WHAT ARE ADAPTOGENS? A SUMMARY
Adaptogens are some plants, fruits and mushrooms that contain selected bioactive substances that affect our cells’ ability to cope with the stress. They don’t provide an quick aid, but when consumed regularly, effects usually can be observed in a month physically or mentally.
The goal of taking adaptogens is to return your body back to a state of balance. But adaptogens can react differently from person to person, so research which ones could work best for your situation. Further, consult a naturopath or a knowledgeable health care professional if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or immunocompromised and considering taking adaptogenic herbs.
WHICH ADAPTOGEN SHOULD YOU USE?
Each adaptogen has a different effect on the body, so the choice of which one to take will depend on the result you seek.
HOW CAN YOU TAKE ADAPTOGENS?
-Adding adaptogens to smoothies, desserts, soups, shakes.
-Taking adaptogens as supplement capsules.
-Using tinctures: a liquid form of a plant extract, can be added to beverages or food.
Whichever route you go, always do your research the quality before buying so you know you’re ingesting a safe product. Learn about each brand, such as where they source their herbs, whether they are certified organic and if they use third-party testing. When researching companies, also be sure to check for any heavy metals in their products, which you definitely don’t want to ingest.
SOME OF POPULAR ADAPTOGENIC MUSHROOMS
Cordyceps – It helps with chronic fatigue and can work to improve the availability of oxygen in the blood and helps with overall endurance and recovery.
Tremella – It is used for skin hydration, radiance and elasticity as a plant based collagen, also for digestive health, antioxidant defences.
Lion’s Mane – Some compounds have a protective effect on the brain while supporting its natural cognitive functions are called nootropics. Lion’s mane contains a broad range of naturally occurring bioactive compounds, including erinacines and hericenones, known for their cognitive health benefits. Lion’s mane is also known as brain candy. It helps protect our memory and brain. Researches show us that compounds in Lion’s mane may stimulate the growth of new brain cells, improve depression and anxiety, and support gut, heart, and immune health.
Turkey Tail – It is one of the most well-researched of all adaptogenic mushrooms for its powerful polysaccharides. The beta glucans and other nutrients found in Turkey Tail support immune health.
Chaga – It is valued for its nutritious content and a source of several vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, used for digestion, candida, immunity, antioxidant defences, blood sugar regulation and energy, also offers nutrients to support hair, skin, and nail vitality.
Maitake – Rich in several essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, enhances immune function, promotes a healthy gut flora. Maitake’s nutrient value comes from amino acids, B vitamins, and minerals, including copper, zinc, and phosphorus also contains an impressive amount of alpha and betaglucans polysaccharides and triterpenes.
Reishi – The primary bioactive compounds in reishi are beta-glucan polysaccharides and ganoderic and ganoderenic acids (also known as triterpenes). Reishi also provides polyphenol antioxidants, prebiotic fiber, a precursor of vitamin D, peptides, enzymes, and more. It helps with allergies by modulating our immune system, encourages more stable, long-lasting focus and concentration, and helps to balance levels of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenalin.
If you are new to using adaptogens, it might take about three weeks of regular use to establish its benefits.
SOME OF POPULAR ADAPTOGENIC PLANTS
Ashwagandha – It is said to increase the body’s ability to adapt, to better cope with stress and contributes to calmness and makes it easier to fall asleep.
Maca – It boosts libido, increases fertility, boostes energy, and improves mood.
Mesquite – It helps to satisfy hunger, and stabilize blood sugar, also it’s loaded with vitamins and minerals such as iron, manganese, lysine (helps building blocks of protein) , zinc, and even potassium.
Licorice Root – It may reduce oxidative stress.
Rhodiola Rosea – It helps with physical and mental fatigue.
Schisandra Berry – It boosts endurance, mental performance, and one’s working capacity. One of the unique properties of schisandra is that, unlike other stimulants like caffeine, our bodies don’t become tolerant to it, so it can be used in the same doses effectively.
