and you may already have many of them in your kitchen:

½ teaspoon of Sea salt.

½ teaspoon of cumin.

1 tablespoon of dried oregano.

1 large garlic clove chopped.

½ onion chopped finely.

1/2 cup of chilies, seeded and chopped. (Whichever you prefer, we love Jalapenos or Serranos)

3 cups of fresh tomatoes, chopped.

Enough filtered water to cover the salsa mix once in the glass jar.

Be sure to wear gloves when handling the chilies so as not to hurt your eyes. Mix the chopped tomatoes with oregano, onions, garlic, chilies, and cumin all together in a mixing bowl or container, sprinkle the salt over the mix and try to be sure that the salt touches every ingredient, mix and sprinkle more salt, mix and sprinkle more salt. You can also use a food processor if you want a more smooth consistency, but don’t blend the mix too much or it will become liquefied, we like our salsa chunky but it is really up to you. After the mixture is well incorporated, placed it into a jar. Pour the salsa mix into the jar slowly and tap to avoid forming air pockets. Try to ensure the salsa mix almost fills up the jar with approximately 1 inch left at the top for air, pour in a little water to fill any remaining spaces. Press the mixture down firmly, to weight the mix down you could use a small bowl, a crystal, a cleaned smooth rock, anything sanitary and suitable that will continue to compress the mixture. The vegetables should now be totally submerged, place a clean, thin cover over the jar and keep it in place with a rubber band. Store the jar on your kitchen bench for 3 to 5 days and check it from time to time to make sure that the brine is covering the mixture. After 3-5 days taste the mixture and, if you are happy with the flavor, store it inside the fridge.

Have a Mexican-themed meal! Serve it as a nacho deep, or a taco or a quesadilla dressing. This is a great and much healthier alternative to the store-bought salsa. The whole family will enjoy it while benefiting from the wonders of the live microorganisms present in the salsa. Bon appetite.

Brown Fried Rice

Easy and Yummy Brown Fried Rice

Do you love fried rice but wish there was a healthier option? Wish granted! Why not try this awesome rice dish at home, you will need:

2 cups of brown rice soaked for 12-24 hours and then cooked for 45 minutes
1 cup of peas
1 cup of corn<
1 cup diced carrot
Sprinkle of gluten free soy sauce or substitute such as a coconut replacement

Into a large fry pan add your peas, carrots and corn, give them a light fry (not too much the crunch is really nice).

Spoon the cooked brown rice over the veggies and gently toss around until it is evenly distributed.
Add the soy sauce to taste and voila! You are done.

Don’t be scared to cook with brown rice, if you soak it the day before cooking and the cook it for 45 minutes everyone is going to love it.

Choc Chip Muffins

Chocolate Chip Rice Flour Muffins

Are you looking for something yummy for the lunch box that has no added sugar and is gluten free? Well why not give these delicious choc chip muffins a go?

You will need:

1 Cup of brown rice flour
1 Tbsn of Raw Cacao Powder
Pinch of salt
2 Teaspoons of baking powder
1 Cup of Gluten Free Chocolate Chips
This forms the dry ingredients.

In another bowl you will need:
1 Tablespoon of honey
3 Tablespoons of grape seed oil
1 Egg (beaten)
3/4 Cup of Rice Milk

Mix the wet and dry ingredients separately before adding them to the same bowl, when they are mixed pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined.

Place into lined or greased muffin pans.

Top with more chocolate chips and place in the oven for approximately 13 minutes.

These are delicious, this recipe makes 12 small muffins and can be stored in an airtight container for approximately 3 days.

Dark Chocolate Cake

Dark Chocolate Cake with Quinoa Flour

We’ve been experimenting with quinoa flour lately, if you haven’t tried quinoa before it’s great source of protein and fibre, plus it’s gluten free. This recipe is so rich and amazing you will love it as a decadent dessert. To make this cake you will need:

Dry Ingredients

1/3 cup of almond meal
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1 Tbsn of raw cacao
2 Tbsn of rice flour
Mix all of the dry ingredients together and sift into a bowl.

Wet Ingredients:

180g of dark chocolate
125g of butter
1/2 cup of honey
Place all of the wet ingredients into a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. When all of the wet ingredients are melted put aside to cool slightly, then add to the dry ingredients and mix.

3 Separated Eggs

Add the 3 egg yolks to the chocolate mixture and stir thoroughly.

Beat the egg whites to form soft peaks and then gently fold through the chocolate mixture.

Place into a lined loaf tin and bake at 160C for approximately 30 minutes. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before placing on a rack to cool. 

For more yummy recipes and top tips for the kitchen, visit the Momma Green website