From stylist.co.uk
Musician and chef Denai Moore’s delicious vegan recipes are inspired by her Jamaican roots
With warmer weather hopefully just around the corner, now’s the time to put your failsafe soup and stew recipes to one side and add some new salads to your repertoire ahead of summer picnic season.
The multi-talented Denai Moore is a musician and chef whose recipes are all about paying homage to her Jamaican roots, while adding a modern vegan spin to classic dishes.
In her first cookbook Plentiful, Moore firmly debunks the food myth that Jamaican cuisine must be spicy and meat-heavy. An array of mouth-watering plant-based recipes include speedy rice and peas arancini, comforting vegan ‘oxtail’ gravy and roasted garlic spring onion mash.
If you’re bored of making the same salads on heavy rotation (whether that’s a half-hearted caesar or a DIY caprese), Moore’s book is filled with quick, approachable options that will seriously elevate your lunch game, whether you’re working from home or dining al fresco in the park.
You’ll also find clever, appealing ways to use up the leftovers currently sitting in your fridge alongside fresh takes on staples, such as Moore’s ‘dream’ potato salad, which throws in raw mangetout and radishes for extra crunch and curry ackee mayo for a real kick.
Read on for three of Moore’s salad recipes that are sure to brighten up your summer…
Crispy rice salad with crunchy green vegetables and salted cashews
Moore says: “This salad has a lot of character. It utilises leftover rice in the most wonderful way, creating a lively textural dynamic: spicy and crispy but with nourishing heart from the kale. I love a dish that uses leftovers – so often rice gets wasted, which is a shame. This application is a great way to whip up something new when you have a few friends over if you are lucky enough to have leftover rice.”
Serves 4
Prep time 10 minutes
Cook time 6 minutes
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil
- 150g cold cooked rice
- 4 stalks cavolo nero, torn
- 2 spring onions, finely chopped
- 350g asparagus, finely sliced on the diagonal
- 60g roasted and salted cashews
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the dressing
- glug of olive oil
- 2 tablespoons coconut vinegar (or rice vinegar)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon agave syrup
- juice of 1 lime
Method
Start by crisping up the rice. Melt the coconut oil in a frying pan over a medium heat, then add the rice to the pan. Spread it out evenly, pressing it into the oil. Allow to cook undisturbed for 6 minutes, checking the bottom so that it doesn’t burn.
Remove from the heat and cover with a lid. Leave to sit for 5 minutes (this will help with removing the rice).
Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a large bowl, then add the cavolo nero. Massage with your hands to soften it a little and then add the spring onions and asparagus.
Crumble the rice into the bowl and toss to coat. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Finally, add the cashews and serve.
My dream potato salad
Moore says: “Potato salad can be a very sensitive topic. However, this is my book and therefore you can’t judge me for what you’re about to read. I call this my dream potato salad because it involves lots of spring onions, as well as raw mangetout and radishes for crunch. I opt for new potatoes because for me, potato salad season is a peak spring and summer dish, which happens to be new potato season. This is far from a traditional potato salad, so potato sal traditionalists, look away now!
“The question is, should a potato salad be mayo or oil based? The real answer is ackee curry mayo. Ackee’s wonderful smooth and silky texture really lends itself to creamy dressings like this. The curry flavour is perfect as potatoes can really take a lot of flavour. This would be a great salad for a barbecue – please stand your corner on my behalf if anyone challenges you about your potato salad choices.”
Serves 4–6
Prep time 10 minutes
Cook time 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 750g new potatoes, halved if large
- 200g mangetout or sugar snap peas, sliced
- 200g radishes, finely sliced
- 1 small shallot, finely sliced
- 1 spring onion, finely sliced
For the ackee curry mayo
- 200g rinsed and drained ackee
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tablespoon Jamaican curry powder
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Put the potatoes into large saucepan, cover with cold water and add a good amount of salt. This is important as the potato is the star here and needs to be seasoned all the way through. Bring to the boil, then cook until just fork tender – about 15–20 minutes depending on the size of your potatoes.
Once cooked, drain and then scatter across a flat baking sheet to dry out and cool to room temperature.
In a high-speed blender, blend together all the ingredients for the ackee curry mayo until completely smooth.
Combine all the vegetables in a large bowl, add the curry mayo and stir to completely coat. Cover with cling film and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Sticky orange roasted green bean and mangetout salad
Serves 4
Prep time 5 minutes
Cook time 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 200g fine green beans, topped and tailed
- 100g mangetout
- 60g blanched hazelnuts
- 250g cooked green lentils
- 1 small shallot, finely sliced diced
- handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves,
- roughly chopped, plus extra to serve
- small handful of mint leaves, torn
For the orange dressing
- juice and zest of 1 orange
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 3 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C (400°F/gas 6).
In a small bowl, whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing.
In a large bowl, toss the green beans and mangetout with half the dressing, then spread the vegetables out evenly on a wide baking sheet. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes, adding the hazelnuts after 10 minutes.
Once roasted, transfer the vegetables back into the bowl and add the lentils, shallot, parsley and mint. Add the remaining dressing and toss to combine. Sprinkle with a little more parsley before serving.
https://www.stylist.co.uk/food-drink/plentiful-denai-moore-vegan-salad-recipes/782373
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