Michelle Bridges

GOOD & SIMPLE WITH MICHELLEMost mornings, an army of relaxed-looking souls wander the streets of our cities with a yoga mat rolled up under their arm. Relaxed because they are either on their way to, or returning from, the most enduring of physical activities – not only in Mosman or Toorak, but throughout the entire world since around 500BC.

Not that there were yoga practitioners with a rolled-up mat queuing for a skim latte on a Sunday morning in pre-Vedic civilisations, but you get my drift. Yoga has been strengthening, calming and stretching us for centuries. And as your ear-to-the-ground fitness trend hound, I'm here to tell you we're on the edge of a yoga explosion. It makes sense when you think about it. You can do yoga that makes you strong, yoga that makes you supple, yoga that makes you meditate and yoga that leaves you lying on the floor in a pool of your own body fluids sucking in the big ones. There is yoga for the purist, and hybrids for those who aren't fussed. There is a type of yoga for all of us.

Michelle Bridges: "There is a type of yoga for all of us."Credit: Ellis Parrinder

The health benefits of yoga are extraordinary. Compare an experienced yoga practitioner's body to that of a dancer. They both have strength, flexibility, balance and strong cores, and perform similar movements. Dancers' movements stimulate their sympathetic nervous system, thereby raising their heart rate and breathing, while focusing on everything outside of their bodies.

By contrast, a yoga practitioner's calm state stimulates their parasympathetic nervous system, which lowers blood pressure and slows breathing, while focusing on everything inside their bodies. This then stimulates healthy blood flow to body organs – the reproductive, immune and digestive systems – as opposed to frantically pumping blood to muscles to fuel activity.

Cauliflower fried "rice".Credit: Henryk Lobaczewski

I've only been an occasional yoga practitioner, but I've always been an admirer of the beautiful asanas and the gentle, flexible strength that are the hallmarks of the yoga set. If you're not already taking the odd class, I highly recommend you do.

Michelle's tip
Don't tell me that you're not flexible enough to go to yoga - that's WHY you should go to yoga!

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GOOD & SIMPLE WITH MICHELLE

Cauliflower fried "rice"

I have been a bit cheeky with this title: there's no actual rice in this dish! It is, however, an intriguingly different way to prepare cauliflower. There's heaps of other good stuff in here, too.

SERVES 2

350g cauliflower, broken into florets

2 tsp peanut oil

1 egg, lightly beaten

500g king green prawns, peeled and deveined, tails intact

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 spring onions, thinly sliced

150g firm tofu, drained and cut into cubes

½ tsp ground turmeric

½ cup (60g) frozen peas

100g snow peas, trimmed and sliced on the diagonal

3 tsp soy sauce

½ long fresh red chilli, finely chopped

Cooking method
Process cauliflower in batches into rice grain-sized pieces.

Heat ½ tsp of peanut oil in a wok on high. Pour in egg, swirling wok to make a large omelet. Cook for 1 minute or until set. Flip onto a clean board, roll up tightly and thinly slice.

Heat ½ tsp of peanut oil in same wok on high. Stir-fry prawns, garlic and half spring onion for 3 minutes or until prawns are pink. Set aside.

Heat ½ tsp of peanut oil in same wok over high heat. Stir-fry tofu and turmeric for 1 minute or until well coated. Set aside.

Heat remaining oil in same wok on high. Stir-fry cauliflower, peas and snow peas for 3 minutes or until hot. Return prawns and tofu to wok with soy sauce and half chilli and stir-fry until hot.

Serve topped with omelet and remaining chilli and spring onion.

Recipe from Superfoods Cookbook (Viking) by Michelle Bridges.