Tulsi (Holy Basil) – It is used for physical and mental stress, stress-related anxiety, and depression and improve memory and thinking
Turmeric (Curcuma Longa) – may reduce depression
Roseroot – It is used to treat minor health ailments like headaches and flu.
A comforting hearty pasta dish, one of the best ways to use beetroots and perfect for cold winter days.
Ingredients
200 g pasta of your choice ( I use brown rice rigatoni)
250 g beetroot
200 ml plant based milk (almond or oat milk recommended)
1 large onion
30 ml vodka (skip this if you don’t use alcohol)
1/4 cup hemp hearts (cashews also work)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
2 tsp pink Himalayan salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil ( or use water if you are into oil-free)
1/2 lemon juice
2 tbsp toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup chopped scallions
4 garlic cloves sliced and toasted
1 cup broccoli crown roasted
Plant based yoghurt to serve
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Peel and wash your beets and onion. Roughly cut in chunks. Place the beets and onion into a pyrex, pour vodka and 1 tbsp olive oil over the beets and let roast in the oven for 20 minutes.
Place roasted beets, hemp hearts, plant based milk, green onion, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, pepper and salt in a food processor, mix on high until get completely smooth mixture.
Transfer mixture in a large pan, add another tbsp olive oil, stir on medium heat for 5-6 minutes.
Add your pasta into the sauce. Toss well until all pasta coated with the sauce.
Serve with roasted broccoli, pine nuts, garlic and plant based yoghurt.
If you love this recipe, you might be interested in my healthy comfort food recipe book called FOOD WE LOVE.
Stuffed leeks are a great way to use up the entire vegetable, including the often-discarded green tops.
In this recipe, the leeks are stuffed with rice, inner parts and tops of leeks and pea mince as a vegan meat alternative (mushroom leftovers also can be used), served with tomato sauce, and yoghurt. This dish can be served as a main course or side dish. If you’re craving for some comfort food in these winter days, it will definitely please you and your friends.
Try my recipe below:
Ingredients
1 kg leeks outer large parts for stuffing (chop inner parts and use in filling mixture)
1/2 cup brown rice
1 1/4 cup water
2 tbsp pea mince (mushrooms can be used as an alternative)
1 tbsp soy sauce (use tamari for gluten-free and coconut aminos for soy-free)
1/2 carrot diced
1 red pepper diced
1 onion finely chopped
4 garlic cloves minced
2 tbsp olive oil (use water or beet juice for oil-free)
1 tbsp fresh rosemary finely chopped
1 tsp salt
For the Sauce
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp hot red pepper paste
3 garlic cloves minced
1/3 cup water
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp fresh rosemary chopped
For Serving
1 cup cashew yoghurt
A handful of parsley leaves chopped
A handful of scallions chopped
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. In a pot, combine all the filling ingredients.
3. Trim the bottom of the leeks, make a lengthwise slit to the center, and separate them into leaf-like layers. Place in a large pot, add 1 lt hot water, let it sit for 10-12 minutes, then strain and set aside. Chop the green tops and inner parts of leeks, set aside.
4. Wash and rinse your rice. In a pan, add minced garlic, chopped inner parts of leeks, rosemary, onion, diced carrot, peppers and olive oil, cook until golden, then add pea mince and rice mix together. Lastly add salt, soy sauce, tomato paste and water, cover the lid, cook until the mixture absorbs all water content. Your mixture will be semi-cooked as you will continue to baking process in the oven.
5. Place a spoonful of the filling at one end of each leek, fold it into a triangular shape, and continue folding along the length of the leek until it resembles a pastry.
6. Arrange the triangles in a baking dish.
7. Mix all the sauce ingredients and pour them over the triangles. Cover with damp parchment paper and foil then bake for an hour and 10-12 minutes.
8. Remove the cover and bake uncovered for an additional 15-20 minutes.
9. You can also arrange the leeks in a flat pot, add an extra cup of water to the sauce, and simmer n low heat until they become tender.
