Yellow, Sun-kissed Recipes Connecting You to Your Inner Fire
- Jul 12
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 15
A Note on Eating Yellow
Yellow is the colour of the sun at its height — warming, energising, deeply nourishing. This week we eat golden. Follow the links below for the full recipes:
Welcome to Cook in Colour
Welcome back to Cook in Colour, where we cook by chakra, eat by season, and follow the Celtic Ogham tree calendar as our guide through the year.
This week we step into the golden fire of the Solar Plexus Chakra — Manipura — during the reign of Holly, the fierce green guardian of midsummer.
It's a week for yellow food. Warm, golden, sun-drenched food. Food that wakes up your gut, lifts your mood, and reminds you that you are capable of more than you think.
The Solar Plexus Chakra — Manipura
Manipura · Element: Fire · Colour: Yellow / Gold · Seed Mantra: RAM
This is your centre of confidence, willpower and personal power. When Manipura is open, you act decisively and digest life with ease. Eating yellow this week is a simple, grounding way to tend that inner fire.
This Week's Menu
Breakfast — Yellow Dal on Toast with Fried Egg
This is comfort food with ambition. A rich, golden coconut dal poured over toast and topped with a runny fried egg. Sustaining, fiercely golden, and exactly the kind of breakfast that sets you up for the day.
Seasonal note: Fresh coriander is at its best in midsummer. If you grow it, this is the moment.
You will need:
Red lentils
Coconut milk
Turmeric
Cumin
Coriander (ground & fresh)
Red onion
Lime
Bread
Eggs
Lunch — Fish & Pineapple Cucumber Salad
Crisp, cool cucumber meets sweet fresh pineapple, sharp red onion, and a bright lime dressing. Paired with your fish of choice, it is light, tropical, and completely alive.
Seasonal note: Wild mint grows freely beside streams and paths in July. Torn into this salad, it lifts the whole dish.
You will need:
Fresh pineapple
Cucumber
Red onion
Fresh or wild mint
Lime juice
Honey or agave
Fish of your choice
Dinner — Jalapeno Cornbread Muffins with Shrimp
Cornbread muffins — golden, slightly sweet, with a jalapeno bite — served alongside garlicky shrimp. Bold, satisfying, and unmistakably solar.
Seasonal note: Corn is one of the most solar foods in the Celtic kitchen — associated with the sun, the harvest, and the generosity of summer at its fullest.
You will need:
Yellow cornmeal
All-purpose flour
Baking powder
Jalapeno
Cheddar cheese
Buttermilk
Egg
Butter
Honey
Shrimp
Garlic
Lemon
Treat — Primrose & Nettle Kefir
A living, fermented drink — fizzy, floral, slightly earthy, and deeply good for you. This is forager's medicine in a glass.
Seasonal note: Nettle is still going strong in shaded spots and along riverbanks in July. Pick young tops with gloves, dry them, and you have everything you need.
You will need:
Water kefir grains
Filtered water
Cane sugar
Dried primrose flowers
Dried nettle leaf
Lemon
What the Land is Offering Right Now
We are deep in Holly time — Tinne in the old Irish — and the hedgerows and fields of the British Isles are generous this week if you know where to look.
Nettle is still going strong in shaded spots and along riverbanks. Pick young tops with gloves, blanch to remove the sting, and use as you would spinach or brew into a simple tisane. The Primrose & Nettle Kefir in this week's treat slot is a beautiful way to use both the foraged leaf and the probiotic culture together.
Elderflower is at its peak in July — if you can find a wild elder, the flowers make an effortless cordial that pairs wonderfully with the pineapple salad.
Meadowsweet, with its creamy almond-scented flowers, is beginning to appear along ditches and stream banks. Steep a handful in warm milk or cream for a subtle sweetness.
Wild mint grows freely beside streams and paths. A handful torn into the salad lifts the whole dish and connects you directly to the land underfoot.
Holly — Tinne — The Fierce Green Guardian
We have crossed into the reign of the Holly tree — Tinne, pronounced "chin-yuh" — the Ogham tree of midsummer from July 8 to August 4.
In Celtic tradition, midsummer is the moment when the Oak King yields to the Holly King, who governs the waning half of the year. The Holly does not mourn the turning. It stands evergreen, armoured, and utterly committed to life.
Holly carries the energy of courage, protection and resilience. Associated with the planet Mars and the element of Fire, it burns bright and refuses to be diminished.
This week, cook in the spirit of the Holly. Be bold. Bring heat to the table.
Download Your Weekly Resources
Save these handy one-page guides to plan and shop for this week:
This post is part of the Cook in Colour series — seven weeks of chakra-aligned recipes following the Celtic Ogham tree calendar. A new colour, the Ogham tree, a new set of recipes every week.
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