Fresh & Clean - Yoga & Recipe with Karen

Today's Eat-Clean Diet Vegetarian Cookbook guest blogger is Karen Young, MPH. She's a yoga beauty and teacher with a delicious vegetarian recipes & tips to share on her site. She lives outside of New York City with her husband and two children. 

Karen showing off her yoga skills. 

I have an extraordinary life, but before I read The Eat-Clean Diet, I didn’t have the energy to enjoy it. With the help of Tosca’s books I’ve had amazing physical changes and remarkable improvements in my health, mood, and energy level.  These changes gave me the boost I needed to pursue a career as a yoga instructor.  Meat and animal products suddenly stopped appealing to me so it was a natural progression to avoid them.  I have found that I can be wholly satisfied with a plant-based diet, and enjoy the calm energy I receive from these foods.

People frequently ask me to help them find a good source of plant-based protein.  The recipe below uses inexpensive and delicious Urad Dal (Split Matpe Beans) - small white beans that are nutritional powerhouses containing 120 calories, 24 grams of protein, and 16 grams of fiber per ½ cup.  I use traditional Indian spices on these beans in the winter, but when the weather warms, I use farm fresh veggies and herbs from my garden to enhance flavor, color and texture.

Dal Salad 

Ingredients
2 cups Urad Dal
2 carrots, shredded
2 cups red cabbage, shredded
Juice of 2 lemons
¼ cup rice vinegar
Salt to taste
3 Tablespoons finely chopped shallot
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh herbs such as chives, parsley, cilantro, basil, and/or rosemary.

Methods
1. Pick through Dal and rinse until water runs clear.  Add to pot and cover with 5 cups of water and 1 tsp salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, until beans are quite soft and creamy looking, about 40 minutes.
2. Place beans and vegetables into a large bowl.  To make the dressing, place remaining ingredients to a separate small bowl, and whisk.  Mix dressing into beans and vegetables and chill in refrigerator or at least 2 hours. Serve over fresh crispy greens for a complete meal. Store in a tightly covered container in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Makes 8 heaping 1 cup servings.