Spice spice baby | A list of my favorite spices + an easy dinner recipe

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Ciao everybody and welcome back to another nutrition blog post! As the painfully punny title indicates, this week is about spices and how to use them to maximum advantage (both health-wise and flavor-wise) in your cooking. As everyone’s spice selection is highly personal, the following are just those that I use most often to create the bulk of my favorite dishes. With these, I can make curries, stews, broth, rubs for meat, and add some zest to dips like salsa and guacamole. 

So without further ado, here is my list of go-to spices as well as some of their nutritional benefits:

      • Bay leaves. These simple leaves are healthy and versatile as they can be used in your cooking or burned to release a calming scent. As for the nutritional benefits, bay leaves help improve digestion, protect heart health, and are anti-inflammatory. Bay leaves “contain a unique phytonutrient, called parthenolide, which can quickly reduce inflammation and irritation when topically applied to affected areas, such as sore joints or areas affected by arthritis” [1]. Though you can still reap these benefits from simply ingesting the leaf. 

            • You can also burn the leaves which helps improve respiratory function, clears sinuses and releases an aroma that calms the body and mind. 

      • Black pepper. Anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. This vine is used in Ayurveda remedies to treat symptoms like colic, anemia, and diabetes [2]. It’s also important to pair with turmeric as the body needs both to absorb properly.

      • Chili (dried and fresh). Chili is a natural thermogenic meaning it produces heat within the body. It also helps fight inflammation, clears congestion, boosts immunity, and can help to improve cardiovascular health. Use this one in any dish to kick up the heat. I sprinkle it into soups, use it in marinades, on top of veggies, the possibilities are endless. 

      • Coriander/cilantro (dried and fresh). Both dry and fresh varieties of coriander are delicious. The fresh variety is rich in fiber, manganese, iron and magnesium and is wonderful is sauces, dips, or on top of things like curries and guacamole. The dried variety has a sharper taste and is perfect if you don’t have access to fresh coriander but want to add that signature zesty note to a dish. 

      • Curry. Curry is quite nutritious (boosts bone health, aids digestion, and is anti-bacterial) but the main reason it’s on this list is because I use it so much in my cooking. There are many different kinds of curry as well (red curry paste, green curry paste, tandoori curry, etc.) but they all share a deep, rich and warm flavor that transforms any dish. 

      • Cumin. This is a slightly nutty spice that is present in cuisines all over the world. It seems to make for a fabulous base to stews or to kick up the flavor profile of a sauce (I use cumin in both my Spicy Chili Salsa and Favorite Guacamole, two recipes from my cookbook). 

      • Ginger (raw). Ginger is simultaneously spicy and refreshing and I add it to as many things as I can. It’s a wonderful anti-inflammatory spice and helps boost immunity so try to ingest this one as often as you can. 

      • Rosemary (dried and fresh). Rosemary is tied to improved digestion, enhanced memory and concentration, and anti-aging properties. It’s quite versatile in it’s fresh or dried form and I use it in marinades for meats, thrown fresh into stews or broth, or even into tea when I’m feeling a bit under the weather. You can find the recipe for my “get well” tea here. 

      • Thyme (dried and fresh). Thyme is a Mediterranean herb with dietary, medicinal, and ornamental uses. “The flowers, leaves, and oil of thyme have been used to treat a range of symptoms and complaints such as diarrhea, stomach ache, arthritis, and sore throat” [3]. Personally, I love the combination of thyme and lemon so I often use both of them to flavor veggies or meat. 

      • Turmeric (ground and raw). This earthy root is common in many east Asian dishes and adds not only a warm note but also a vibrant orange color to any dish. It also happens to be the active inflammatory-fighting compound present in curry. The one caveat I would say when working with turmeric is to use gloves if you don’t want to stain your fingers orange. 

You may have noticed that a large portion of the spices above are anti-inflammatory and this is intentional. A diet high in anti-inflammatory foods promotes a healthy gut, increased immunity, lower levels of anxiety and depression, and can ward off disease. There has been loads of research pointing to the brain-gut connection and has shown that prolonged inflammation within the body can lead to depression and decreased motivation. This means that your diet could be inhibiting you from working out or making other healthy choices. If you’d like to read more on this, I’ll post an article here. 

Some of the biggest culprits of inflammation are processed sugar, alcohol, processed meats, white bread or pasta, soybean oil and vegetable oil, processed snacks, and many more. If you’d like to see a separate blog post on this with healthy alternatives to each, let me know down below or on instagram and I’ll see what I can do :)

Now, onto a simple recipe for a weeknight dinner that makes use of many of the spices shown above:

Moroccan spiced chicken with garlic bok choy and herbed potatoes

Ingredients:

For the chicken

        • 2 skinless chicken breasts

        • juice from half a lemon

        • Moroccan spice mix (mix of salt, paprika, coriander, pepper, fennel, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.) 

        • salt and pepper to taste

For the potatoes:

        • 500g red russet potatoes, halved

        • 2 tsp ghee

        • 1 tsp dried thyme

        • salt and pepper to taste

For the bok choy:

        • 2 stalks of bok choy, chopped

        • 2 cloves garlic, minced

        • 1 tbsp ghee

        • juice from half a lemon

        • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Score the chicken breasts on one side and cover in the moroccan spice mix and lemon juice. Rub in the mixture with your hands on both sides. Place the chicken on a lined baking sheet for 18-20 minutes or until cooked through.

2. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes for 15-18 minutes or until you can pierce through them easily with a fork. Once cooked, drain and stir in the ghee, thyme and salt and pepper to taste. 

3. In a medium skillet, sauté the garlic in ghee for 2 minutes over medium high heat. Add in the bok choy and reduce the heat to medium. Cook covered for 5-8 minutes or until the leaves start to soften*. Squeeze over the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. 

4. Plate up the chicken, potatoes and bok choy and serve with a side of sliced avocado for a healthy serving of fat. 

Enjoy!

Recipe notes:

* I prefer my bok choy slightly crunchy so I sauté mine until it’s just tender but still has some bit to it. Feel free to cook yours here however you prefer, though. 

Stay tuned this Thursday as I’ll be uploading a Youtube video on these spices, how to use them in your cooking and show how to make the recipe above.

What are your favorite spices? Any that I left out here that you would recommend trying out? What is your go-to weeknight recipe? Please let me know down below or on my Instagram because I love trying new things :)

See you all here next week!

xoxo,

Alexandra 

Sources:

1. Staughton, John. “Top 8 Benefits of Bay Leaves.” Organic Facts, 18 Feb. 2019, www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/herbs-and-spices/bay-leaves.html.

2. Rolland, Melanie. “6 Health Benefits of Black Pepper You Don't Know About.” GuideDoc, 27 Feb. 2015, guidedoc.com/health-benefits-of-black-pepper.

3. Nordqvist, Christian. “Thyme: Benefits, History, and Forms.” Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, 23 Aug. 2018, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/266016.php.