Coriander Pesto

Now that you have made high-quality brown rice crackers, you need some high-quality dips to go with them. Here is the first of several excellent dips that are favourites for lunches and snacks, as well as entertaining. This recipe is known as the “chelation dip”, because coriander has been proven to chelate toxic metals from our bodies in a relatively short period of time. This recipe is a great way to eat lots of coriander and enjoy it. It is a powerful tissue cleanser, due to the combination of ingredients. 

Two teaspoons of this pesto daily for three weeks is purportedly enough to increase the urinary excretion of mercury, lead and aluminium, thus effectively removing these toxic metals from our bodies.

The pesto is delicious with brown rice crackers, crudités such as carrot and cucumber sticks and on baked potatoes and pasta.

Ingredients:

125 mls (1/2) cup cold pressed flaxseed oil (you will find this in the refrigerator in the Health Food section).

1 teaspoon salt - more or less depending on taste. Try less first. The pesto will taste very ‘green’ if there is not enough salt

2 bunches coriander leaves

1/2 bunch parsley, preferably the Italian flat leafed variety

½ cup Brazil nuts

½ cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds). Make sure these look green and fresh – they have become rancid when they go brown.

2-4 cloves garlic – optional. Use more or less depending on taste and size of garlic. 2 is usually enough. The pesto will have a nuttier flavour if you precook the garlic either by baking or steaming in a small amount of water.

Some lemon juice – maybe 1 tablespoon.

Method:

Make sure that the parsley and the coriander are well washed in at least 3 changes of water. It is very disappointing to find grit in the pesto! Dry well. Chop roughly, especially the stems. Aim for approximately equal qvolumes of parsley and coriander. You can make the pesto without the parsley, too.
Place the nuts and pepitas in the food processor bowl, and whizz till finely chopped. Add the oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt and process till smooth and creamy.
Add the green leaves - you might need to do this in several stages - and process till well combined. Add a little more oil if needed to in order to create a smooth spreadable consistency.
Store in covered container in the fridge. When refrigerated stays fresh for a few days.

Serving suggestions:

Excellent when used in the usual way as an accompaniment for pasta. However, if heated too much it will develop a fishy flavour due to the presence of the same essential fatty acids which occur in fish.
A small amount can be mixed with olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice for a wonderful salad dressing.
Adds pizzazz to sandwiches.
Serve with crackers and or sliced carrots, cucumbers, etc, for a quick and nutritious snack.