It is just the perfect colour. I wanted to celebrate that. It’s a purple cauliflower for goodness sake, if I lose the colour what’s the point? We really do eat with our eyes and I wanted to make a bowl full of the excitement I felt when I saw this beauty on a trestle table at the farmers market, surrounded by dark green leafage. Pickling it seemed like the best option, preserving its glorious colour in a bath of living acidic liquid gold.
It’s not unusual to find strange jars of vegetables in my fridge, suspended in liquids of varying colours. No plate is complete without a pile of some sort of sweetly sour fermented condiment. Pickled radishes with ginger and chilli, shaved pickled fennel with loads of lemon peel, spicy kim chi, a jar of sauerkraut the size of my head that takes us two months to chew through before its refilled. Pickled cauliflower has been on my list for a while but I wanted to keep it raw. Apple cider vinegar is one of the most magical elixirs. It’s full of wild bacteria that are so good for our tummies and our personal bacteria colonies, plus it’s a gentle acid that bolsters the strength of our stomach acid helping to efficiently break down whole food into neat little nutrient parcels. Drink it? Sure. Or soak vegetables in it and you create a whole new glorious eatable. A love child if you will.
Commercial pickles are generally done with a hot vinegar solution to kill any bacteria and seal the jar. But this leaves you with vinegary cauliflower, not the crunchy, gut-loving, fermented jewels I was after. Rather than growing the bacteria myself an apple cider vinegar pickle would be better. It gives a brighter, sharper taste than wild lacto-fermenting. If you can find raw apple cider vinegar ‘with mother’ this is the fore mentioned liquid gold. This means it still contains the live bacteria.
It’s not unusual to find strange jars of vegetables in my fridge, suspended in liquids of varying colours. No plate is complete without a pile of some sort of sweetly sour fermented condiment. Pickled radishes with ginger and chilli, shaved pickled fennel with loads of lemon peel, spicy kim chi, a jar of sauerkraut the size of my head that takes us two months to chew through before its refilled. Pickled cauliflower has been on my list for a while but I wanted to keep it raw. Apple cider vinegar is one of the most magical elixirs. It’s full of wild bacteria that are so good for our tummies and our personal bacteria colonies, plus it’s a gentle acid that bolsters the strength of our stomach acid helping to efficiently break down whole food into neat little nutrient parcels. Drink it? Sure. Or soak vegetables in it and you create a whole new glorious eatable. A love child if you will.
Commercial pickles are generally done with a hot vinegar solution to kill any bacteria and seal the jar. But this leaves you with vinegary cauliflower, not the crunchy, gut-loving, fermented jewels I was after. Rather than growing the bacteria myself an apple cider vinegar pickle would be better. It gives a brighter, sharper taste than wild lacto-fermenting. If you can find raw apple cider vinegar ‘with mother’ this is the fore mentioned liquid gold. This means it still contains the live bacteria.
Sprouting is all about breaking open the seed and absorbing as much of its life force as possible. It’s earth mother meets vampire. It’s an understanding of the plant worlds’ life cycles and processes that allows us to exploit the nutrients hidden within. Phytic acid found in the hull of seeds, grains, nuts, and legumes is a large part of the seeds nutrient storage, waiting for germination day. However, this phytic acid can make it difficult for us to digest the protein and starches that we are hoping to get from said seed, grain, nut, or legume. Even worse, during digestion phytic acid is know to bind to minerals like iron, zinc, and calcium, before we can absorb it. Not only does it make us work for the macronutrients we are after but it carries away many of the minerals that we need. This is why those in the business of nutrients have dubbed it an anti-nutrient. Soaking is the great illusion that lets us break into these foods which, understandably, try and keep their nutrients hidden for the next generation. Soaking signals that it’s time to take the leap from seed to plant. The phytic acid then transforms into seeds main source of energy and phosphorous to begin it’s journey. Now that the phytic is gone, the goodness of the seed, grain, nut, or legume is freely accessible to us. Cooking, fermenting, and soaking are all great ways to break through the phytic acid but sprouting is one of my favourites, you’re creating a whole new food just by giving it a few moments of attention each day. It is gardening you can do in your own kitchen, in a very short period of time; personal ecosystems for this fast paced world of instant gratification and miminalism. Lentils are usually rich and dense, fodder for stews, curries, soups and all those comforting winter meals. Sprouted, they are crunchy and sweet, and add a serious satisfaction to any light salad or raw dish. Mung beans, adzuki beans, chickpeas, all make delicious crunchy, tadpole looking sprouts - I’m slowly working my way through sprouting all dry legume I can get my hands on.