If you love this recipe, you might be interested in my healthy comfort food recipe book called FOOD WE LOVE.
Winter Kitchari — A feel-good mixture of rice and lentil with a good balance of spices that eliminates accumulated toxins from the mind and body tissues, improves digestion and restore regular bowel movements.
Here is my take on ayurvedic winter kitchari ☃️🌈
Ingredients:
1 cup brown rice
1 cup red lentil
250 ml coconut cream
800 ml water + more as needed
1/2 lemon juice
1.5 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp chili flakes
2 tsp pink himalayan salt
1 red onion
4 garlic cloves minced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil with chili
Cashew yoghurt to serve
A handful of fresh parsley
Instructions
1. Wash and rinse lentil and rice together. Place in a deep pot, add water and bring to boil until absorbs all water content.
2. Add the coconut cream, curcumin, coriander, cumin, salt and chili. Stir together. Continue to cook for additional 1-2 minutes.
3. In a pan, sauté onions and garlic with a little bit olive oil or water. Transfer to the pot, stir together with kitchari.
4. Lastly add lemon juice and mix everything together.
5. Serve kitchari with cashew yoghurt, fresh parsley and a drizzle of chili oil if desired. Enjoy!
One of my most loved starters: Marinated beetroot paper dumplings, caramelized red onion, strawberries, ginger gel, basil oil.
• Ingredients
3 large beetroot, cut in thin slices using vegetable sheet cutter
Lay slices on your cutting board, trim the sides and shape in equal squares.
• Marination:
50 ml white balsamic vinegar
15 g tamari , mushroom sauce or coconut aminos
3 g salt
Mix everything in a large bowl. Place sheeted beets in the marination mixture for about 30 minutes. Keep marination water to use in filling mixture.
• Filling:
3 red onions finely chopped
30 g coconut sugar
20 ml olive oil
Rest of marination juice from the beetroots
Chop onions and fry in the pan with the rest of marination juice. Add some coconut sugar and olive oil, cook constantly stirring on medium heat until soften and nicely caramelized, absorbed all water content. Let it cool.
• Ginger gel:
100 ml balsamic white vinegar
30 g ginger syrup
30 ml maple syrup
30 g pear juice
3 g agar powder
2 g salt
Mix everything in a small pan, bring to boil for 1 minute. Pour in a bowl, let it cool completely. Then transfer to blender, blend until smooth gel. Transfer to a piping bag, set aside.
• Basil oil
30 g fresh basil
140 ml olive oil
Blend everything in a blender at 65 C, pass through a sieve.
To serve
300g halved strawberries
30g baby basil leaves
Edible flowers
Drop some caramelized onion in the middle of marinated beetroot squars, fold in triangle. Arrange on the plate. Then drop some halved strawberries. Pipe ginger gel on the each edge of beet papers. Drop some baby basil leaves and flowers on the ginger gel dots. Squeeze some basil oil in round shape covering the edges of beet papers on the plate. Serve at room temperature✨
Ingredients
1 kg Jerusalem artichoke
1 tbsp olive oil + 1 tsp salt for roasting
1/2 bunch fresh dill
Juice of 2 lemons
1 tbsp gomasio
2 tsp kombu flakes
1 tsp dulse flakes
Instructions
1. Wash, brush and clean your Jerusalem artichokes. Place them in a bowl, add some salt and drizzle olive oil. Then transfer to a roasting bag. Wrap the ends. Roast in the oven at 200 C for 1 hour.
2. Once roasted, remove from the bag, transfer to a bowl. Gently mash them with a fork. We want them tender and fluffy so don’t mash too much. You may need to remove some parts of skin if it is not thin enough.
3. Add lemon juice, chopped fresh dill, kombu flakes and dulse flakes. Mix together.
4. Sprinkle some gomasio and serve with knäckebröd or your favourite bread.
In the picture it is served with beluga seed cracker from our cookbook FOOD WE LOVE.
