Traditionally carrot salad is popular in many cultures, the most well know are those from the middle-east. However, this salad is a spin-off from an Asian noodle salad I used to cook back in my vegetarian days.  As it is, it’s raw/vegan, but you could add egg noodles, rice noodles or even low carb konnyaku noodles to this if you want to make it a bigger meal. I’m keeping a big tub of it in the fridge and using it in wraps or just grabbing it for a quick snack. The herbs may get a little soggy but I’ll allow that because as the bright flavours of the dressing soaks through the crunchy carrot the flavours just become better and better.

Carrot Salad with Sesame, Soy and Lime Dressing

• 4-5 carrots, grated (to make 2 cups)
• 1 large (170g) red capsicum, shredded
• 200g (2 cups) snow peas, shredded
• 1 big handful mint, shredded
• ½ bunch coriander leaves

Dressing

• 4 tsp sesame oil
• 2 Tbsp sweet chilli sauce (sugar-free optional)
• 2 Tbsp dark soy sauce (or Braggs Aminos/Tamari for soy/wheat-free)
• 1 Tbsp kecap manis
• 2 Tbsp lime juice
• 1 tsp sesame seeds

1. Combine the salad ingredients in a large bowl.
2. In a small bowl combine the dressing.
3. Toss the dressing through the salad.

Makes 4 large serves.

Nutrition per serve (using sugar-free sweet chilli):
114 Calories
5.4g Fat, 0.9g Saturated, 0mg Cholesterol
2.9g Protein
10.7g Carbohydrates, 4.5g Fibre
914.2mg Sodium

A few years ago I came up with this recipe for chicken prepared using my ricotta and spinach filling and I was reminded of it today when I had lunch with Janelle at Fasta Pasta. I think, in this video, I say to use quark, but you could just as easily use a creamed cottage cheese or a low fat ricotta. They’re all a good source of lean protein.

This is one of the first videos filmed for a series called Healthy Helpings TV, which I produced in 2007-2008. I will be featuring a few more of these on this website over the upcoming weeks.

Maybe you’ve strayed into the wonderful world of sugar and process carbs and need a way back. After my weekend away in Melbourne, I sure did. All the delicious treats of St Kilda and surrounds have recharged my body and inspired me to get back into the kitchen and keep food fun, fresh and fast.

When it came time to get into a clean breakfast I had to get creative, I didn’t want to be lured back to by the sugar-faeries. Pancakes always seem a bit more special to me after a week of porridge, but I didn’t want the same old, same old. Good thing too as I was out of cinnamon and my vanilla essense was still packed from the trip. So, when  I opened my baking draw in my pantry, searching for inspiration, the coconut essence jumped out and grabbed my imagination. Combined with the nutty taste of the quinoa flour and a few oats added for extra chewiness I was excited.

There are many protein-rich pancake recipes out there and depending on the day i make mine with different ratios of liquids to solids, depending on whether i want crepes or cute fluffy pikelettes. When the mixture hit the pan and the tiny little bubble started to form, I new I’d be satisfied. Up the puffed, golden and luxurious a perfect reward after a cold winter’s morning walk.

All this changed when, mid-winter, I purchased some sprouts at the farmers market and munched on one raw. Crunchy like little baby cabbages, spicy like horseradish or wasabi. Entirely delicious and so far removed from what my Mum served ever Christmas. Could it just be a case of treating them gently?

My quest for the perfect cooked sprout began. Being like a cabbage I suspected that they’d taste amazing cooked in bacon fat. Indeed they do. It is Christmas after all so go ahead and treat yourselves if you wish. For the rest of you, who are exercising a bit more moderation I still have an exciting and ‘non-mushy’ way to cook your sprouts.

• 500g brussel sprouts
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ⅛ teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
• a pinch, cayenne pepper
• a big pinch, fine salt flakes
• 1-2 teaspoon butter
• ½ a lemon

1. Trim the bases off the sprouts. Remove any loose outer leaves and cut in half, lengthways.
2. Mix all the spices together and set aside.
3. Place the sprouts, cut sides down in a medium size fryingpan. Add ¼ cup of water and cover with a tight fitting lid. Place on the stove over a medium heat and cook until the water has evaporated and the flat sides have started to become golden. This should take about 5 minutes.
4. Add the spices to the pan. Toss the sprouts to coat and re-cover the pan for 1 minute. Increase the heat and add in the butte. Toss the sprouts in the butter until the butter becomes golden. Serve with a light squeeze of lemon.

