Coeliac recipe
Beef flank stew (牛腩) with Asian spices and soy sauce, my memory of the hawker stall on the ‘Poetry Book Road’ ( FODMAP friendly)
When I was a little girl, I walked to the primary school each day. I ate breakfast along the way. I had a ten cents allowance for two plain steamed buns each morning.
I walked down a street commonly known as the ‘Poetry Book Road’. For many years, the street was renamed as the ‘Red Book Road’ in honor of Chairman Mao’s red book of quotations.
At the end of the street, there was a tiny hawker stall selling beef flank and pig intestines. In winters, the hot steam rose from her big pots. The aroma of soy, star anise and clove lingered in the air, mouth-watering and irresistible. The stall operator was a middle age woman, short, chubby and never smiled. She had a pair of gigantic scissors that made loud ‘chop chop chop’ sound. When she received an order, she cut some small pieces off a larger piece, skillfully threading them to a bamboo stick without touching them with her hands. A stick with 3 pieces of juicy, fatty and heart-warming meat cost 10 cents. It was a difficult decision for a little girl – spending the 10 cents on a meat stick and be hungry for the rest of the morning, or two plain buns. I took some deep breaths (the aroma was so good) and nibbled on the tasteless buns.
Now I remembered, the two buns never filled me up anyway. At school I sat next to a boy whose name was ‘Bin’. We enjoyed a few laughs as our stomachs rumbled at the exact same moment.
I cooked beef flank many times over the past many years. It always brought back memories of the hawker stall on the Poetry Book Road.
Recipe is as follows: Read the rest of this entry »
Cherry tomato ‘sandwich’ with quinoa and alfalfa (low FODMAP, vegan, gluten free)
Today I made some rice paper rolls with quinoa, coriander, alfalfa, capsicum and sesame seeds. I had some quinoa mixture left. So I decided to make a second dish. I had some cherry tomatoes in the fridge, perfect for some ‘sandwiches’.
The quinoa mixture was made of cooked quinoa, a little chopped coriander stalk, a little sesame seeds and sesame oil, seasoned with salt and black pepper. I have attached the original recipe here – but you only need 1 tbsp of quinoa mixture to make 1 low FODMAP serve which consists of 4 cheery tomato sandwiches.
To make the ‘sandwiches’, turn a cherry tomato upside down, cut it open in the middle, as deep as you can without cutting through; fill the gap with a small piece of lettuce (I used butter and rocket), alfalfa, red capsicum, carrot and a little quinoa mixture. Top with a little BBQ sauce and a few sesame seeds.
According to the Monash University, a low FODMAP portion is 4 cherry tomatoes – hence 1 low FODMAP serving is 4 ‘sandwiches’. But lettuce (butter and rocket), alfalfa, red capsicum and carrot have limited FODMAPs, so you can pile up as much fillings as you wish.
Use a gluten free BBQ sauce for a gluten free option.
Rice paper rolls of quinoa, coriander, alfalfa and sesame seeds (low FODMAP, vegan, gluten free)
A few days ago I set off to create a few vegan FODMAP dishes with alfalfa. The schedule was ‘interrupted’ by Chinese New Year with wrapping dumplings with extended family, chatting with friends on how to make ‘yee sang’, handing out red envelopes and, work. We don’t get any national holidays for Chinese New Year in Australia.
Here is my alfalfa recipes installment #2 – rice paper rolls of quinoa flavored with sesame oil and coriander, lettuce, carrot, capsicum, alfalfa, sesame seeds, and a small squeeze of BBQ sauce.
Can’t find any rice paper? Don’t worry, the recipe also works as a salad.
Recipe is as follow: Read the rest of this entry »
Lemongrass pork scotch fillets (low FODMAP, gluten free)
We have a bush of lemongrass in the garden. Each harvest we were reward a large bag of juicy stalks. So today I made some grilled pork with lemongrass, ginger, kaffir lime leafs, fish sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil.
There are still so much lemongrass left!
Recipe is as follow:
Pan fried fish & potato cake with Asian coleslaw (low FODMAP, gluten free)
I have been planning for a fish cake dish for a while, however could not decide on what type of fish cakes to make – Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Malaysian… there are so many options. Today, with some fresh rainbow trouts in the fridge, I decided to cook a tummy friendly fish cake with potato, spinach and coriander, served with a juicy Asian coleslaw.