Sprouting Basics
In a jar, cover your legumes with cold tap water and leave them to soak on the bench for 10-12 hours/overnight. Place a piece of muslin over the top of the jar and tie tightly with string or a rubber band (you can also buy skewer on lids with a mesh insert). Pour the water out through the muslin to drain. Rinse with fresh water twice daily, once in the morning while you’re making breakfast, and once in the evening while dinner is cooking. Once they have started to grow little tails they are ready to eat, the timeframe depends on the legume. Lentils are ready in around three days.
He has become the mascot of the whole food movement. Kale is so popular now that you see it everywhere but it’s still that vegetable that divides the health conscious from the indulgent food lovers, the people who think we vegans just chew on kale straight from the stalk. ‘People who eat kale really know how to eat kale’, my brother said that to me. I thought it seemed obvious at first, but it’s true, kale is a green you need to learn how to eat. Kale needs to be pampered. Shredding it finely and tossing it with the acid from the pickling liquid breaks through that grassy flavour and those chewy leaves, making it a lot easier on the jaw. I like to give the kale a bit of a massage in the dressing before I throw in the grains. This lets the flavours really get into the leaves, making them soft and juicy against the light fluffy quinoa, crunchy sprouts, acid cauliflower, and sweet currants.
Turmeric has become one of my obsessions. I put it in almost everything. It has that subtle earthy flavour. In this tahini dressing, it’s also mustard-like. But besides that it’s amazingly anti-inflammatory, which to me means ‘solves all bodily problems’, therefore the more I can sneak in, the better I feel. Plus how can you not feel happy pouring that liquid sunshine all over this very earthy salad with it's bright ruby flowers.
Turmeric has become one of my obsessions. I put it in almost everything. It has that subtle earthy flavour. In this tahini dressing, it’s also mustard-like. But besides that it’s amazingly anti-inflammatory, which to me means ‘solves all bodily problems’, therefore the more I can sneak in, the better I feel. Plus how can you not feel happy pouring that liquid sunshine all over this very earthy salad with it's bright ruby flowers.
Pickled Cauliflower
1 Purple Cauliflower (white would also totally work)
1 tsp Coriander Seeds
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
Pinch of Black Peppercorns
½ tsp Salt
1 tsp Coconut Sugar
Apple Cider Vinegar
Water
Cut you cauliflower into bite-sized pieces. The bigger they are the longer it takes to pickle, but I like a decent sized floret to crunch on. Stuff these pieces into a clean glass jar and add the spices, salt, and sugar. Pour over the vinegar until it comes three quarters of the way up the cauliflower and then top it off with water so that everyone is submerged.
Screw on the lid and invert the jar a few times to disperse the spices and seasoning, and help the salt and sugar to dissolve. After an hour you can eat this, but the longer you wait the more acidic and intense the flavour becomes. I like to leave it in the fridge for a couple of weeks before I ‘officially’ bust it open, but I do sneak out a few early babies to have on my toast every now and then. Purely to check on their progress, obviously.
1 tsp Coriander Seeds
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
Pinch of Black Peppercorns
½ tsp Salt
1 tsp Coconut Sugar
Apple Cider Vinegar
Water
Cut you cauliflower into bite-sized pieces. The bigger they are the longer it takes to pickle, but I like a decent sized floret to crunch on. Stuff these pieces into a clean glass jar and add the spices, salt, and sugar. Pour over the vinegar until it comes three quarters of the way up the cauliflower and then top it off with water so that everyone is submerged.
Screw on the lid and invert the jar a few times to disperse the spices and seasoning, and help the salt and sugar to dissolve. After an hour you can eat this, but the longer you wait the more acidic and intense the flavour becomes. I like to leave it in the fridge for a couple of weeks before I ‘officially’ bust it open, but I do sneak out a few early babies to have on my toast every now and then. Purely to check on their progress, obviously.
