Dare to cook for love; a very special Valentine recipe.

by Marlies Dekkers
How a brown, mushy Valentine dish won my heart, and what I’ll be cooking for my lucky Valentine this year.

I wasn’t exactly expecting caviar and a 20.000 dollar bottle of Crystal, but I also wasn’t quite prepared for the brown mush my future husband put in front of me. “Happy Valentine!” he said with a proud grin and waited. I took a bite of what appeared to be a nut loaf. ‘Hmm, it’s actually quite flavorful,” I said. “What spices did you use?” He refused to tell me. “It’s a secret lust inspiring recipe. Pure magic.” He leaned over to kiss me. We made love that night, and every Valentines after that he would make that brown mushy dish for me.

One year, I walked into the kitchen and caught him hiding a cookbook under a tea towel. When he left the kitchen, I couldn’t resist a peek. ‘Cooking for love. Love potions, aprhodisiacs and their secret recipes’, by Max Roche. Aha! Each ingredient of my husband’s seductive nut loaf–pine nuts, nutmeg, ginger etc.- was actually an aphrodisiac! But before I could memorize the recipe, he came back in.

It got me thinking: did these ingredients really work, or had it been my husband’s steadfast belief in the magic of the dish? I thought that it was a bit like love itself; you have to believe in it. Once you stop believing, it’s over. Then again, some things are forever. We split up 17 years after that first Valentine together, but our daughter Zilver (16 his year) will always be the living proof of the love we shared.

So this year, in honour of that love, I decided to find a fun, healthy alternative for that weird but wonderful mushy dish. Something crammed with lust inspiring goodness. Et voilà, Sexy Scoops! Dare to cook for love! Just don’t forget: never show your lover the recipe. Secrecy is a very potent aphrodisiac.

Sexy Scoops

Ingredients:
• 1 cup toasted sesame seeds
• ½ cup golden raisins or regular raisins
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger powder
• 2 inches fresh ginger root, peeled and chopped
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1½ teaspoons ground cardamon
• 2½ tablespoons ghee or coconut oil

Method: Place all the ingredients except for the sesame seeds in a mixer and wiz until smooth. With your hands roll the mixture into small balls. Then pour the toasted sesame seeds on a chopping board and roll the balls in it to top. Place the balls on a plate and refrigerate until hard.

Adapted from LA Yoga

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