Seeds of Power

The humble sesame is rated as one of the world’s healthiest foods, and with much reason! Originating from India, legends state that they were considered a symbol of ‘immortality’.

One of the earliest condiments to be discovered, sesame seeds were also one of the first sources of oil.

While most know that sesame is great for calcium, there are many more reasons to add sesame seeds to your diet –

• Full of Protein
• Good for digestion as they have a high fibre content
• Work to make the skin healthy
• Good for eye health – black sesame seeds are the best for this
• Encourages bone health due to high calcium
• Helps lessen anxiety
• Good for respiratory Health

Tahini Bliss Balls

There are many ways to use sesame seeds. Simply sprinkle them on top of your salads or add them in your baked breads. Garnishing them along with lemon juice on steamed broccoli tastes delicious.

Even the sesame seed paste ‘tahini’ makes a good sandwich spread or a salad dressing. Or just have them added to a seed mix as a mouth freshener….

The Tahini Bliss Balls are really easy to make and can be a good option when a sweet craving arises….

Ingredients :

• 3 cups of amaranth puffs
• 200g of dates, chopped and pitted
• 2 tbsp cocoa
• ½ cup of tahini (sesame butter)
• 50g sunflower seeds
• 100g dried apricots or figs chopped
• 100g sultanas
• 100g walnuts chopped
• 1 cup of dried coconut flakes

Method:
In a large bowl put the dates and cover with boiling water. Leave this to soak for half-an-hour. Strain the water off the dates into a separate bowl and mash them slightly.

Don’t throw the date water away because you may need to add this to the mix if it becomes too dry to work with although the mix should remain firm. Add to the dates the tahini, cocoa, fruit, nuts and seeds and mix.

Pour this over the amaranth puffs. Mix well and then roll handfuls of the mixture into balls, compacting them together by squeezing a little. This is done easier with wet hands. Then roll each ball in the coconut and refrigerate.

By: Dr Nandita Shah