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Stabroek News

A Healthy Oasis
published: Thursday | May 10, 2007

Spencer Williams, Contributor

Amidst the tranquility of Hope Gardens on Old Hope Road, you will find Ashanti Oasis, a vegetarian restaurant which serves healthy hot meals at very reasonable prices. From the thick and smooth broad bean and split pea soups, to the black bean stew, curried vegetables and tofu in cranberry sauce, this delightful eatery succeeds in serving a balanced diet of macronutrients and micronutrients.

Anyone contemplating a vegetarian diet but is concerned about getting enough protein, fibre, vitamins, foliate, calcium and other minerals, take a leaf out of Ashanti's cookbook. Whether done on purpose or not, the chef makes every effort to ensure a wide spectrum of nutrition is met.

The dining area is outdoors but well covered from the rain when it comes. It's an ideal lunch stop, because once you've ordered, your food will not take long to appear. Those of you who can only take an hour, ought to make it back to work in time.

The menu

The noticeable events on the menu are the choice of different sizes of the soup of the day, and three main courses. You can order one of the latter, or if you can't decide what you want, take the option of having all three. Brown pumpkin rice, which has a nutty flavour to it and is more 'meaty' in texture than white rice, and salad are served as accompaniments. While brown rice can be very dry on its own, the sauces of the main courses complement just perfectly.

I have yet to have a disappointing soup experience there. They are bisque-like, which is extremely good. It just goes to show that meat and its bones are not necessarily needed to give soups flavour. Don't get me wrong, there are times when a juicy piece of cow foot or pig tail is welcomed, but onions, garlic, fresh herbs, vegetables, beans and peas all make for a delicious taste.

Tofu has a tender and silky texture. The soft version is usually cubed and placed in Asian salads and miso soup. Pan-frying, grilling and roasting this type tends to make it break apart, so the firmer kind should be used it is relatively bland on its own, it can be transformed with seasonings and sauces into ascrumptious meal that even the most avid meat-eaters would enjoy.

Few people realise how delicious dried beans and peas, used as the main ingredients, can be. Even less might know how to prepare and cook them so that they are palatable. Aside from the fact that they are packed with protein, fibre, carbohydrate and potassium, they are fat-free and cheap to buy. Once soaked, they are very easy to cook and all you need to do is add some scallions, root ginger, ground spices and chillies to create a mouth-watering concoction. To this base you can drop in things like tomatoes, turnips, pumpkin and potatoes. Ashanti seems to know this formula well, and while a box lunch of curry goat and rice might overfill the average size stomach, a large plate of vegetarian delights will leave your belly feeling just right.

In my opinion, Jamaican restaurants often fall short on their vegetarian options. They are unappealing and have little oomph to them. It's a real shame as in this day and age, where a lot of us eat far too much meat and fat, we could do with some healthier choices that are tempting to our appetites. Ashanti Oasis provides us with this, as well as being 'A place of peace and happiness in the midst of trouble or difficulty'.

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