Recipe is as follow:
Summer waffles with pineapple, banana and coconut (low FODMAP, vegan, gluten free)
Winter is finally fading away in Sydney. Sun is shining and warm. The golden cane plants are back to life and the garden is looking fantastic. This beautiful morning I made my tropicana waffles for breakfast and enjoyed them by the pool.
My tropicana waffles are some of my best waffles – super crispy on the outside, beautifully moist on the inside, and full of the goodness of banana, pineapple and coconut milk. A little icing sugar on top makes it super handsome. Who would think vegan waffles could be so yummy..
Recipe is as follow:
Homemade buckwheat noodles with soy sauce and sesame oil (low FODMAP, gluten free, vegan)
A few weeks ago I made a really nice dashi soup base with shaved katsuobushi (preserved fermented skipjack tuna) and kombu (kelp). I looked in the cupboard for some soba noodles and noticed that they all contained wheat. That weekend I did a special trip to my favorite Asian supermarket at Chinatown to search for a gluten free soba, yet none could be found.
Never mind, I will just have to make my own buckwheat noodles. To make it light and bouncy, I used a combination of buckwheat (1/2), rice flour (1/4) and tapioca starch (1/4).
Recipe is as follow:
Salt and pepper chicken (low FODMAP, gluten free)
I work in an unremarkable looking building in the city that was built in the 70’s. When I started working there 12 years ago, the food court were ordinary but cheap. Then the landlord renovated the food court and increased the rents. Now the food is still uninspiring, but expensive. I had a salt and pepper chicken there last week – and it ended up in the garbage bin.
With an unsatisfied craving for salt and pepper chicken, I made my own today.
Recipe is as follow:
Ginger pork with soy sauce and sesame oil (low FODMAP, gluten free)
Recently our family visited Tokyo to spend our school holiday there. We enjoyed shopping at countless hobby shops, toy stores and rides at Disneyland, Disney Sea and Tokyo Dome.
My husband and I love noodle soups. Nearly everyday we went to a nearby noodle shop for lunch. Our little boy is a fussy eater who has Vegemite sandwiches for school lunch since the kindergarten year – he refused to have noodle soup. So we gave him a bowl of rice and the toppings from our noodles. Ginger pork was his favorite. Luckily, noodles with ginger pork was available in nearly every noodle shop.
Here is my version of ginger pork. I served it with some saute Chinese greens with ginger.
Recipe is as follow:
Asian inspired Paella with miso & wasabi (low FODMAP, gluten free)
One of my friends and her 2 gorgeous children came over for lunch today. She has really good taste with food and wine, previously ran an restaurant in Italy while she was married to an Italian young fellow who cooked beautifully. Now a single mum, things are not as easy, and she is also having a difficult time at work. So I decided to cook her a heart warming meal to cheer her up – a dish with chicken, salmon, prawns, mussels, baby octopus sounded just like the perfect dish. To make it a bit more special, I gave the paella an Asian twist with miso, wasabi and Korean pepper.
Recipe is as follow:
Smoky BBQ legs of lamb (FODMAP friendly)
Last weekend I threw a couple lamb legs on the BBQ. I added to the BBQ a tube of wood pellets in an a-maze-n pellet tube which was lighted with a blow torch. I rubbed the lamb legs with my favorite spices and a dash of BBQ sauce.
I slow cooked the lamb legs for 4 hours in the BBQ with the smoky tube underneath. The BBQ was placed under my recently installed white shade sails. There was so much smoke I was worried that my shade sails may turn brown.
The lamb was beautifully juicy, smoky and tasty.
Simple home smoked salmon (FODMAP friendly, gluten free)
I can’t say I am an expert of smoking – I only learned about it a year ago from ‘A Food Blog by a Old Fat Guy’. I love this blog from the far away land – as I read, I could smell the forest from the mountains in Canada.
Dreaming of the forests, l bough the closest thing I could find – apple wood chips from Tasmania. I have only a small bag, but it lasted a while. I did 4 lots of smoking with this – rainbow trout fillets, American ribs, salmon and pork belly. OMG, so very delicious!
I don’t have a smoker, but I have a super heavy duty 16-quart stainless steel stock pot that can cook ‘waterless’. It has a adjustable small hole in the lid which is perfect for checking out how much smoke has built up in the pot. I only used a small amount of wood chips which is sufficient for the size of the pot. Fish fillets can be cooked in about 20-30 minutes; meat requires further cooking after 30-40 minutes of smoking, which can be finished off on the BBQ.
