Trillions of bacteria live in your digestive tract and play an essential role in health.

A healthy gastrointestinal tract has an ideal balance of good and pathogenic bacteria. Poor diets that are low in fibre and high in sugar can kill off certain bacteria, which makes the gut microbiome less diverse, which can, in turn, adversely affect our overall wellbeing.

To keep our gut healthy, we need to eat lots of fibre, a diverse range of fruit and vegetables, limit sugar and alcohol and indulge in fermented foods.

We have three recipes for you that can help you develop good gut health. Kimchi is easy to make and a rich with probiotic goodness, our Kumara, Carrot, Turmeric and Ginger soup is high in anti-inflammatory ingredients and fibre while the Green Lentil Salad is high in fibre and pre-biotics. 

Kimchi

Ingredients

• 1 small green cabbage (about 500 grams)
• 1 small red cabbage (about 500 grams)
• 3 julienned carrots
• 1 apple
• 100 grams of julienned daikon radish
• 70 grams of salt

• 3 cloves of minced garlic

• 1 tsp freshly grated ginger
• 2 tbsp fish sauce

• 3-4 tbsp Korean red pepper flakes   

Instructions

1. Core the cabbage and cut into small-ish strips and place in a large bowl with the salt and mix and massage the cabbage until it becomes soft and starts to release liquid
2. Add water to the bowl so that the cabbage is covered, place a plate on the bowl (to keep the cabbage submerged) and leave at room temperature to stand for 2 hours. At the end of 2 hours, the cabbage should be limp and its volume reduced.
3. Rinse the cabbage under cold water (you need to remove the salt) and then place in a colander to drain for 10 minutes. Repeat this step twice more.

4. In a food processor mix together the garlic, fish sauce,  ginger, apple and red pepper flakes. They should form a thick paste.
5. Once the cabbage is quite dry (you may need to squeeze water out of the leaves) place in a large bowl. Add the daikon radish, carrots, and the paste. Mix thoroughly, using gloved hands, working the paste into the vegetables until they are coated.

6. Place the kimchi into sterilised jars, pressing down until the brine rises to cover the vegetables, leaving at least 2.5 cm of space. Seal the jar with a lid.

7. Let the jar stand at cool room temperature, out of direct sunlight, for 1 to 5 days.
8. Check the kimchi once a day, pressing down on the vegetables with a clean spoon to make sure they are submerged under the brine. When the kimchi tastes good to transfer the jar to the refrigerator.

Kumara, carrot, ginger, turmeric soup

• 5 carrots cut into chunks
• 3 golden kumara cut into chunks
• 1 white onion finely chopped
• 1 stalk of celery finely chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic minced
• 2 teaspoons turmeric, ground
• 2 teaspoons ginger minced
• vegetable stock (about 6 cups)
• 1 tablespoon of Miso paste
• a pinch of chilli powder
• 3 tablespoons of Greek yoghurt.
• Olive oil
• Salt and white pepper

Toss the kumara and carrots in olive oil and a little salt and roast on a low heat until soft but not too caramelised.

Sauté finely chopped onion and celery until soft and translucent but not brown. Add the chunks of roasted vegetables, garlic, turmeric, ginger, chilli, stock, miso and salt and pepper and simmer for 30 minutes.

Blend the mixture using an immersion blender until smooth.

Check the season, swirl in the yoghurt and serve.

Green Lentil Salad

• 4 cups cooked and cooled green lentils
• 1 large carrot, finely diced
• 2  cucumbers, diced
• 1/2 a red onion, finely diced
• 50 grams of feta
• 3 tomatoes, diced.
• A handful of baby spinach
• A small bunch of  Italian parsley, finely chopped
• A small bunch of mint, finely chopped
• A handful of finely chopped almonds
• 1/4 medium red onion finely chopped
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• the juice of one lemon
• The zest of one lemon
• Sea salt
• Ground black pepper

Put the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper into a jar and shake vigorously.  Combine all the other ingredients and toss with the lemon dressing. Check the seasoning. Chill for at least 30 minutes and serve.