Green Banana Stir Fry Side Dish

Green Banana is a popular food eaten with stews, fish, peas, pickled cucumber, cold slaw, and provision such as sweet potato, breadfruit, yam, eddoe and dasheen.
It is not something I eat often because it makes a mess of your pots, and because it really probably isn't a good idea to eat young/unripe bananas. I figure it is a food that came about during the old times when families probably had to make do with what they could find to eat in the garden.

Usually green bananas are boiled in the skin and then the skin removed. the bananas are then dropped into split pea soup or simply eaten with ground provision foods along with meat or peas. This recipe is my personal stir fried way of eating green bananas.

You will need:

A hand of at least 10-15 green/young bananas
4 leaves of greens (2 pakchoi, 2 chard in this recipe)
1 small onion
2 pimento peppers
2 cloves garlic
¼ bell pepper

Seasonings to taste: salt, ground/powdered: turmeric, cumin, ginger, Italian seasoning, paprika, mustard

A little oil

Deep wide pot
flat frying pan or stir fry pan


Method

Bring water to boil in the big wide pot. Separate the green bananas from the hand.

Cut off the top and bottom of each banana. 

Drop them in the boiling water and allow to cook for ten minutes.

Throw them off into a strainer and run cold water to cool them.

When cool, make a shallow slice along the length of each blackened banana skin and peel off the green-black skin. Take the knife and scrape off the thin green pieces that remain on the banana. All must be removed.

When all bananas had been skinned, chop them into bite size pieces.

In the big wide point place oil and chopped onion, pimento, garlic and allow to sautee for a minute. Then add a touch of water, not even enough to cover the bottom of the pan.

Add dashes of all the ground seasonings: salt, mustard, cumin, turmeric, Italian seasoning.

Stir. Add the chopped greens and mix well with the seasoning for a few seconds.

Add the green banana and mix well with the greens for a minute.

Remove from heat. Cool and serve.

Serve it up with fried plantain, avocado, green peas, fried cabbage and love yourself!!

Ila Addis

Veggie Pizza with Savory Chickpea Flat Crust

Aside from my quinoa soup this is my favourite recipe, It is very simple once you get the hang of the dough, which is not a fluffy pizza crust, it is flat, crunchy and savory because of the chick pea flour. This can be a gluten free recipe like the soup if you substitute the spelt with more chickpea flour. It is dairy free and great for those with allergies or who simply want to lost weight but still like to eat delicious warm meals.


Large Crust

1 ½ cup garbanzo/chickpea flour
1 cup spelt flour (plus extra for kneading)
¾ cup warm water
1/4 cup Coconut or olive oil with extra for pizza pan
1.5 tbsp flax meal

1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried oregano


Small crust 

1 cup chickpea flour
1 cup spelt
1/8 cup oil
¼ cup + 1/8 cup warm water
1.5 tbs flax meal

1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp paprika powder
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried oregano



Pizza toppings

Seasonings 

2-3 large spoons full Tomato paste (Matouks in the jar or homemade using blended sundried tomatoes and salt and a slash of apple cider vinegar)

3 stalks chive, chopped
1 small onion, finely diced or ringed
2 pimento peppers or the like, chopped
2 -5 clove garlic, chopped fine (optional)
1-2 big leaf of shadon beni/cilantro/parsley, chopped (optional)

8 leaves basil (optional)

Dried oregano, basil or Italian seasoning, paprika

Cheeze: nutritional yeast spread all over

Any combination of your favourite seasonings and herbs is fine! Make this recipe your own!

Veggie Toppings

And any combination of vegetables you have, for example:

3 sliced Tomatoes
1 cup sliced Pineapple
1/4 thinly sliced Eggplant
3 leaves chopped pakchoi or other greens

Or

1/2 cup each shredded or grated Zucchini and Chayote/Chocho.Christophene
2-3 diced tomatoes
2 large leaves pakchoi or kale
½ small bell pepper sliced

Or

½ cup grated pumpkin
Chopped kale
Diced pineapple
Thinly sliced Eggplant

Other:
Pizza pan or baking dish
Baking or wax paper
large bowl
rolling pin
kitchen towel

spoon


Method:

Prepare the crust first

Combine dry ingredients well with spoon: flour, salt and dried seasonings and flax meal
Add the oil to flour mixture.

You will add the water to this and mix with a spoon first and then use your hands when the flour is all wet. The dough should be moist but not sticky and sticking to your fingers. If it becomes sticky then use sprinkles of spelt/chickpea flour to make the right consistency. A full cup of water shouldn’t be needed. Be careful to add gradually. If too sticky then add a handful of flour.