I am quite time poor so I don’t use brine. For fish, I rubbed a little sea salt, a little sugar and some oil prior to cooking. For meat, I rubbed my favorite spices, salt and oil.
I like smoked salmon the best – rich, smoky and satisfying, with deliciousness lingering in your month for many hours after the meal.
I served the smoked salmon with a fennel, carrot and rocket salad, drizzle over a dressing with lemon juice, strawberry jam and sesame oil. I will post the recipe shortly.
Here is a quick write up of the very simple process:
Tofu, pumpkin, ginger & tapioca dessert (low FODMAP, gluten free, vegan)
FODMAP vegan can be delicious too – tofu recipe #4.
Have you tried the silken tofu at a yum cha restaurant, the one that’s served with ginger flavored syrup? It is one of my favorite.
Silken tofu is unfriendly for FODMAPpers. So I created this dessert that uses soft plain tofu and ginger. To add softer texture, I added pumpkin and tapioca. Pumpkin is infrequently used for dessert in Southern China (if they have the sweet variety we have here in Australia I bet they will go wild with it)! Palm sugar and tapioca pearls bring all the ingredients together to give it a lovely semi-pudding like texture. Served slightly chilled, it will pleasantly surprise you with its refreshing taste.
Tofu and noodle soup (low FODMAP, gluten free, vegan)
FODMAP vegan can be delicious too – tofu recipe #3.
Try this hot rice noodle soup with tofu, radish, carrot, spinach, chili, coriander, ginger, soy and sesame oil.
Pan fried tofu with chili and tomato salsa (low FODMAP, vegan, gluten free)
FODMAP vegan can be delicious too – tofu recipe #2.
I hope you will enjoy this spicy, sweet and sour pan fried tofu dish with a home made salsa with chili and tomato.
BBQ baby octopus in Asian marinate (FODMAP friendly, gluten free)
It was Queens birthday long weekend. I decided to cook a few dishes that would take some time to prepare.
The local seafood shop had some nice baby octopus so I picked up a few handfuls. I first dropped the octopus and some ginger in boiling water for a minute or two; then transferred them to a bowl of ice water; I marinated the octopus with fish sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, lemon juice, kumquat juice, sliced kaffir lime leafs, chili, marmalade and sesame oil; I placed the octopus in the fridge to marinate overnight, then BBQ them on a hot griddle. So juicy and tender!
Simple chicken stir fry with vegetable, egg and peanuts (low FODMAP, gluten free)
On Fridays I work from home so I can drop my little boy off at school and pick him up. I am often swamped with work and I have something really quick for lunch at home (like a bowl of instant noodles cooked in the microwave). This week I was in luck with some free time – so I decided to cook a simple stir fry for lunch.
Recipe is as follow:
Quinoa potato hash (low FODMAP, gluten free)
This yummy little snack has quinoa, shredded potato, capsicum, tasty cheese, coriander, marjoram, tarragon and rosemary – you can make them into balls, or flat hash browns.
Glutinous rice balls with beef and potato, spiced with cumin and turmeric (low FODMAP, Gluten Free)
Sydney is rainy this weekend – reportedly a month’s worth of rain over the next few days. We are stuck in the house. My husband is busy assembling some ikea cabinets for the playroom; my little boy is busy on his ipad; and I cook in the kitchen.
Supermarket shopping does not sound like an attractive option – so I went to the freezer and the dry good pantry. There was plenty of beef mince in the freezer which I could cook something with, together with some glutinous rice… something soft, warm and tasty would be nice.
Recipe is as follow:
Pan fried whiting nori roll (low FODMAP, gluten free)
I read it on Sydney Morning Herald this morning that Neil Perry was closing the original Rockpool restaurant.
In late 1990s I was working for an investment house in Sydney. The finance sector had plenty of money and big entertainment budget those days. We were taken to Rockpool for lunch where I enjoyed a wonderful dish of fried whiting fillet wrapped in nori sheet. I still remember it today.
Here is my FODMAP friendly version of whiting nori rolls. The rolls are also gluten free. If you prefer, you can serve it with an oyster sauce based dipping sauce – the sauce is FODMAP friendly but it is not gluten free.
With any left over ‘off cuts’, we can make a yummy whiting seaweed soup.
Recipes are as follows:
Barramundi in an Asian spiced broth (low FODMAP, Gluten Free)
Winter is finally here with chill in the air – time for a nice bowl of hot soup. This simple & light barramundi broth is gentle and tasty, perfect for a lazy lunch.
