A Bowl of Goodness

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It’s January. Everyone is talking about New Year’s resolutions, which of course include words like “diet”, “cleansing”, “getting into size6”. As a salad person, it is a shame to see people associate it with “skinny” food. Well I think it deserves more culinary attention than that. Vegetables are satisfying super healthy food that offers us a variety of nutrition, texture and flavour. Of course, just eating veggies without sufficient protein and fat will cause an imbalance in nutrition and make you feel hungry later. You don’t have to starve yourself and chew on celery to lose weight. It’s all about making little changes without killing the enjoyment. The key to health is home cooking, moderation and regular physical activities/ exercise. Enjoy your life and don’t be too harsh on yourselves:)

You need to make your food interesting for our every day enjoyment of eating. Nourish your senses! Think about flavour when savouring a mouthful (sweet, sour, salty), texture (crunchy, creamy, crisp, juicy), and nutrition (a balance of carbs, protein and fat). Add nuts and seeds to your salad for crunchiness. Need protein? Add any kind of meat, fish or tofu to your bowl. Sweet tooth? No problem. Add candied nuts, chopped dried fruits or roasted root vegetables, which has natural sweetness in them. See they can satisfy you as well as give you the requisite health benefits. Still not sure? Do your research or even ask me:) I get so excited just talking about it.

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My lunch is usually in a bowl. It is easy to prepare for a single person and means no dishes 🙂

To make this quinoa and veggie salad, I just take out whatever leftover I have in the fridge – butternut pumpkin, eggplant, sage, basil and quinoa. Simply cook them up and put in a bowl. A trick is to cook quinoa in a pot and add veggies towards the end. Then they get beautifully steamed and again no additional dishes. I add a miso dressing for extra flavour and healthy fat.

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Another example of salad bowl is Salad Niçoise with tuna. I think it is a great emergency meal when you don’t have time to go down to the shops or have no time to cook. There is not much cooking process involved in this dish except boiling egg and potato. Put together semi boiled egg, fresh or canned tuna, boiled potato, olives, anchovies and green beans on a bed of green salad. Dress with mustard vinaigrette.

Posted in: Dinner, Gluten Free, My recipes, salads, Vegetarian

Experimenting with Kefir

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Kefir

Before I go through Kefir, let’s have a quick understanding of gluten- and lactose- intolerance.

Gluten intolerance
Also known as celiac disease occurs when your immune system attacks your intestinal cells in response to gluten in your gut. Gluten consists of a set of protein in wheat, barley and rye that elicits this autoimmune disorder. Symptoms include abdominal distress, headaches, fatigue, and tingling in your hands and feet. Absolute gluten intolerance can result in malnutrition, osteoporosis, infertility and digestive-tract cancers.

Dairy intolerance
A negative reaction to lactose or to milk proteins is caused by your lack sufficient lactase, which breaks down lactose in your gut. Symptoms include abdominal cramps, bloating, gas and diarrhea after consuming milk products. On the other hand, a milk protein allergy is an autoimmune disorder that can result in digestive upset, skin rash, breathing problems, and life-threatening anaphylaxis in severe cases.

So why I’m talking about gluten- and dairy- intolerance? because I have developed those symptoms myself over the last few years. I’m not sure how it happened since I thought food allergies normally appear in early childhood. When I visited a doctor in South Korea, he couldn’t explain exactly but told me about this Korean girl who also had same symptoms since she moved to America in her 20s. I could be wrong, but my theory is changing diet and lifestyle in another country can distress your system and cause negative reactions to certain foods.

The health of our bodies is determined by the health of our gut. A balance of good and bad bacteria in your gut breaks down foods, stimulates immune system and inhibits pathogens. For sufferers like me, a healthy diet is crucial to maintain your gut health including taking probiotics and consuming probiotic foods and drinks. I have tried to take probiotics like Inner Health Plus for a few months, but didn’t feel that much difference. What works for me is fermented products!

Fermented products break down sugars to more digestible, help control harmful bacteria in the body, fight diarrhea, help with indigestion, fight chronic inflammation and boost immune system function. You should be wondering by now, then what are the fermented foods?

