Cabbage Steaks with Vegan Beetroot Cream

|Katie Layland

These cabbage steaks are quite a lovely surprise for the taste buds. When roasted, cabbage becomes soft, with crunchy edges and a delicious flavour. The 'steaks' pair perfectly with crispy chickpeas, caramelised leeks and a silky beetroot cream. 

This recipe uses low food chemical ingredients from the Eczema Detox, which centre on foods fantastic for skin health and liver detoxification.  

The health benefits:

Beetroot is an important vegetable for eczema sufferers as it has strong alkalising properties which boost liver detoxification of chemicals. Beetroot is abundant in antioxidants, folate, iron and choline (which helps to prevent fatty liver).  

Cabbage Is an excellent source of vitamin C, manganese and an impressive source of antioxidants. The antioxidants found in cabbage are highly anti-inflammatory, which help to fight systemic inflammation (which can be common in many skin conditions such as eczema). 

NOTES:

If you are following the FID (Food Intolerance Diagnosis program from The Eczema Detox), or are highly sensitive to salicylates, do not include the beetroot cream, or replace with an FID friendly sauce.

Get creative and top the cabbage steaks with your favourite eczema friendly foods.

If you do not tolerate cashews, white beans or tofu may work as a replacement in the beetroot cream.  

INGREDIENTS:

For the cabbage steaks

  • One whole head of white cabbage (small to medium cabbage heads are easier to work with)
  • Two teaspoons of rice bran oil or sunflower oil
  • Four tablespoons of filtered water
  • One teaspoon of garlic powder

For the beetroot cream

  • 2 1/2 tablespoons of finely grated beetroot (we used a microblade)
  • 1/2 cup of raw cashews (soaked)
  • 1/4 teaspoon of quality sea salt
  • 2 fresh cloves of garlic (crushed) or 1-2 teaspoons of garlic powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon of citric acid or pure ascorbic acid
  • 1/2 cup of filtered water

For the toppers

  • One serve of Caramelised Leek Sauce (recipe below)
  • 1 x 200 gram can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
  • 1/4 cup of finely diced chives

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Soak the cashews in boiling water to soften

Remove extra layers from the cabbage and cut a thin layer off the root of the cabbage so it can stand evenly on the chopping board. Place the base of the cabbage on a chopping board. 

Using a sharp knife cut from top to bottom about 1 1/2 cm thick slices, this should yield about 5-6 steaks. Place steaks flat on a baking tray or baking dish. 

Mix in a small bowl the water, garlic powder and oil, then using a pastry brush, coat a layer of marinade over both sides of each cabbage steak. 

Place in the oven for about 20 minutes, then very carefully turn the steaks over, brush with extra marinade if needed and cook for another 20 minutes on the opposite side. The outer layers of the cabbage may try to separate while turning over so just put them back in place. 

Keep an eye on the cabbages as each oven is different; the cooking time may vary.

Meanwhile, prepare your toppings

For the beetroot cream

Drain the cashews and blend grated beetroot, garlic, water, citric acid and salt in a high-speed blender until smooth. Adjust taste if needed and set aside in a serving bowl. 

For the caramelised leek sauce 

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a saucepan on medium heat (or use a tablespoon of water).

Finely chop the white parts and palest green parts of a whole leek and sauté the leeks in the saucepan until very soft and slightly golden.

Add 1-2 teaspoons of maple syrup or brown rice syrup and sea salt to taste and cook on low heat for another few minutes until sticky and golden.

Set aside in a serving bowl or plate 

For the chickpeas

Drain and rinse the can of chickpeas and shake off excess water. 

Use the saucepan from the leeks (no need to wash) and place on medium heat. 

Cook the chickpeas either dry or with a small dash of oil and move them around the pan, so they begin cooking on all sides. 

When browning and hot set-aside in a serving bowl or plate 

Bringing it all together

When the cabbage steaks have finished cooking (they should be soft and easy to pierce with a knife), take them to the table along with the other toppings. 

Top the steaks with the leeks, chickpeas, a dollop of beetroot cream and garnish with finely diced chives. 

This dish can be served as it is or alongside your meat of choice such as baked chicken thighs. 

Products 

At Eczema Life, we recommend nutritionist Karen Fischer's low food chemical program (The Eczema Detox) along with additive-free supplements for skin health and wellbeing. Click on the images to view more details:

    

 Food photos and recipe by Katie Layland 

 

The Eczema Toolkit

the holistic way to clear skin

The Eczema Detox is Karen Fischer's latest best-selling eczema manual designed to help you find relief. Through her work she found some patients needed a special program to identify personal triggers, so the FID Program was created. The Eczema Clear Skin Toolkit combines gut health and nutrition with soothing, barrier repair skincare and supplements to calm the itch and support skin repair, the immune system and more. If you’ve tried everything and nothing has worked, this is the skin calming toolkit you've been praying for.

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Eczema Friend

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The low pH eczema cream that helps to relieve itchy skin, red skin rash and mild eczema and dermatitis. Suitable for all types of rashes. It's the cream you'll wish you had tried first.

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Frequently asked questions

Does food allergy trigger eczema?

Food allergy and eczema are closely linked, and allergies can absolutely make eczema worse, but they're often not what starts it in the first place. In fact, research suggests the reverse may be more accurate: eczema itself may come first and increase the risk of developing food allergies, rather than the other way around (Tsakok et al. 2016). One study found that babies with eczema were up to six times more likely to become
sensitised to foods compared to those without eczema. In children with established eczema, up to 66% showed food sensitisation, with confirmed food allergy in up to 81% of cases (Tsakok et al. 2016).

If you or your child has a diagnosed food allergy, those foods should be avoided for now. For additional guidance, the Food Intolerance Diagnosis (FID) Program in The Eczema Detox book can help identify food intolerances that do not show up in allergy tests (see next FAQ).
Do food allergy tests help eczema?

Skin prick tests and other food allergy tests including blood tests and patch tests can be unreliable on their own, so an oral food
challenge (supervised by an allergy specialist if you are prone to anaphylaxis), is the most accurate way to confirm whether you or your child is reacting to a particular food. For additional guidance, the FID Program in The Eczema Detox book can help you to identify your personal triggers.
About the authors

Ren Karen Fischer is a nutritionist, mother of two, and award-winning author of seven books, including the bestsellers The Eczema Diet and The Eczema Detox. Fischer is also a peer-reviewed published researcher, and is currently undertaking eczema research as part of a Master's by Research at Bond University. Combining clinical research with real-world experience, she is dedicated to advancing evidence-based care for eczema.

Nutritionist Bonnie Taylor holds a Bachelor of Health Science degree and helps people with eczema identify their individual triggers through the FID Program. Taylor has worked alongside Fischer for many years and offers nutrition consultations by appointment.