Recipe is as follow:
Asian style kebab on lemongrass stick (low FODMAP, gluten free)
With winter coming, I cut back a bush of lemongrass in the garden. I ended up with a huge bunch of lemongrass sticks which I used for this pork and beef kebabs.
Recipe is as follow: Read the rest of this entry »
Homemade rice noodles (FODMAP friendly, gluten free )
The packaged rice noodles (hor fun) from the fridge sections at Asian supermarkets typically consist of wheat starch. Here is my gluten free version – it is simple to make and delicious. I also use the same noodle sheets to make steamed noodle rolls with meat.
Recipe is as follows:
Gnocchi with baby spinach (low FODMAP, gluten free)
Simple lunch at home with a big bowl of gnocchi, great for an autumn lazy afternoon.
Recipe is as follows: Read the rest of this entry »
Simple green banana curry (low FODMAP, gluten free, vegan)
I bought this big bunch of green bananas from the supermarket a week ago – the bananas didn’t fully ripe after all these hot weather! Well, we shall not waste them…
This banana curry is quite simple once you have invested in a few spices. If you can find a low FODMAP curry power, great. Otherwise the spice mix I adopted was a few spices laying in cupboard and a few thing from my freezer (tamarind paste, frozen ginger & frozen chili). If you don’t have some of these spices (except for turmeric), feel free to skip a few.
What does it taste like? – give it a try.
Method is as follows:
Chinese tea infused eggs (low FODMAP, gluten free)
Eggs are precious to me.When I was a little girl, my family had very little. Every year at my birthday, instead of kids party, mouthwatering sweets, toys and other gifts, I received a hard boil egg that was colored in red. The red color was rubbed off, with a little water, from some left over cheap red paper that was used for wrapping the ‘lucky’ money for Chinese Luna New Years.
Having lived in Australia for nearly 30 years, I still love my eggs immensely.I use eggs for cooking all the time, sometimes it is as simple as cracking an egg over some boiled rice and cook it in microwave for 1 minute as a quick meal, eat with a dash of soy sauce and olive oil.
The soy sauce and tea infused eggs below is a popular street snack food across Asia. My version is FODMAP friendly and can be made as a gluten free option.
It is very simple to make – see recipe below. Read the rest of this entry »
Golden beef balls with pumpkin, potato and herbs (low FODMAP, gluten free)
We had a few friends over for drinks including Bill. Bill is highly sensitive to many food. He has a diet that is low FODMAP + gluten free + no additives + no quirks. I found cooking for Bill challenging, as he gets sick for days if he eats the wrong food. Here are some delicious beef balls that I cooked for Bill and to share with friends. So simple and nutritious.
Recipe is as follow: Read the rest of this entry »
Simple lunch – quinoa with roasted pumpkin and herbs (FODMAP friendly, vegan, gluten free)
Some days I just crave for a very simple meal that is refreshing and tasty. After holidaying with kid at Fiji with buffet breakfasts and buffet dinners for 7 days, I am ready for one of these days. A cup of quinoa soaked and cooked per instruction + roasted Jap pumpkin + from the garden some parsley, sage, rosemary and mint + a dash of lemon juice and sesame oil + pinch of salt.. hmmm…..yum.
Crunchy lettuce wrap of pepper beef and pickled carrot, with Vietnamese style dipping sauce (low FODMAP, gluten free)
Some friends are over for lunch today. I made these tender pepper beef and pickled carrot wraps with a Vietnamese style dipping sauce. The wraps are crunchy, juicy & satisfying. Best of all, so very easy to make.
Recipe is as follow: Read the rest of this entry »
Quinoa and banana rolls with a peanut sesame filling (low FODMAP, gluten free, vegan)
To share with a few friends – this recipe makes 2 rolls, which can be cut into 4 pieces each.
Here are the easy steps: Read the rest of this entry »
Rice and pumpkin cake with broccoli, roasted capsicum and basil (low FODMAP, gluten free, vegan)
I had some spare time in the late afternoon so I decided to work on a FODMAP dish. I had some vegetables that are low FODMAP and some rice flour. And here it became…
Recipe is as follow: Read the rest of this entry »
Steamed blue eye cod 蒸鱼 and the market across the ‘Yayan Lane’ 雅言里 (low FODMAP, gluten free)
How I love steamed fish!
