Autumn 2025 Soul Nourishing Day Retreat - Recipes
- Leah Cooper
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Here are the recipes for the meal that was served at the Four Seasons Autumn Soul Nourishing Day Retreat on Sunday 13 April 2025.
Click on the headings below to go to each recipe.
Sprouted Brown Rice
NOTE: Sprouted rice will only work with brown rice as it still has the outer hull covering the internal germ.
Ingredients
1 cup brown rice
First, soak the rice
Wash one cup of brown rice three times to remove dirt and dust.
Cover rice in plenty of water and allow to soak for 24 hours.
The water will start to bubble slightly. This is a good sign and indicates that fermentation is taking place.
Drain and rinse well.
To sprout the rice
Keep drained rice in a sieve over a bowl and cover with a clean tea towel.
Wash the rice twice a day (morning and evening) in plenty of water and allow to drain over the bowl. Cover with tea towel.
Continue this for 1-2 days until little tails can be seen sprouting from the rice grains.
NOTE: The sprouting process will take longer in cooler weather. You can sit the rice in a warm spot in your house to speed up the process.
To cook sprouted rice
Rinse the sprouted rice and place in a saucepan with 1¾ cups water and a pinch of sea salt.
Bring the pot to the boil. Once boiling, cover pot and reduce heat to low. Cook for 50 minutes. DO NOT remove the lid or stir the rice when cooking.
After 50 minutes, shut off the heat and allow the pot to sit for at least 10 minutes before removing the lid. This helps complete the cooking process.
After resting, gently fluff with a fork or stir the rice carefully to mix the grains at the top with the grains at the bottom of the pot.
Eat and enjoy.
Rice with Seeds
Ingredients
2 cups cooked brown rice
1-2 tsp cold pressed sesame oil
1/4 cup spring onions, sliced (white ends)
1-2 tsp mirin
Method
Heat a frypan or wok and add the sesame oil.
Once the oil is hot, add the spring onion and cook, stirring for 1-2 minutes to ensure they don’t burn.
Add the rice to the wok and stir to break up any clumps.
Add mirin and seeds and stir through the rice. Cook for another couple of minutes.
Serve when ready.
Tamari Roasted Sunflower Seeds and Pepitas
Ingredients
1 cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 tbsp tamari
Watch how to make these on YouTube.
Method
Heat a large fry pan over medium heat.
Add seeds and allow to heat up, stirring occasionally as they dry roast. Seeds will start to pop.
Continue to stir or toss the seeds until they are a nice brown colour.
Remove from heat and drizzle tamari over seeds and stir through to coat the seeds in the sauce.
Allow to cool and then store in an airtight jar.
Sprinkle on just about anything, or eat as a snack.
Spiced Cauliflower
Ingredients
1 small or ½ large cauliflower
¼ cup olive oil
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp dried thyme leaves
¼ tsp sea salt
black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
Method
Wash cauliflower, cut into medium sized florets and place in a large mixing bowl.
In a measuring cup, combine the remaining ingredients.
Pour the mixture onto the cauliflower and stir through to coat.
Cover and place cauliflower in the fridge to marinate for at least 1 hour or overnight. You can transfer the cauliflower into a large zip lock bag if you have one.
Spiced Cauliflower and Chickpeas wtih Fresh Herbs
Ingredients
Pre-prepared cauliflower (see recipe above)
1 tin cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Pinch of sea salt
1 tsp mustard
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp cumin
½ cup fresh herbs, chopped (I used a combination of parsley, dill, coriander)
1 tbsp spring onion, sliced (green ends)
½ lemon, juiced
1-2 tbsp olive oil
Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
Line a baking tray with foil or baking paper.
Put marinated cauliflower and chickpeas into the prepared baking tray.
In a measuring jug, combine oil, vinegar, salt, mustard, paprika, and cumin. Pour mixture over cauliflower and chickpeas.
Place in the oven to cook for 20 minutes. Then stir gently and return to over to cook for another 15-20 minutes or until starting to brown nicely.
Remove from the oven. Stir in fresh herbs, spring onion and lemon juice. Drizzle on the olive oil.
Serve with rice and tahini sauce.
Tahini Sauce
Ingredients
1/3 cup tahini
1 tsp umeboshi vinegar (substituted 1/2 tsp minced garlic)
½ lemon, squeezed
Pinch of sea salt
1/4 cup water (or more as needed)
Method
Add all ingredients, except water, to a bowl or mixing jug.
Start to stir it all together and then gradually add water, a tablespoon at a time, to thin out the mixture until desired consistency is reached.
Drizzle sauce over cauliflower and chickpeas.
NOTE: Sauce will thicken slightly if left standing. Simply add a little more water and stir through as needed.
Red Cabbage, Beetroot and Carrot Salad
Ingredients
2 cups finely sliced red cabbage
2 large beetroot, peeled and grated or julienned
2 large carrots, grated or julienned
1/2 red onion, finely sliced
1/2 tsp sea salt
Dressing
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp maple syrup or rice syrup
Pinch sea salt
Method
Mix the red cabbage, beetroot, carrot, onion and salt in a large bowl.
Place a plate over the top and weigh it down with something heavy to put pressure on the salad underneath. Put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, a few hours or even overnight.
In a jar or measuring jug, combine the olive oil, vinegar, maple syrup and salt.
When ready, remove the salad from the fridge. Take the weight off and remove the plate. Pour the dressing over and mix through to evenly distribute.
This salad will keep well in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Apricot and Cashew Bliss Balls
Ingredients
1 cup soft dried apricots, chopped
1 cup cashews
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp brown rice syrup
1-2 tbsp water
Method
Place cashews into a food processor and blitz until crumbled.
Chop the dried apricots into smaller pieces and add to the food processor along with the coconut, vanilla and rice syrup. Blitz again to combine.
Gradually add water and blitz again until the mixture holds together well when squeezed.
Take a spoonful of mixture and roll with wet hands into balls. Roll balls in extra coconut if desired.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Megan's Choc Bliss Balls
Ingredients
½ cup cacao powder
2 cups nuts almonds and cashews
½ cup goji berries
2 cups pitted dates
3 tbsp coconut oil (melted if hard)
Desiccated coconut, for coating
Method
Place nuts in blender. Do not blitz too fine. Also you can just use dry roasted almonds if you don’t want to use cashew nuts.
In separate bowl mix the cacao powder, goji berries and blitzed almonds and then add to this bowl the blitzed dates.
Add melted coconut oil and blend to combine.
Take spoonfuls and with wet hands roll into balls.
Roll balls in coconut.
Refrigerate until ready to eat.
Tamari Roasted Almonds
Ingredients
2 cups almonds (I use activated almonds that I have pre-soaked for 12 hours to sprout them and then dehydrated for 24 hours)
2 tbsp organic tamari
2 tbsp filtered water
Watch how to make these on YouTube.
Method
Place almonds in a heavy based pan over a medium-low flame.
Roast gently for 8-10 minutes. Toss or stir occasionally to avoid burning.
Combine the tamari and water in a bowl and then pour over the almonds.
The sauce will bubble up over the almonds from the heat in the pan. Be careful to avoid burning yourself on the steam that rises.
Stir gently to coat the nuts in the sauce and until all the sauce has evaporated.
Store in an air tight jar once cooled.
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