Have you ever been questioned about being a vegan? I’m pretty sure most vegans would be challenged if not verbally then surely through facial expressions, questioning, nagging or with sarcasm like you don’t know what you’re missing out on? Well really they don’t know what they’re missing out on until they enjoy great vegan dishes. I invited a few friends over last weekend for dinner.
From my usual weekend visit to the produce markets, I brought home abundance of fresh winter vegetables – beetroot, sweet potato (kumara), fennel, potatoes, red capsicum and plenty of herbs. One of the dishes I made was the super food roast. Before I share the recipe perhaps you would want to look at the amazing properties of each vegetable that has gone into this colourful dish.
Sweet potatoes are rich in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory nutrients and are known to potentially improve blood sugar levels. Be sure to add these wonderful naturally sweet delights to your meals all year round. They are one of the most nutritious vegetables around and in fact are considered super foods. Also they don’t have to take a long time to prepare. Cutting them into 1/2-inch slices and Healthy roasting them for just 30 minutes
Fennel is my flavour some and versatile new best frond. Lovely raw, braised or roasted and is a good source of fibre, vitamin C, folate, potassium, manganese and beta-carotene as well as phyto chemicals and flavonoids. My grandmother taught us to use fennel seeds for its medicinal properties i.e., for cold, cough, mouth freshener and to help digestion.
Beetroot the crimson jewel contains the powerful agent beta cyanin which is thought to suppress cancer. This health-food hero full of fibre, minerals and vitamins is packed with antioxidants and loves being roasted, juiced or blended in soups. Beetroots have long been known for their medicinal properties specially as liver detoxifiers.
Garlic turns any dish into a flavor powerhouse. When the cloves are baked whole the flavour mellows into a nutty sweet flavor with almost no pungency. But be sure to choose garlic heads that are firm to the touch otherwise they could be a victim of a common mould which would have spoilt the flesh.
Onions naturally sweet will caramelise when you slowly cook onions over an extended period of time making them wonderfully flavorful.
Oregano dried or fresh goes particularly well with roast vegetables.
Vegan Sunday Roast
Ingredients
- 3 medium beetroots
- 3 medium sweet potatoes
- 1 medium fennel
- 2 medium onions
- 1 pod garlic
- 1 tbsp dried oregano or handful of fresh leaves
- 4 tbsp Olive oil
- Salt and pepper to tast
Instructions
- Peel, wash and cut all vegetables into big chunks
- Break garlic cloves and wash with skin on
- Arrange vegetables and cloves evenly into a shallow baking dish
- Season with salt and pepper
- Sprinkle oregano over vegetables
- Drizzle generous amount of olive oil
- Bake in moderate oven (180 F) for 30-40 minutes or until knife easily goes through sweet potato.
- Take out 4 baked cloves and squeeze the flesh with fingers over vegetables
- Drizzle a bit more olive oil and lemon on baked vegetables and shuffle with a spatula
- Serve hot
My mouth is salivating while I type this recipe, it is so delicious! Hope you enjoy it as much as my family does. It seems so effortless for the outcome and the goodness you get out of this recipe that my family have asked for it three times in the last four days. Very satisfying when you know what you cook is thoroughly enjoyed by others.