It doesn’t take too long to knead. It should be smooth, soft, stretchy, warm and moist, but not wet or too dry. Don’t add too much extra flour at this point, let it be firm and moist. Do that when it is time to knead. Cover with a towel while you prepare the veggies.

When it is time to roll out I use my hands and make a flat circle out of the dough first, as I massage away all cracks along the edges.

On your counter top, place two sheets of baking paper forming a square to have room to make the flat circle of dough. You need only one sheet for the second recipe which is less flour. Cover the parchment paper and the dough in flour. Use the rolling pin and flatten the dough onto paper in a nice large circle using your four fingers when necessary to keep the edges together. When the circle has gotten a little wider and flatter it will stick to the paper, so don’t over roll.

When ready to place on baking pan pick up the paper and flip the circle onto the greased pizza pan and carefully peel the baking sheet off the back. Use your hands to further press dough around the pan. Make sure dough is not too thin or it will break easily when finished.
Do not bake with paper or it will stick. 

Spread tomato paste on first with a large spoon.

Cover that paste with the finely chopped seasonings: onion garlic chive pimento and shadon beni/cilantro/culantro

Evenly spread the vegetable toppings - put the shredded toppings then tomato and eggplant. Add nutritional yeast to top along with dried basil and paprika.

Bake pizza at medium heat of 150 C for 15-20 minutes or til edges are golden brown.

You may grate some nut cheeze over everything when it comes out and allow to cool a bit before slicing and serving.

Makes four big slices or eight smaller.


My favourite part of this pizza is the crust. It's soft and yet has a slight crunchy texture as well because of the chickpea flour.

 

  

I used to make this pizza without nutritional yeast before I was able to purchase it, so you can make it without the cheeze as shown below

       

This last picture you can keep for a quick recipe reference.

Please tag me or send me photos of your pizza to share on the IG page @italpeople!

Stay Healthy and Irie!

Ila Addis

Four Yummy Veggie Burgers/Patties

Here are four, yes FOUR recipes that you can try to make your own veggie burgers or patties at home!
They all taste delicious! Guaranteed. My favourite is the green juice patty.


Chickpea or Black BeanVeggie Burgers/Patties

The first thing to know about this recipe is that it can be made into countless variations based on the flour, vegetable and legume/nut choices you make! They can be burger patties or fritters or balls! The second thing you need to know is that it’s quite easy and you can find yourself to be a veggie burger pro in no time! It is a meat substitute for a meal, and goes perfectly with homemade breads and salads. I consider it to be a brunch or dinner choice – it all depends on what you pair them up with!


1 large (or medium) sized sweet potato
½ cup quinoa/millet (red or white)
½ cup chickpea flour (or another flour choice like spelt or almond)
1 cup chick peas or black beans or other
1 leaf kale or other green leafy vegetable
1 small beet (or other vegetable like pumpkin/squash, zucchini, chayote/christophene)
1.5 tbs sesame, chia, hemp, flax seeds (optional)
Fresh cuttings of chive, thyme, rosemary,celery, shadon beni or other
1 piece of ginger and 1 clove garlic
1/4 onion
1/4 tsp each pink salt, ground cumin, turmeric, paprika, seasoning salt, dried herbs and the like

Baking tray greased with coconut or oil
Potato masher
fork, spoon

large bowl

Prep:

Covering completely, soak ½ cup dried chickpeas or black beans in hot water and baking soda overnight or at least 2-6 hours before cooking. Simmer on stove until tender. Drain and cool.

Bake sweet potato in foil until cooked through.

Simmer ½ cup of quinoa grains with 1 cup water. Add a few dashes each of salt, turmeric, cumin, ground ginger to taste.

Finely chop onion, chive other fresh seasonings. Grate fresh ginger, garlic , zuchinni/pumpkin/beet/christophene etc


Method:

In a large bowl mash the chickpeas/blackbeans well making it a grainy paste.

Peel sweet potato and mash it in. Add quinoa and flour with all the seasonings and grated vegetables and mix.

Take a large handful and mould it into a burger shape. Press it flat and mould it into a patty, smoothing edges. Set on the greased baking tray and flatten more. Repeat. The dough should not be overly sticky.

Makes 10 small patties but it depends on the size you go with.

Bake at low to medium flame, for 10-15 minutes it should be brown, indicated by a strong aroma filling the room. Flip and bake another 5-10 minutes. Overall no more than 20-25 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool before transferring off the baking sheet.

you can also put them in a muffin tin.


