Food blogger Yena’s healthy creations are buzzing: Get recipes here

0
406

Yena Mgobhozi lives for good, wholesome and tasty food. She’s a recipe developer, blogger and health food enthusiast. Welcome to Your Kitchen is Your New Gym!

Yena is young. When speaking about the HEALTHY future of young people in Bloem (and beyond), she has stars in her eyes. Following her own struggles with weight and health issues, Yena is determined to share her meal ideas and inspiration with others.

She was raised in Bloemfontein by parents who are traditionally in touch with their Zulu roots. “My parents did not want my siblings and me to lose our knowledge of our culture when we moved from KwaZulu-Natal to the Free State. So, my mother would prepare
countless Zulu traditional meals for the whole family. She was never afraid to experiment and break boundaries with her food. This is where I developed my love for cooking.”

Yena studied Hospitality Management at the CUT’s Hotel School, completed her BTech in Hospitality Management, and this year did a post graduate certificate in General Safety Management at Unisa.

Her affair with good food only began in 2016 when she lost 20kg in the space of one year. “I was in my final year at varsity when my health took a turn for the worst. I started having severe health problems. I was also diagnosed with heart palpitations at a young age, and had respiratory problems.” She decided that she’d had enough of being unhealthy, and started exercising and eating clean, nutritious and wholesome food.

“This is where the idea of creating Kitchen New Gym was born and a food blogger/recipe developer was formed. I now develop recipes that are easy to follow, taste amazing and most importantly, are nutritious. I have been privileged enough to work with two major South African brands, and I am currently developing recipes for Natural Herbs and Spices.” She knew that the only way she would keep the weight off would be by changing her lifestyle. She started to write healthy recipes that could help her lose weight and also combat her cravings. “Those cravings are real! I want my blog to be a platform that will inspire healthy eating among South Africans and, of course, to let them know that weight loss starts in the kitchen and not in the gym.”

Yena is also a firm believer of investing in your community. She has a slot on The Serve on Kovsie FM every Thursday at 6pm. She’s also the co-founder of The Unconventional Woman, which is an outreach programme that aims to assist young girls from underprivileged schools.

“I believe that developing healthy recipes is the foundation of everything I do, professionally and personally.” She shares two of her favourite fruity recipes with us.

For more, go to her blog at www.yourkitchen-newgym.com. 

Yena’s Mango Curry

Preparation time: 20 minutes. Cooking time: 20 minutes. Serves: 3-4

1 large mango
15 ml olive oil
1 medium onion (roughly chopped)
5 ml ginger powder
5 ml ground cumin
5 ml crushed garlic flakes
2.5 ml cinnamon powder
2.5 ml turmeric powder
5 ml onion powder
2.5 ml fennel seeds
1 green chili (finely chopped)
2.5 ml garam masala
Salt and pepper to taste
1 vegetable stock cube
1x 400 g can chickpeas
200 ml coconut cream
4 handfuls of chopped spinach

Peel and roughly chop mango and add to a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth and creamy. Set aside, to be used later. Heat up a pan with oil and add in onion, fry onion until translucent.

To the onion, add in all the spices, fry for 30 seconds to release the flavour of the spices. To the onion and spices, add in mango puree, vegetable stock and ½ cup/ 125 ml water. Cook for 5 minutes until liquid has reduced. Drain and rinse chickpeas, add to the curry mixture
along with coconut cream. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until chickpeas are warmed through and the liquid has thickened slightly. Add in spinach, stir well. Cook until spinach is wilted. Serve the curry over rice with a drizzle of yoghurt and a sprinkle of fresh coriander.

Mixed berry ice cream

Preparation time: 20 minutes. Cooking time: 15 minutes. Serves: 4

1 x 400 ml can full fat coconut milk
180 ml soya cream
125 ml soya milk
20 ml cornflour
5 ml vanilla essence
Pinch of salt
45 ml brown sugar
150 g frozen mixed berries
30 ml brown sugar

In a pot, heat coconut milk and soya cream until it starts to bubble around the edges. Whilst waiting for the milk and cream to heat up, combine soya milk, cornflour, vanilla, salt and 3 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Stir to ensure that there are no lumps. Slowly whisk in cornflour mixture into the heated milk and cream. Cook until the mixture thickens up. The mixture should resemble a thick but pourable custard consistency. Remove from the heat, pour into a bowl and place into the fridge for a few hour or even overnight until the mixture is cold. Pour custard into an ice cream machine and let it churn according to manufacturer’s instructions. The churning should not take more than 40 minutes or until the ice cream forms a soft-serve consistency.

If you are not using an ice cream machine, pour the custard into a shallow freeze proof
container, place into the freezer for 3-4 hours. I would recommend that you stir the ice cream every 30 minutes to break up any frozen sections, so that the ice cream does not form any ice crystals. Do this until the ice cream forms a soft serve consistency.

Meanwhile, place berries and sugar into a small bowl and microwave the berries until the sugar has dissolved and the berries are soft enough to mash. Using a fork or a masher, mash the berries to your desired consistency and place the berry sauce in fridge until cold. Once ice cream has reached soft serve consistency pour the berry sauce over the ice
cream and gently swirl the two mixtures together.

If you are using an ice cream machine transfer the berry ice cream into a freeze-proof container and freeze for 4 hours or overnight. Keep frozen until ready to serve.

Yena Mgobhozi – Your Kitchen is your Gym

Advertisement