Steamed vegetables of green asparagus and sugar snap peas

The steamed, oil-free vegetables of green asparagus and sugar snap peas with lime juice and walnuts are easy to make.

Portion information: The quantity for 4 portions is designed as a side dish for 4 people.

Nutrient profile: According to GDA guidelines, one portion of this recipe covers just over ¾ of the average daily requirement of omega-3 fatty acids. Vitamin K, which plays an important role in blood clotting and bone metabolism, is covered by 70%. In addition, this dish contains a good ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids at 3:1 and thus complies with the recommended maximum ratio of 5:1.
Read more at: Vegans often eat unhealthily. Avoidable nutritional errors.

Asparagus: In addition to the white asparagus, which is preferred in the DA-CH countries, there are also violet and green asparagus, which have a more intense flavor. The color of the asparagus is determined by the time of harvest: while white asparagus grows in mounds of earth under the ground, protected from the sun, violet asparagus is harvested as soon as it has broken through the surface of the earth. Green asparagus grows largely above ground. Violet and especially green asparagus contain more vitamins and healthy secondary plant substances than white asparagus. Among other things, asparagus contains the protein building block asparagine, which gave it its name. L-aspartic acid is responsible for its dehydrating effect, promotes kidney function and stimulates water excretion. This is why asparagus is used in traditional medicine to treat bladder infections.

Sugar snap peas (sweet peas): Sugar snap peas are a type of pea from the legume family. The tender sugar snap peas are usually eaten with their pods. They taste similar to peas, but are a little sweeter and juicier. They can be eaten not only cooked, but also raw, for example in a salad. Like peas in general, they do not contain phasin (unlike other legumes), which causes damage to blood cells and the intestinal wall when eaten raw in large quantities. Some pods have threads that must be removed before use. To do this, simply cut off the ends of the pod and pull off the threads. Since fresh pods do not keep for long, they should be eaten quickly.

Cherry tomatoes: Cherry tomatoes are smaller, crisper and sweeter than regular tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes can be red, green, yellow or black.

Walnut: The real walnut, also called tree nut, has the highest content of alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid that is healthy for the heart) of all nuts. It is also rich in vitamin E, zinc (an important trace element, for the liver and hair, among other things) and potassium (for the heart muscle, among other things).

Asparagus season: The local asparagus season lasts from mid-April to traditionally June 24th. As an imported product, you can now get green asparagus all year round.

Flaxseed: Flaxseed has a slightly nutty taste and is 40% fat. With around 50% of the polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), the oil has the highest concentration of omega-3 fatty acids of all known vegetable oils. That is why we added ground flaxseed to this dish.

Steaming: The gentlest way to prepare vegetables is steaming (around 100 °C). Here you cook the vegetables in a pot with a sieve insert in hot steam. Since there is no direct contact with the water, most of the vitamins and nutrients are retained.

If you don't want to do without oil completely, you can use refined rapeseed oil for sautéing in the second step of the recipe.