– Yogurt (raw or goat’s milk)- Kefir
– Miso, natto
– Fermented cabbage (Kimchi)
– Tempeh
– Brine-cured olives
– Fermented cheeses
– Apple cider vinegar

Kefir is the fermented milk drink made from the kefir grains. Kefir colonises our digestive tracts with beneficial bacteria and yeast a lot more than other probiotic foods on the market e.g. yogurt. It is a drinkable yogurt consistency and tastes tart. I bought kefir cultures from the on-line health shop, which come in 5 sachets. Each sachet can make about 5 liters of kefir drink. Because my stomach doesn’t like milk that much, I made mine with soy milk. But it is up to you, you can use almond milk, oat milk, coconut milk, etc.

1. Add one sachet to 1L of soy milk in a glass jar.
2. Cover up and let it sit on your kitchen bench for 12-24 hours. Give a few shakes or stirs every 12 hours.
3. Once it’s thickened up and smells sour, store in the fridge and drink within a week.
4. You can use a cup of kefir to make another batch, up to 5 times.

I couldn’t believe how simple it is to make my own kefir drink. You can flavour with some vanilla, fruits, sweetener like maple syrup or honey. I try to have a cup of kefir every morning with my breakfast, which has helped me so much with my digestion. If you have digestive issues like gluten- and lactose- intolerance, I strongly recommend to give this a go. You will feel the difference.

 

Posted in: Breakfast, My recipes \ Tagged: , , ,

Perfect Summer Dinner

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I would like to think I should appreciate the glorious summer days in Perth. But it’s hard when it has been almost 40 degrees a few days in a row. All I want to do is having air-conditioning on, sipping on cold drinks and watching some movies at home since I’m not a beach person. When it comes to cooking, I do not want to stand in front of hot oven or stove on hot days like this >.< I had my in=laws over for dinner last night and had to come up with something easy to put together, supper healthy, impressive and packed with flavour. I’ve cooked for them a number of times, which means a menu planning is getting harder since I need to introduce new ingredients and new flavours  to them. To me, it is the exciting part of dinner parties coming up with good dishes that guests would enjoy and have good memories on.

Anyways it took me about 1 1/2 hours to prepare trio bruschettas, pumpkin and quinoa salad, balsamic braised red cabbage and orange salad, Spanish chicken and Rice pudding for dessert.

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Balsamic onion jam, roast beef and blue cheese on home-made rosemary bread.
I sealed 300g of lean beef cut in hot pan for about 5 minutes, then transferred to 180 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Take it out of the oven and rest the meat for 20-30 minutes. Meat should be pink in the middle and so tender melting away in your mouth. I used onion jam that I made last week underneath and topped with slices of blue cheese. You can add horseradish cream instead which is also a great combination with roast beef, of course.

Roasted red grapes, brie cheese, walnuts and honey on bread
Sweet grapes and creamy brie cheese goes well here. Drizzle of honey really tops it off. Simply assemble roasted grapes and thyme, slices of brie cheese, toasted walnuts and honey. Easy peasy:)

Grilled mushrooms and brie cheese on bread
Earthy flavour of mushrooms and brie also creates a great combination. I drizzled truffle oil on top as well, which is quite subtle but enhances flavour even more.

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Moving on to salads..

Balsamic braised red cabbage and orange salad
Braise shredded red cabbage in a splash of balsamic until it gets tender (cook less if you want more crunchy salad). Garnish with orange, basil, sunflower seeds and poppy seeds. More balsamic reduction on top if you wish!

Roasted pumpkin and quinoa salad
Mix roasted pumpkin, cooked quinoa, green salads and goji berries. Season and dress with e.v.o.o.

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Hero of the table is Spanish chicken.
Cook one chopped onion and 800g chicken breast in the casserole dish until they are brown. Season with salt and pepper. Add garlic, potato, green olives, sun-dried tomatoes, preserved lemon, tomato passata and smoked paprika. Braise for about 30 minutes in low to medium heat. Garnish with chopped green spring onions.

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Dessert was vanilla rice pudding with mango and toasted coconut.
Cook arborio rice in milk, sugar, vanilla extract for 20-30 minutes until rice is well done. Top with slices of mango and toasted coconut to serve.

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I hope they all enjoyed it x

Posted in: Dinner, My recipes