Craving for thai food on a cold winter day? Try my phuketian heritage curry with western veggies. ✨
serves 2
Curry sauce:
3 onions sliced
3 thai chili
4 black garlic cloves
2 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tsp coconut sugar
1 tsp lemongrass minced
1 tbsp coconut aminos or tamari
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp fenugreek powder
1/8 tsk black pepper
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil
300 ml coconut cream
Place all ingredients in a pot except coconut cream, cook until ingredients are soften and fragrant. Transfer mixture in a blender, blend until purée. Transfer back to the pot. Add the vegs listed below. Cook until vegs are soften. Add coconut milk, continue to cook for about 2-3 minutes. Serve with rice.
Vegs:
1/2 cup broccoli stalks long cut
2 zucchini inner parts
1 carrot round sliced
3 garlic chopped
2 onion roughly chopped
1/2 cup Baby spinach
Maki is the Japanese term for sushi rolls, it only has only one filling at a time.
Here I’m sharing one of my favorite maki recipes with korean kimchi resulting in its unique tangy and pungent taste.
Kimchi has a very spicy, tangy, and pungent flavor with a combination of umami, saltiness, and a hint of natural sweetness. It is made using salted fermented napa cabbage, carrot and radish.
Since this make is flavoured with avocado cream, you don’t need have to use soy sauce or wasabi.
This maki is soy-free, also perfect for those who don’t prefer to eat white rice.
makes 6 maki ( 36 rolls )
INGREDIENTS
250 g black rice
700 ml water ( may vary depending on the type of your black rice, check package instructions before cooking)
6 nori sheets
200 g vegan kimchi
1 large avocado
1/2 lemon juice
3 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp salt
4 limequat for topping
INSTRUCTIONS
1. To cook black rice, add water, and rinsed black rice into a pot. Over medium-high heat, bring the water to a boil. Add the salt, reduce heat, cover, and cook for about 30 minutes until the rice is tender and and all water is absorbed.
Turn off the heat and let it stand covered for about 5 to 10 minutes, then fluff with a fork. Do not skip this step since unlike the regular sushi rice, black rice isn’t naturally sticky.
2. Drain your kimchi to remove as much water as possible as this will help you to roll the kimchi so that everything holds together. Set aside some carrot slices from the kimchi, for decoration.
3. Peel your avocado, discard the seed, transfer avocado meat into a food processor, add lemon juice, minced garlic and salt. Blend until creamy. Transfer cream into a piping bag, set aside.
4. Once your rice has cooled down, place a nori sheet shiny side down on a sushi mat. Using a rice spoon, spreading the rice thinly and evenly on the nori sheet, leaving about 1 inch (2.5 cm) of space at the top. Be sure that the rice also covers the sides. You can also use maki tool to make filling easier. Then arrange some kimchi. With your thumbs lifting the lower side of the mat, and your other fingers pressing the filling gently so they stay in place, roll up so the bottom side is just above the filling. Press the sushi mat with your fingers to tighten them. Continue rolling and pressing with the sushi mat. To seal the roll, moisten the top edge of the nori sheet with water using your finger. Repeat rolling the sushi with the remaining ingredients. Cut each sushi roll in half, then cut each half into two again, and repeat until you have about 6-8 pieces of sushi from each roll.
5. Top with avocado cream, fermented carrot strips from the kimchi and limequat.
Best when consumed in the same day, can be kept in the fridge up to 3 days.
INGREDIENTS
200g spaghetti of your choice (serving 2)
40 g fresh basil
1 dl raw cashews
3 tbsp elgranbotanico olive oil
3 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
4-5 garlic cloves
1/2 lemon juice
1 dl water
1 tsp salt
1/2 dl pine nuts toasted
INSTRUCTIONS
Combine basil, garlic, cashews, nutritional yeast, salt and lemon juice in a blender. Add olive oil in a slow stream until emulsified. Transfer to the pot. Add some water and thin on a low heat. Then cook un medium heat until bubbled while stirring constantly. Toss with your cooked spaghetti. Add toasted pine nuts and fresh basil. Enjoy!