Issue 167

Fredrik Aarnes - better known as Fred the Chef - has cooked for the stars: stars of MMA, stars of music too. Here he introduces a fight camp dish full of healthy nutrition.

If you can give a fighter everything they need in one meal, you’re saving them a lot of trouble. You may not have heard of using yam, but after trying the fantastic recipe for this knockout cuisine, you’ll be ready and raring to get into the cage. That’s because cooked yam gives 27g of carbs per 100g – perfect for pre-training. Plus, combined with the spring onions, it’ll help you get the vitamins you need to make bones stronger and wounds heal quicker. Great for weary warriors.

Also, my famous ‘octagon salsa’ is thrown in to give the meal that extra Muay Thai-style kick every great fight camp dish requires. My special salsa is a tour de force when it comes to benefitting your health. I’ve thrown in some mangoes, as they’re a great source of vitamin A (essential for your immune system), whilst sweet cherries add a fiber-full sweet strike. Throw in avocado and sugar peas to finish the job and you’ve got a ton of nutrition-packed goodness on your plate.

SLAM YAM

You'll need:

  • 1 large yam
  • 6 spring onions
  • 1 fresh clove of garlic
  • Rocket salad
  • Lollo Rosso lettuce
  • Radicchio

What to do:

1) Peel, slice and chop the yam into squares. Add to a pot and cover well with water, bring to the boil then simmer until soft.

2) Slice, mix the lettuce and radicchio leaves. 

3) Warm the cooked yam with a splash of olive oil in a pan over a medium heat.

4) Chop the spring onion, garlic and chili and add to the pan. Fry for two to three minutes.

OCTAGON SALSA

You'll need:

  • 1 mango
  • 1 avocado
  • 1 red onion
  • 1 tomato
  • Handful of sugar peas
  • Handful of sweet cherries

What to do:

1) De-skin and de-core the mango, then cut the remainder into six. Remove the tomato stalk and chop, before halving the cherries.

2) Spoon out the flesh of the avocado, then crack open the sugar peas by removing the ‘string.’

3) Finally, chop the onion and combine all ingredients in a bowl with olive oil.

YAMS

Be careful selecting yam. ‘Yam’ is often used interchangeably with sweet potato but the yam used here is the true variety. Look for a large brown ‘tuber’ that has a tough ‘bark’ on the outside to be sure you’re picking up the real deal. 

LOLLO ROSSO

Tender yet crisp, this leaf contains an antioxidant called quercetin, which has been linked to reducing the risk of heart disease. 

AVOCADO

A whole avocado provides 30g of good unsaturated fat (and large dose of fiber) with only 4g of bad saturated fat. That 30g will help make your most important motor of all, your heart, keeping on like clockwork.


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