I have been flirting with Paleo recipes as of late in view of the Lifestyle Challenge that I am partaking in, in three weeks’ time. The nutrition component of the challenge involves adopting the Paleo diet for 8 weeks. Certain food groups will be excluded mainly dairy, legumes and grains and of course refined sugars. The challenge is an opportunity to fuel our bodies with quality nutrients dense food and avoid those that are and can potentially have a negative impact on our long term health and performance. It will be very interesting to assess the effects of this new lifestyle on my physique, clarity of mind, sleep, moods, and more. On top of recording a food diary, a training plan is also to be followed and performance assessed. Lastly, a lifestyle challenge will not be complete without small steps towards promoting wellness. Cannot wait.
Back to the goodies, I am a big fan of fritters. They are super easy to make as you will see and oh so versatile. I would like to start cooking breakfast more often in the morning – one of the resolutions I have decided on. Sweet potatoes are your good carbohydrates, protein in tuna and eggs and good fats in ghee and eggs. Now that is a great breakfast to start your day with.
I decided to make some babaganoush because I thought it would make an awesome accompaniment to the fishcakes. Smoky and silky. Did you know that in addition to featuring a host of vitamins and minerals, eggplant also contains important phytonutrients, many which have antioxidant activity? (http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?dbid=22&tname=foodspice). Great dip for picnics.
If making both like I did, start on the babaganoush as it takes a while to bake in the oven. Then whilst it’s in the oven, you can start on your fishcakes.
Enjoy and happy hump day xx
Sweet Potato Tuna Fishcakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups grated sweet potatoes
- 2 tins of tuna in olive oil or brine
- a handful of chopped kale
- 2 whole eggs
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- pepper & salt for seasong
- ghee for frying (clarified butter, you can use coconut oil instead)
Babaganoush
Preparation time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 45 minutes plus cooling time Number of servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant, cut in half length ways
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp tahini paste
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 garlic clove
- 2/3 tsp sea salt
- pinch of cracked pepper
Instructions for Fish cakes
- Combine all ingredients. Mix well. If you feel like the mixture is not sticking enough, break another egg in.
- Heat a large frying pan to high and melt 1 tablespoon of ghee or coconut oil. Using your hands, shape mixture into balls and flatten into fritters before adding to the pan. Bring the heat to medium and fry on each side for 4 minutes or until golden brown crust forms.
Instructions for Babaganoush
- Heat oven to 180C and bake eggplant drizzled with olive oil for 45 minutes or until crispy and dark golden brown. It should be soft on the side.
- Cool eggplant for about 1 hour and remove outer skin only. Cut roughly and place in a food processor or blender with garlic, tahini, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Purée until smooth.