Three Nutritious Cold Weather Recipes

Get creative with moringa-based recipes perfectly suited for the winter season

On cold days there is nothing better than a blanket and something hot in a bowl. As the days shorten, these are the three moringa recipes we make most — a quick soup, a chili worth making a double batch of, and a hot chocolate that is better than it has any right to be.

Moringa leaf is a nutrient-dense green: a source of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and antioxidants, and an easy way to get something leafy into a season when fresh greens are expensive and uninspiring. It won't do anything dramatic for you, but it will make a bowl of soup meaningfully more nutritious than it was.

One rule before you start. Add moringa powder off the heat, at the end of cooking. Boiling it dulls the color to a flat olive and pushes the flavor toward bitterness. Every recipe below is written that way, and it is the single biggest difference between moringa cooking that works and moringa cooking that doesn't.

Moringa Soup (serves 1 · 25 minutes)

The easiest possible introduction to cooking with moringa. Its slightly peppery, vegetal flavor suits a spiced vegetable soup better than almost anything else.

What you need

1 tbsp Miracle Tree Superfood Powder
1 carrot, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
A small handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp groundnut oil
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
A pinch of ground turmeric
1 cup water

How to make it

Heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for 3–4 minutes, until the onion is translucent.
Add the carrot and tomato. Cook for 5 minutes, until tender, then mash them roughly against the side of the pan.
Stir in the salt, pepper, turmeric, cumin and chili powder and cook for 30 seconds — blooming the spices in the oil is what gives the soup its depth.
Pour in the water, cover, and simmer over medium-low heat for 10–15 minutes.
Take the pan off the heat. Stir in the superfood powder and let it sit for two minutes, then stir again. Check the seasoning and garnish with cilantro.

Make it heartier: add a handful of red lentils with the water and simmer for 20 minutes instead of 15.

Vegetarian Chili (serves 4–6 · 45 minutes)

Chili is the ideal cold-weather recipe: comforting, forgiving, and better on the second day. A meatless version is lighter than the usual, and the beans and moringa between them make it genuinely protein-rich — moringa leaf contains all nine essential amino acids, which very few leafy greens do.

What you need

3–4 tsp Miracle Tree Superfood Powder
1 large red onion, finely chopped
1 bell pepper, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
4 large tomatoes (see below), or one 14 oz can of chopped tomatoes
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
5 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1 bay leaf
2 cups water
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
1 tsp lime juice
1 stalk cilantro, freshly chopped

For the tomato base

Boil the tomatoes for 5–10 minutes, cool them, and slip off the skins. Blend the skinned tomatoes to a rough purée. A can of good chopped tomatoes is an entirely respectable shortcut on a weeknight.

How to make it

Warm the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the bell pepper, carrots and celery and cook until they begin to soften, 6–8 minutes.
Add the garlic and all the spices and the bay leaf. Stir for a minute, until fragrant.
Pour in the tomato purée and the drained beans, add the water, and stir well. Cover and simmer for 20–25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
If it looks watery, uncover and let it reduce for a few minutes. Mash some of the beans against the side of the pan with a potato masher for a thicker texture.
Off the heat, stir in the superfood powder, then the lime juice and cilantro. Remove the bay leaf, taste, and add salt as needed.

Keeps for four days in the fridge and freezes well for three months. The flavor improves overnight.

Moringa Hot Chocolate (serves 1 · 10 minutes)

Cocoa and moringa are both rich in polyphenols, and — more to the point — chocolate covers moringa's green note better than any other ingredient we've tried. This is the recipe to make for someone who insists they don't like moringa.

What you need

1 tsp Miracle Tree Superfood Powder
3 oz sweetened dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup milk — whole, coconut, soy or oat
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
Marshmallows, optional

How to make it

Warm about a quarter of the milk with the chopped chocolate in a small pan over low heat, stirring until the chocolate has melted completely. A microwave in 20-second bursts works too.
Whisk the superfood powder into the melted chocolate until smooth — the thick base is much easier to whisk lump-free than thin milk.
Pour in the remaining milk slowly, whisking constantly, and warm through until steaming. Don't let it boil.
Stir in the cinnamon, vanilla and salt. The salt is small but it is what makes the chocolate taste like more than sugar.
Pour into a mug, top with marshmallows if you like, and drink it somewhere warm.

If you'd rather skip the measuring altogether, a cup of moringa herbal tea does the same job with no washing up — caffeine-free, so it works late in the evening, with Green Tea and Earl Grey the two caffeinated exceptions in our range.

We value your safety and encourage you to practice safe food preparation habits. Please visit our Food Safety resource for more information before trying to recreate any of our recipes.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Always consult a healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, or managing a medical condition.