The Top 10 Foods You Should Be Trying Right Now…

Where can you find the most delicious, flavour-packed food? In your vegie patch! These nutritious, kilojoule-friendly ingredients are the favourites of Maeve O’Meara, host of new SBS series Food Safari Earth (airing Thursdays at 8pm), in which she discovers the most delicious ways people are using vegies, from home cooks to five star restaurants. You can be inspired to push out your own repertoire…

Find recipes for each of these ingredients on SBSFood Online over coming weeks.

Bullhorn peppers

These look like long, pendulous capsicums but they taste sweeter while having a little bit of chilli-heat. “We all talk about those moreish umami flavours like tomato pasta and parmesan cheese – a paste made from bullhorn peppers is a flavour bomb!” says Maeve.

Mulberries

In season over coming weeks and throughout summer. For Maeve, they’re at their finest when squeezed through muslin and cooked up with sugar to make a Lebanese cordial. Mulberries are a rich source of antioxidants, Vitamin C and even iron!

Pumpkin leaves

“They’re like a sweetish spinach,” explains Maeve. “A Zimbabwean woman we featured on the show adds the leaves and tendrils to a tomato and onion base, then adds peanut butter…it’s just delicious!” And it’s high in protein and fibre, too.

Cauliflower

“Parboil the florets and then fry them and then they become nutty and sweet – they taste nothing like plain boiled cauliflower. And they’re great with a Lebanese tarator (yoghurt-based dip).” Rich in vitamins, just one cup will give you three quarters of your daily Vitamin C.

Grey zucchini

Speckled and lighter in colour than green zucchini, and are often said to have with a nicer flavour. “They’re great in multi-textured salads. Or put them while into a grill basket and cook over charcoal until charred slightly – barbecuing brings out the sugars and makes them taste deliciously sweet,” says Maeve. They’re high in fibre and contains potassium which is good for heart and muscle health.

Baby leeks

Once again put them in a grill basket and barbecue. Barbecuing vegies gives them a whole new level of flavour. And they’re an excellent source of Vitamin K which is key for bone health.

Pomegranates

“We’re seeing these fruits being used more, and in clever ways,” observes Maeve.” They’re beautiful in salads and they also make delicious molasses.” If you find that getting the jewel-like red seeds (arils) out of the fruits is too messy, then you can buy the seeds alone in the freezer section of the supermarket. Pomegranates have three times the antioxidants of red wine or green tea.

Artichokes

“A lot of people aren’t sure what to do with them. They’re extraordinary in salads and renowned chef Peter Gilmore flash fries the leaves so they have a really nice crunchiness as well as a beautiful artichoke flavour,” says Maeve. Artichokes are coming into season now and are high in antioxidants and a good source of fibre.

Daikon radishes

These long thin vegetables are used in kimchi. There’s a growing popularity in preserving and fermenting kimchi at home for its probiotic health benefits. A Korean friend steams them in a bamboo steamer, chops them into cubes then stir fries them – and it tastes like a carb-loaded unhealthy snack and yet it’s just a radish!” says Maeve. Radishes contain Vitamin C and copper, which links collagen and elastin, adding elasticity to your skin.