Pickled Cauliflower, Sprouted Lentil + Quinoa Salad
½ cup white Quinoa
½ cup of Currants
Zest and Juice of 1 Clementine (or Orange)
1 cup finely shredded Kale
3 tbsp Cauliflower pickling liquid
1 cup Sprouted Lentils
1 cup Pickled Cauliflower
½ cup fresh Parsley leaves
Salt and Pepper
Turmeric Dressing
3 tbsp Tahini
Zest of 1 Clementine (or Orange)
Juice of 1 Lemon
¼ tsp Salt
1 tsp Turmeric
½ cup Water
Submerge the quinoa in water for a few minutes and then rinse in a sieve under running water until any foaminess disappears. Leave to drain in it’s sieve while a small pot of water comes to the boil. Once it’s happily rolling, throw in a pinch of salt and the quinoa. In something like ten minutes you should be able to see the little spiral of the quinoa seed opening up and be able to squish it between you’re fingers. Drain and rinse, again with cold water, and return to the sieve to drain of any excess liquid.
Zest and juice the clementine (or mandarin or orange, some sort of sweet citrus) and pour the juice over the currants to plump them up.
Wash and finely shred the kale, almost like it’s a herb. You could also put it through a food processor quickly. Pour over some of the cauliflowers flavoursome pickling liquid and give it a little rub down. Scrunch the leaves in your fists, bruising their cells so the acid can get in. They will turn a brighter, shiny green.
Rinse your sprouted lentils one last time and tip out onto a clean tea towel to dry. Fish out and roughly slice some of your glorious pickled cauliflower. Toss both the lentils and the cauliflower into the bowl with the kale, followed by the quinoa, plump currants and their citrusy liquid, and the picked parsley leaves. Combine. Getting your hands in there is the easiest way. Taste and season with salt and pepper. And then taste again.
For the dressing, combine all ingredients, minus the water, in a bowl and whisk. Once these have come together, slowly add in the water, whilst continuously whisking, until you have a smooth dressing that runs off your whisk in ribbons. Pour the dressing into a jug or little bottle and drizzle this liquid sunshine over each plate.
½ cup of Currants
Zest and Juice of 1 Clementine (or Orange)
1 cup finely shredded Kale
3 tbsp Cauliflower pickling liquid
1 cup Sprouted Lentils
1 cup Pickled Cauliflower
½ cup fresh Parsley leaves
Salt and Pepper
Turmeric Dressing
3 tbsp Tahini
Zest of 1 Clementine (or Orange)
Juice of 1 Lemon
¼ tsp Salt
1 tsp Turmeric
½ cup Water
Submerge the quinoa in water for a few minutes and then rinse in a sieve under running water until any foaminess disappears. Leave to drain in it’s sieve while a small pot of water comes to the boil. Once it’s happily rolling, throw in a pinch of salt and the quinoa. In something like ten minutes you should be able to see the little spiral of the quinoa seed opening up and be able to squish it between you’re fingers. Drain and rinse, again with cold water, and return to the sieve to drain of any excess liquid.
Zest and juice the clementine (or mandarin or orange, some sort of sweet citrus) and pour the juice over the currants to plump them up.
Wash and finely shred the kale, almost like it’s a herb. You could also put it through a food processor quickly. Pour over some of the cauliflowers flavoursome pickling liquid and give it a little rub down. Scrunch the leaves in your fists, bruising their cells so the acid can get in. They will turn a brighter, shiny green.
Rinse your sprouted lentils one last time and tip out onto a clean tea towel to dry. Fish out and roughly slice some of your glorious pickled cauliflower. Toss both the lentils and the cauliflower into the bowl with the kale, followed by the quinoa, plump currants and their citrusy liquid, and the picked parsley leaves. Combine. Getting your hands in there is the easiest way. Taste and season with salt and pepper. And then taste again.
For the dressing, combine all ingredients, minus the water, in a bowl and whisk. Once these have come together, slowly add in the water, whilst continuously whisking, until you have a smooth dressing that runs off your whisk in ribbons. Pour the dressing into a jug or little bottle and drizzle this liquid sunshine over each plate.