     

                     



For the black bean option:











Green Juice Pulp Patties


Pulp from the Beet Green Juice recipe: 1 apple, 1 cucumber, 1 carrot, 1 beet, 1 head pakchoi or lettuce 1 thumb ginger, 2 stalks celery. Run through the juicer and put aside the pulp.

1 cup cooked quinoa
1 small sweet potato or yam, peeled and cooked already
2 squirts Mustard (optional)
2 cloves garlic
2 leaves chive
1 leaf shadon beni (optional)
½ tsp ground turmeric and cumin
1 tsp Pink salt
2 tbs oil


Prep:

Bake sweet potato in foil until cooked through.

Simmer ½ cup of quinoa grains with 1 cup water. Add a few dashes each of salt, turmeric, cumin, ground ginger to taste.


Method:

Mash cooked quinoa and baked potato together in large bowl.

In food processor, mix pulp, garlic and chive. Add a little water to help if not blending, but I used a spoon to keep it going as the pulp is very dry and resistant to the processor.

Add the pulp to the bowl and add all seasonings, oil and mustard. Mash well together.

On a greased flat baking sheet place patties that are fashioned by hand. Should make about 6-8. I lightly coated the top of each patty with more oil.

Bake for 10-15 minutes on first side and another 10 minutes on the other side, or until both sides are well browned.




 


 



Sweet Potato Fritters/Patties


The sweet potato fritters can be made at any size, to be big and flat like patties or small and flat like fritters. They have that spongy/goey texture of pumpkin fritters which I think is a change from the channa patties. The flavour is plantain and cumin with the after taste of the sweet potato. They go well with the channa or black bean burgers! Make them small for appetizers for guests and have a cashew sauce to dip them in! They smell like traditional Bajan fishcakes when baking to me!


3 small - medium or 3 ½ cups of grated sweet potato
½ an onion
2 ripe plantains small-medium sized or 1 enormous
12 tbs spelt or other  flour like almond
1 tsp flax meal
3 leaves chive
3 pimentos
2 clove garlic
1 thumb ginger
½ tsp pink or sea salt
½ tsp turmeric, cumin
1 tbs water
2 tbs olive oil

Flat baking tray
Spatula
Large bowl

blender


Method:

Grease flat cookie sheets or pizza pans

Peel and grate potatoes and onion into large bowl.

Blend up plantain with flax meal, chive, pimento, garlic, ginger, olive oil and water

In a big bowl add plantain mixture, flour, salt and ground seasonings to sweet potato

Mix and with a big spoon, scoop onto baking sheet. Use back of spoon to flatten into a circular shape.

Bake for 15 minutes on each side or until golden brown on each side. Oven should be at a low-medium heat.

  

 Hope you enjoy! Please send some pictures to italpeople@gmail.com if you try these recipes, or tag me on IG @italpeople. Send me your recipes and pictures to be included in the blog!

 Ila Addis

Nine Moon Cycle Juices

Here are a few of my juice recipes that can help reduce PMS and painful, heavy periods!


MOON CYCLE PREPARATION


Nine is the sacred goddess and yonic number. The following nine coldpressed juices will not only boost the body with essential vitamins and minerals, but detox the womb of mucus and other cramp-causing dis-ease. Drink the week before and during the period for best results, if not every day.


Coldpressed Womb Juice





3 beets
2 stalks celery
1 carrot (optional)
1 apple/1 pear
5 leaves or 1 head of greens (lettuce, kale)
1 thumb ginger
leaves dandelion greens (optional)

Run through juicer after washing thoroughly and removing seeds and cores



Coldpressed Solar Senses

2 stalks and leaves of celery

2 carrots (optional)

1 tsp flax oil
1 thumb ginger
3 thumbs turmeric
4-6 oranges, juice extracted.

star fruit (optional)

greens (optional)

Juice oranges separately. Juice the other ingredients and then combine with orange juice.



Glow Juice
¼ pineapple
1 large beet
1 apple
3 stalks celery
1 thumb ginger
2 leaves kale
5 leaves lettuce or 1 head

Wash thoroughly. Remove stems, cores and seeds, run through the juicer.

This juice is sweet and delicious!

OR

3 beets
2 oranges
1 large carrot
3 cucumbers
thumb ginger

Run beet, ginger, carrot and cucumbers through the juicer. extract orange juice separately and combine.

Green Dream

3 large cucumbers
2-3 apples
1 cup pineapple (optional)
3 kale
5 lettuce (or 1 head)
2 stalks celery
1 cup organic spinach
1 thumb ginger
1 bunch sweet basil or other mint
½ a large lemon or 1 small lime

Remove seeds and cores and run through the juicer after a thorough wash.



Citrus Ginger Drink

4-6 or more ripe oranges, juice extracted
1 ripened grapefruit
4 of any other type of juicy citrus like tangerines etc.
Half thumb ginger, peeled and grated


Method:
Choose citrus that is soft to touch to get the most juice. Smell them to make sure they are not sour.

Use a citrus juice extracting machine or hand to extract juice.

Mix together, and allow to draw while chilling. Strain off ginger pieces if desired

Serve chilled to cleanse body of mucus rejuvenate and awaken the body and mind.

Spring Cleaning Juice

2-3 Apples or kiwi
1 large Cucumber
1 Lemon, juice extracted
1 grapefruit juice extracted
1-2 oranges juice extracted
1 stalk Celery
4-6 leaves of greens
¾ cup coconut water


Extract seeds and cores after washing thoroughly.
Blend thoroughly to make a smoothies or use a juicer to make coldpressed.



Healing Womb

6 + strawberries
1 cup Beet juice
1 handful greens
1 stalk celery
1 tsp dandelion greens/powder or spirulina


Method:

To make the beet juice, using a Nutribullet, blend one beet with enough water to fill up to the max line on the large cup of the Nutribullet. Strain the puree from the juice. Add all the other ingredients and blend again.

Ironade



Do you have a low blood count? So you suffer with anemia, fibroids or bad periods? Are you feeling lethargic, faint, dizzy, or just out of it? My Ironade is sure to help boost you up! Drink this to make yourself feel better and improve your blood. Might I add it is quite thirst quenching and you can use it to substitute pasteurized juices!

½ tsp blackstrap molasses
13 -16 ounces water
½ a small lime or 2 tsp lemon/lime juice


Method:
Use a spoon to stir or place in a bottle and shake. I usually make mine directly into a small water bottle then shake it up. Use half cold half room temperature water if drinking immediately, otherwise chill a little before consumption. Too cold and the molasses will be harder to dissolve.

However, please note that Ironade should NOT be consumed on a daily basis because molasses is strong in sugar and iron and therefore can boost the iron and sugar levels in the body which is NOT good. Too much iron can affect the liver. Therefore drink when you are expecting your period or even once a week for the most otherwise.

Ila’s Womb Juice: I-Juice

The Womb Juice is a juice I created for my womb, to heal myself from monthly moon cycle issues mainly cramping and heavy flow. It works because it strengthens and builds up the blood and energy levels. My Kingman finds it refreshing and rejuvenating after the gym or coming in from a hot day. For us, it not only refreshes but soothes cravings for sweet sugary juices.

Drink this juice daily for overall health. But for dealing with the womb, drink it the seven days before and during the womb cycle. This juice is so forgiving, that if you have days of eating poorly – foods that will negatively affect the moon cycle such as dairy and white flour - you can still ease a painful period. You can even drink it abundantly a couple days before your cycle and still feel relief. Beets are rich in calcium, iron, potassium and even protein which altogether will boost the body in time for blood loss.

You may use a juicer to make the juice, which will require more beets. I prefer to use a blender and plenty water to dilute, and then strain it to make a full jug. Beets can be well diluted.

If you have a Nutribullet, your juice will be richer and sweeter. The blender works fine but it doesn’t blend the beet down to very fine puree like the Nutribullet, thus extracting as much juice as possible . The Nutribullet can only make about 16 oz out of one large beet but the juice is richer, allowing you to make a fresh jar of juice each day. 

Ideally 7 large beets for 7 days is what you will need. If you wish to dilute the 16 oz to make 1 litre you can but it won’t be as rich in taste. Basically, you make the amount you can based on the jug you are using and the size of your blender. You can use as many beets as you wish and make your juice as large as you wish. The more water, the more beets, or the less water the more concentrated the juice.

To make this drink you need:

2 beets or 1 really big one
1 full large thumb ginger
½ a lemon/lime, juice extracted
16 oz to 1 litre water (depending on the size of your blender and jug)
A large bowl
1 jug or mason jar (16 oz-1 litre)
Strainer
Blender.

Method:
Boil water and allow to cool until it is only slightly warm, or use drinking water.

Peel the beets and ginger. Cut into chunks. Blend them with half a blender full of the water, or fill water up to maximum line on the large cup of the Nutribullet.

Using a strainer, pour into a large bowl. You will press out the beet puree/pulp with a spoon. Then use the clean strainer again and pour from the bowl into the storage jug. In other words, strain twice.

Extract the juice of the lemon or lime and add to the beet-ginger juice at this point.

Chill and drink daily!

You can drink any of these juices just to maintain basic daily health, for man or wombman.

Blessed Love

Ila