Devon School of Yoga Retreat Recipes

Food, food,
glorious food.

On the Devon School of Yoga courses we always include a residential experience for our students. Part of this experience is to enjoy wholesome, nourishing, quality, freshly prepared food.

Andrea Guest, the school’s residential cook has a growing reputation for her love of producing delicious, nutritious and balanced retreat recipes.

Some of the produce used is organically grown by Andrea and Duncan. With the increasing popularity and recognition of the health benefits of a balanced vegetarian diet, we feel this is an important aspect of the yoga holistic lifestyle.

Due to the popularity of Andrea’s dishes she is often asked for numerous recipes and is in the process of collating them into a book.

Below are just a few Retreat Recipes for you to enjoy.

Leek and Pea Soup.

Serves 4/6

Ingredients
1 x med to large brown onion (peeled and roughly chopped)
A little cooking oil (approx 1 tablespoon)
4 x largish leeks (approx 550gms after they’ve been trimmed and sliced, tough outer edges removed)
800ml vegetable stock (I use kallo yeast free vegetable stock cubes – 1.5 cubes)
2 cups (approx 300gms) frozen peas
150ml soya milk
Black pepper and salt if needed

Method
Fry the onion in the oil over a gentle heat without browning until it softens – a few minutes. Wash the trimmed and sliced leeks and add to the pan stirring to coat in the oil and onion. Cover the pan and cook over a gentle heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occaisionally. Cover with the vegetable stock and bring to the boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes or so until the leeks are tender. Add the peas to the pan bring back to the boil and simmer for about 3 or 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and blend using a hand blender. Lastly add the soya milk and blend a bit more. (If too thick add a little more water or soya milk). Season with black pepper and a little salt if required.

Leek and Pea Soup Devon School of Yoga Retreat Recipe
Wild Rice and Edamame Bean Salad

Brown Rice, Hijiki and Edamame (Soya) Bean Salad.

Serves approx 4

Ingredients
1/2 cup short grain brown rice (approx 125gms)
11/4 cups (just over 300ml) water
6gms hijiki seaweed
1/2 cup of apple juice (approx 120ml)
1/2 teaspoon brown rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ume plum seasoning, plus a few drops
1 teaspoon tamari
11/2 teaspoons lemon juice
11/2 teaspoons fresh ginger juice
Approx 1 cup (130gms) frozen soya beans cooked
Approx 1 cup (130gms) cucumber chopped into small pieces
Just under 1 cup (100gms) radish thinly sliced

Method

Brown rice:
Wash the rice and leave to soak in a pan of cold water for approx 1 hour.
Drain and place in a small saucepan with about 11/4 cups just over 300ml water.
Cover the pan, bring to the boil then turn down to a medium heat and simmer in a covered pan, checking occasionally, for about 1/2 an hour until all the water has been absorbed and the rice is tender.
Transfer the cooked rice to a bowl and leave to cool.

Hijiki:
Soak the hijiki in a bowl of cold water for about 45mins – 1 hour. It will expand!
Drain and place in a small saucepan with the apple juice, rice vinegar, ume plum seasoning, tamari, lemon juice and ginger juice.
Bring to the boil and then turn down heat and simmer uncovered for about 15 – 20minutes.
Leave to cool, drain off any excess liquid.

Salad:
Bring a pan of water to the boil and add the edamame (soya) beans, cook for about 5 mintutes, drain and leave to cool.
Slice the cucumber lengthways and then each half lengthways again then chop each quarter into pieces.
Trim the ends of the radishes and slice thinly.
Put the radish and cucumber into a bowl, sprinkle a few drops of ume plum seasoning over (not too much as it is very salty!) and mix.

Finally add the hijiki to the rice and mix in, then add the cucumber / radish mix and the soya beans.

Serve with green salad leaves and a tahini dressing.

Date, Almond
and Coconut Balls.

Makes approximately 18

Ingredients

50gms Almonds
25gms Sunflower seeds
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
170 gms medjool dates (stones removed)
Unsweetened desiccated coconut

Method
Place almonds, sunflower seeds and cocoa powder in food processor and process for about 30 seconds.
Roughly chop the dates and add to the food processor.
Process until the mixture begins to clump together to form a ball and turn out onto a board.
Place some desiccated coconut into a bowl, divide the date and almond mixture into equal portions (approx 18) and shape into balls.
Roll each ball in the coconut to coat.
Refridgerate for a bit to firm (optional.)

Store in an airtight container in the fridge

Date, Almond and Coconut balls.

Black Eyed Beans with Mushrooms, Roasted Squash & Spinach.

Ingredients

Approx 450gms squash, cut into chunks (approx 2 cm)
Rapeseed oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 small cinnamon stick
1 medium onion, diced
250gms mushrooms, quartered
3/4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin black eyed beans, drained, reserve liquid
A few handfuls of spinach
Handful of chopped fresh coriander

Method

Heat a small amount of oil in a large pan/wok, fry the cumin seeds and cinnamon stick for a few seconds, so they sizzle.

Add the onion and cook, stirring, over a medium heat until softened. Stir in the mushrooms and cook over a medium heat for a few minutes.

Stir in the spices and the garlic, coat the mushrooms and onion, add a splash of water if mixture is too dry. After a minute or so, add the tomatoes and a bit more water, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add salt to taste.

Add the black eyed beans and some of the reserved liquid if mixture seems a little thick. Add the spinach and squash, cook for a further 5 mins or so to wilt the spinach and heat through squash. Add the fresh coriander.

Serve with brown basmati rice (or quinoa or buckwheat as an alternative) and raitha and chutney on the side.