In the past I’ve only ever used skate for curry and casserole type dishes, as it is quite dense and holds up well to a longer cooking. However, since getting back from my trip I have been looking forward to a trip to the Central Markets to buy ingredients for my own Chilli BBQ Skate. Traditionally this is cooked in a banana leaf but lugging them to lunch didn’t seem like a good idea so I’ve used baking paper instead.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon chilli bean paste*
• 1 tablespoon Sambal Oelek
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• 1 skate wing (500g)

Preheat your bbq or charcoal grill (the more traditional method).

If there is a large variation in thickness in the skate wing divide it into 2 or 3 pieces according to thickness so that each piece can be cooked accordingly.

Mix the chilli bean paste and sambal oelek together.

Lay the skate on baking paper that is 2-3 times the width of the skate.  Paint each side with the chilli paste and sprinkle with spring onions. Tightly wrap each parcel and place in the barbecue. After 5 minutes turn the skate over and cook for a further 5-10 minutes. The thicker the skate the longer it will need cooking. To test whether it’s done, you should be able to drag a fork through it and have it crumble. Any uncooked bits will remain tough and rubbery, however if you over cook it, it may become too stringy.

*You can make your own chilli bean paste by blending  1½ tsp palm sugar or dark brown sugar, 1ts salt,  juice of 1 lemon,  2 tbsp vegetable oil,  1 tbsp tamarind paste, 3 dried chills soaked in 1 cup warm water

On a nutrition note, white rice isn’t super healthy so if you want to mix things up a bit you could try using short grain brown rice. You will need to double the liquid and the cooking time. Alternatively, this could be adapted for quinoa. Follow the instruction exactly, in this case.

¾ cup (120ml) vegetable or fish stock
¼ cup (60ml) white wine
1 teaspoon (5g) butter
1 leek finely sliced
½ cup (100g) arborio or carnaroli rice
200g green (raw) prawns
100g frozen peas

Heat the stock and wine in a small saucepan.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt the butter and add the leek. Cover the saucepan and sweat the leek over a low heat until soft, stirring occasionally.

Once the leek is soft add in the rice and toast briefly. Add the stock mixture and simmer gently for about 20 minutes.

At this point most of the liquid will have absorbed and the rice will be a little crunchy but nearly done. Add the prawns to the pan and gently stir through the rice. Cover the saucepan and continue to cook gently for 5 minutes. Stir through the peas and cover again. Cook for a further 2 minutes.

Serves 2

Because this this recipe is for my brother Jason, who has a ready supply of rotissirie chicken I’ve modified the recipe to have chicken in it. Of course if you are vego you just skip the chicken. Massel chicken stock is still my vegetarian and non-vego convenience stock of choice.

Spicy chicken and lentil soup (serves 6-8- cost per serve $1ish)
2 tablespoon oil
2 cup red lentils
2 onion, finely chopped
3 teaspoon turmeric
3 teaspoon garam marsala
3 teaspoon ground cumin
(you could probably skip the turmeric if you were buying new spices)
1 chopped red chilli (or 1 teaspoon chilli paste)
Shredded chicken (optional, this soup was originally vego)
4 cup of chicken stock
2 potatoes, peeled and diced (optional, make the soup thicker)
coriander to garnish

Rinse and pick over the lentils for any discoloured ones.

Toast the spices in a medium sized saucepan until aromatic. Add the oil and saute the onion, chilli and chicken until the onion starts to brown. Add the lentils and stir to coat.

