FODMAP diet
Meal for homeless – white cooked chicken with oyster sauce and green shallot (FODMAP friendly)
Simple and easy home-cooked meals are always appreciated at the homeless feed.
Here’s one of my simplest meal with whole chicken(s) with a few other ingredients – oyster sauce, sesame oil (or cooking oil), corn flour, ginger and green shallot. For a FODMAP friendly recipe, use only green part of the shallot.
To cook the chicken:
- In a large heavy pot, add hot water, salt, white pepper and a few slices of ginger
- Use a stick to poke a few holes in the thickest part of the chicken, lay the chicken in the water, breast down; bring to boil, and turn the heat off; leave it on the stove for the remaining heat to cook the chicken for at lease 1 hours.
- Turn the chicken over and bring to boil, turn the heat off for 30 minutes.
- Bring it to boil again for a few minutes.
- Take the chicken out of pot, cool slightly, then pull the meat off, making sure all the meat is cooked; if slightly under cooked, return the pieces to the pot of hot water for a few minutes.
To make the sauce:
- Thinly slice some green shallot. For a FODMAP friendly recipe, use only the green part of the shallot.
- In a small pot, bring some sesame oil and cooking oil (1/2 each) to high heat; remove the pot from heat, add the sliced green shallot and a little salt, saute for a few seconds with the residual heat; add the shallot to the chicken, toss well.
- In a cup, mix a little corn flour with water (1 tsp flour to 5 tbsp water).
- In a small pot, add some oyster sauce and the corn flour mix, stir and bring to slow boil and removed from heat immediately; pour the sauce over the chicken.
Bacon and cucumber stir fry (gluten free, FODMAP friendly)
I had a few cucumbers in the fridge and some bacon in the freezer. I sliced the cucumbers, defrosted the bacon and sliced them up. In a frying pan I drizzled a little oil and added the bacon pieces. I pan fried the bacon until nearly crispy, then added the cucumbers. A few stirs, added a little sugar and white pepper. There we have a big bowl of tasty veggie and yummy bacon for dinner.
Beef with Asian dipping sauce (FODMAP friendly, gluten free)
A few friends dropped by unexpectedly one weekend afternoon.
We opened a bottle of red wine and felt a bit peckish. Something quick and easy to share would be lovely.
A piece of Angus rump steak is the perfect snack:
1. Cook the steak 1-3 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness and how rare you would like it; rest the steak for 10 minutes
2. Prepare a simple Asian dipping sauce – fish sauce (1 tsp) + rice wine vinegar (1tsp) + sugar (1tsp) + boiling water (3 tsp), stir well to dissolve the sugar. added a little chopped chili if you prefer
3. Slice the steak
4. Drizzle some sesame oil over the beef (optional)
5. Chop some mint for garnish (optional)
6. Serve at room temperature
Great to share with friends.
Chicken feet and corporate greed
Winston Churchill said, “the inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries”.
I thought of corporate greed.
They share their goals and visions loud and proud – for the best interest of shareholders. They will sack as many workers as possible, and take the fat out of the operation until it is on the verge of collapse. This enable them to harvest short term bonus, and at some point, enjoy a big fat golden handshakes when the real pictures are unfold.
Does it have to be like that? Why can’t corporations work for the best interest of all stakeholders including their customers and employees.
Corporate greed reminds me chicken feet – skin and bone, barely a feed, and hardly a blessing for some.
While cooking the chicken feet, I thought of the families who struggle to pay their rents and put food on the tables, and the smart and ambitious ones in prestige positions yet do not have time to enjoy with their families.
Chicken feet is cheap and tasty, yet unfulfilling as a meal. Is it a blessing or misery?
Cooking method is as follows:
1. Clean the chicken feet, remove callus and nails
2. Place the chicken feet in a pressure cooker, add a dash of sesame oil, a dash of light soy sauce, a dash of dark soy sauce, a dash of oyster sauce, a dash of wine, a little sugar, a few star anise, a few cloves, black pepper
3. Cook on high pressure for 45 minutes
4. Serve hot or at room temperature
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 »
Fried duck eggs, with green shallot and dark soy sauce (FODMAP friendly, gluten free option)
An Italian man at my husband’s work keeps a few ducks in his back yard. He gave us some fresh eggs last week. The eggs reminded me a $20 fried egg dish I had at a posh Asian restaurant, garnished with plenty of green shallot and dark soy sauce.
‘I can cook that’, I said to myself. It was easy, I cracked an egg, shallow fried it in hot oil with some green shallot (scallion); then transferred the egg to a plate, splashed a little dark soy sauce on top. It looked colorful and delicious.
* Use the green part of the scallion for a FODMAP friendly version; use a gluten free soy sauce for a gluten free option.
Pork spare rib stew with miso, ginger and wine 味噌排骨 (low FODMAP, gluten free)
On WeChat my ex high school mates were chatting about not having time to cook dinners. Really? I thought, surely a few equipment could help.
In addition to a standard kitchen, I have a double garage filled with cooking equipment – a pressure cooker, a rice cooker, a waffle maker, a table top multi-use grill, a mixer, a blender, a Tiger magic thermal pot, a 16 liter thermal pot, a five deck steamer pot, a 3-deck electric mini steamer, 3 electric frying pans, a portable induction cook top, 2 electric bain-maries and countless pots, cake tins and serving plates. Cooking a quick dinner is a breeze.
Before I continue on, I’d like to declare that I am not a hoarder. I run the Asian food stall each year for the school fete and I always contribute a bundle towards special event bakes. Hence I have accumulated so much useful equipment over the years.
Tonight I cooked a quick dinner with my pressure cooker. In the morning, I put some rice in the rice cooker and switch on the timer. I then spent 10 minutes browning the pork spare rib pieces, added carrot, potato chili, ginger and white wine. I turned the pressure cooker on high pressure 30 minutes. When I got home, dinner was ready and warm.
Easy peasy.
Recipe is as follow:
