Superfood recipes for everyone

Quinoa is an ancient super food. Photo / Thinkstock

Moroccan-style quinoa and sweet potato

• 1 & 1/2 cups tri-coloured quinoa, rinsed and drained
• 3 cups water
• 1kg kumara, peeled and diced
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 12 long red chillies, de-seeded and chopped
• 1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
• 1 Tbsp grated fresh turmeric
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 400g cans chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
• juice 12 limes or lemons
• Greek yoghurt, for serving

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C and line a large baking tray with non-stick paper.

2. Drizzle the sweet potato with a little oil and season with salt and pepper, place on the tray and roast for about 20-30 minutes until tender and a little charred.

3. In the meantime, place quinoa into a medium-sized saucepan with the water, bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes until all the water is absorbed and the quinoa is cooked.

4. Remove from the heat and leave to stand covered while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

5. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and saute onion until soft, add the garlic, chilli, ginger and turmeric and cook for about 2 minutes until all the flavours combine.

6. Stir in the ground cumin and coriander, cumin seeds and fennel seeds and cook until fragrant.

7. Add the chickpeas and a little water to create some steam so the pan is not completely dry and cook for 45 minutes then add the quinoa and toss well to combine everything together and cook until the quinoa has heated through.

8. Gently toss in the pumpkin, fresh coriander, mint and the lime/lemon juice.

9. Serve with a dollop of Greek yoghurt.

Creamy coffee and orange chia pudding

• 1 cup of hot double strength coffee
• 2 Tbsp sugar or sweetener of choice
• 5 Tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 cup low fat or almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 orange, segmented
• flaked almonds, for garnish

1. Dissolve the sugar in the coffee then add the chia seeds and stir quite briskly with a fork.

2. Leave the seeds to stand and soak for about 10-15 minutes, stirring every now and then so that the seeds don't sink to the bottom.

3. Stir in the milk, vanilla and orange zest, mix well and leave to stand another 5 minutes.

4. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving garnished with fresh orange segments and flaked almonds.

5. Segment the orange by cutting the top and bottom of the orange with a sharp knife. Then carefully remove the skin away from the flesh using downward cutting stokes and discard the skin. Do this over a bowl so that you can collect the juices which you can stir into the pudding before serving.

6. Remove any white pith that may have been left behind then cut between each membrane to release the orange flesh in segments.

Note: For a thicker consistency use more chia seeds. You can segment the orange that was used for zesting when making the pudding. Just exercise extra care when cutting into it.