Packing powerful punches from ackee, basil and sunflower seeds, this sauce is a nutrient powerhouse! Try it on pasta or as a spread on a sandwich or in a wrap; it’s the base sauce used on the Ital Enuh Keeza; don’t you just love when healthy and delicious collide?
Ackees have been found to be rich in potassium, magnesium, calcium and sodium. They contain all the essential amino acids (with arginine being the predominant one). They’re also rich in linoleic, oleic, palmitic and stearic fatty acids. These have been shown to reduce risk of coronary heart disease when included in a balanced, healthy diet.
But this pesto doesn’t stop there, there is the added benefits from the basil and sunflower seeds . I tool the the extra step of soaking the sunflower seeds. This is to get better access to the nutrients they provide. Check out this article for an in-depth explanation of why this is good and how to do it.
I ended up drying my sunflower seeds after soaking them as I had the time. But you don’t have to dry the seeds for this application. If you’re planning to use up all the sauce right away you can forgo the drying. Alternately, you could forgo the drying altogether. In that case, freeze the sauce in smaller portions. That way you can thaw and use only what you need each time.
What do you think? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below. If you try this or any of the recipes from this site be sure to #amazingackee and @amazingackee so I can see your posts across social media.
Until next time, thanks for stopping by 😊
[1] Veronica M. Dossou, Jacob K. Agbenorhevi, Francis Alemawor, and Ibok Oduro, “Physicochemical and Functional Properties of Full Fat and Defatted Ackee (Blighia sapida) Aril Flours.”American Journal of Food Science and Technology, vol. 2, no. 6 (2014): 187-191. doi: 10.12691/ajfst-2-6-3.
Basil Ackee Pesto
Ingredients
- 2 cups Basil tightly packed
- 1 cup Parboiled ackee
- 1/2 cup Sunflower seeds soaked, drained and dried
- 2 to 8 cloves of Garlic finely sliced
- 2 tbsps Oil
- Juice of 1 Lemon
- Salt to taste
- 2 tbsps to 1/4 cup Nutritional yeast
Instructions
- Heat oil and saute the garlic cloves till softened (this is just to cut the bite of the garlic, if you don’t mind a more intense flavour you can skip this step and omit the oil completely)
- Combine all ingredients (including the sauteed garlic) in a food processor and pulse till desired consistency is achieved (in cases were a lower range is given for an ingredient, start with the smaller amount and work your way up depending on your taste)
- Adjust salt
- Enjoy
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