Growing up in Guangzhou in the early 1970s, we lived in a rundown 5-bedroom terrace house on a little lane way called the ‘Yayan Lane’ 雅言里 , translated as the ‘elegant words lane’. The house was bought by my grandfather in early 1950s for $1,200 yuan from a tea merchant. At the time there was a ‘movement’ to crack down tax evasion. Like some other small businesses, the tea merchant had to sell his house to pay his tax bill. It was said that most houses on the market were going cheap over that period.
There were many family members lived at the terrace house at various intervals – my great grandmother, my grandparents, my family, 3 uncles & 1 aunt and their families. My grandma cooked dinners for all the families. Food & basic essentials such as rice, oil, meat, fish, coal & fabric were on rations, and we had books of colorful coupons.
There was a state-ran market across the road from our lane way. The market sold all sort of food – meat & vegetables, seafood, Chinese sausages & BBQ meat, tofu, preserves, oil & soy sauce. When very small fish were caught from large schools, sometime coupons were not required. The neighbors always kept a look out for such rare occasions, and we would hear a shout across the lane way. Grandmother and I would grab a bamboo basket as fast as we could, rushed over to join the crowd. There were no such things as lining up – layers of people cramped in front of the concrete table where the fish piled up among large blocks of ice, pushing each other, yelling to attract attention. The fish was always fresh and undeniably small, not longer than my little hand. My grandmother steamed the fish with soy sauce for dinner. Our skinny house cats would fight over the bones & left-over sauce mixed with some rice – a rare treat for them.
Today, we are so very lucky in Australia with all the wonderful seafood, spices & herbs. My favorite method of cooking fish is steaming. From time to time, when I enjoy a good steamed fish, I could still smell the sea at the crowded market place across the road from the Yayan Lane.
Here is my version of steamed fish – fresh & simple. I used Blue Eye Cod on this occasion. You can use most sort of white flesh fish. My favorite fish for steaming is perch.
Recipe is as follows: Read the rest of this entry »
Cucumber salad and memories of ‘wine house’ restaurants (low FODMAP, gluten free, vegan)
As a little child growing up in southern China in the early 70s, our family was considered very fortunate to have relatives and friends overseas. Every few years a small group of the oversea relatives would visit, bringing with them pre-loved clothes, food, small gifts and special foreign exchanged yuan to shout us a feast in a ‘wine house’ restaurant’ – no food coupons required! In my little eyes, the oversea visitors were beautiful people – they dressed well, smelt so nice and they were always very kind to me.
Out of the pre-loved clothes that were given to me by our visitors, the most memorable was my little red jumper with a plastic print of happy reindeers – all jolly and bright. The jumper was thin, so I wore the jumper on top of multiple layers of clothes. I wore the jumper nearly every day during many winters as it was the only jumper I had. When it was too short for me and did not extend past my belly button, I passed it to my sister who was 4 years younger than me. My sister used it for many years after that.
With our visitors, the ‘wine house’ restaurant that we most visited was the KwangChow Restaurant (also called the GuangZhou Restaurant in mandarine), one of the most celebrated restaurants in the city. It was only 4 blocks away from our house. Downstairs of the restaurant was the common dining room – plain and simple. The dining area upstairs was so grand that it looked like a palace! How I enjoyed the aroma of food, tea and wine lingering through the tastefully decorated dining rooms – carved wooden partitions, classic rosewood furniture and traditional paintings on the walls. My favorite dishes were the little side dishes served at arrival – cucumber salad, roasted peanuts and salted vegetables. These little dishes made me so hungry and so looking forward to the special feast.
Many years later in Australia I spoke with one of our visitors about his impression of China in the 70s – ‘awful,’ he said,’ except for that restaurant, the food was really nice.’
I hope you enjoy my version of a cucumber salad with a little modern twist.
Recipe is as follows: Read the rest of this entry »
Chicken stir fry with lemongrass and chili (low FODMAP, gluten free)
Thai food always brings back memory of a pink restaurant where I worked for a few years during my university days.
The restaurant was owned by a kind Vietnamese couple – An the husband and Ly the wife. Ly looked after 3 young children and worked in the tiny kitchen every night. An was a full time engineer who managed the dinning room and delivered takeaway food.
When they spoke about their past, I could see Ly’s eyes sparkled, and warm smiles on An’s face. In the old days back home, Ly was known as the ‘Saigon rose’ for her exceptional beauty, and An was a young, well educated officer working for the American army.
I learned to cook some wonderful dishes from Ly. One of my favourite was a ‘xa ot’ dish, meaning lemongrass and chili.
Here is my version of a xa ot chicken.
Easy method is as follow: Read the rest of this entry »