Add in the stock and potato and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 20 minutes with the lid half on. Serve with a garnish of coriander and a bit of fresh bread.

a splash of oil
some flour if you’ve got some
2kg of cheap stewing steak (ask the butcher for that!) or stewing Kangaroo ($10/kg)
garlic (chopped or whole cloves)
2 onions
any or all of the following: carrots, parsnips, turnips, celery all peeled and cut into equals size pieces (check the old veggie section at work, they sometimes pack these as ‘soup mix)
1 can of tomatoes
1 can/stubbie of beer (something dark such as coopers dark is best)
1 cup of beef stock or water

In a big pot heat the oil to medium. The pan is hot enough when you see the oil move a bit
Dust the meat in salt and pepper and flour if you’ve got some and brown it, handfuls at a time. Once each lot it browned remove it from the pot, until all is cooked.

Add in a bit more oil if the pot is dry and cook your onions until soft.

Throw in the rest of the veggies and garlic and turn the heat down. Pop a lid on for a few minutes until the carrots start to soften.

Splash in the booze and use a wooden spoon to scrape all the cooked on bits off the bottom of the pot. Increase the heat a bit until the liquid bubbles for a minute or two.

Throw the meat back in, along with everything else. Put the lid back on and turn down to the lowest temperature. Simmer for 2 hours. If you’ve got really cheap meat it might take longer.

If your saucepan doesn’t have any wooden or plastic bits (handles etc), pop it in the oven for the 2 hours instead at 150ºC/280ºF

Variations:
RED WINE SAUCE: Replace the beer with 1/2 glass of red wine and some tinned tomatoes.
OR
Red Curry: Don’t flour and season the meat and replace the beer and stock with coconut milk and add in some red curry paste

Note: this is part of the Cheap Eats series, aimed at arming my brother, who has just moved out of home with a few dishes to get him by. The heavy use of rotisserie chickens is because he works behind a supermarket deli counter and often gets the leftovers.

Chicken nasi-goereng (makes a mountain- easily about $1 a serve)

A good slug of oil
random cheap veggies gathered at the central markets OR 1 bag of mixed frozen stir-fry veggies (about $3)
Shredded cooked chicken from work
cooked rice (add more rice to make the meal cheaper!!)
a good slug of soy sauce (kecap manis is better but you could theoretically steal soy sauce from sushi bars and mix in a little sugar to sweeten it)
sambal oelek or chopped chilies
1 egg, beaten

Heat a wok or big frying pan to very high and add in some oil.
Chuck in the veggies and cook until done.
Throw in the rice and the chicken and chilli and stir fry for another few minutes until the rice is golden
Add the soy sauce, enough to coat the rice without making it soupy. Continue to stirfry for a few more minutes until dry.
Push the rice to one side and add the egg and fry until nearly cooked then stir into the rice.
A bit of coriander would brighten this up.

Image courtesy of http://ninecooks.typepad.com/

While browsing a ‘free vegetables’ list. That is, list of vegetable who are fibrous or low enough in calories and sugar to be included in a serious ‘leaning out’ diet I spotted rhubarb. Ever since then I’ve been eyeing off the rhubarb at the farmers markets and at my organics shop. It’s thick stalks and strange colour taunted me ‘You’ll never make anything out of me’. Finally, on Friday I picked some up from Wilson’s Organics. The guy who always serves me and I both commented on how we’d never cooked it before. He’s quite used to me buying mystery ingredients each week and I report back whether they’re a success or not. Upon leaving the shop I broke a small bit off a stalk and had a taste. ‘PWFATTSST!’ Don’t do that. How anyone would ever think of eating this stuff after a raw taste is beyond me. However, I persevered and with a bit of scanning of my cookbooks concocted a plan.

Nutrition Data has this to say about Rhubarb:

It is also a good source of Magnesium, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Calcium, Potassium and Manganese.

However, further research suggests that

… while it’s true that 1 cup of diced rhubarb contains about 10% of the daily value for calcium, it is hardly bioavailable at all, owing to the presence of these pesky natural compounds called oxalates, which bind to the calcium in the vegetable and prevent us from being able to absorb it.  So in fact, rhubarb is NOT actually a good non-dairy source of calcium…

Coconut Custard with Rhubarb compote

Rhubarb Compote

• 6 stems of rhubarb, cut into 2cm pieces
• the zest and juice of 1 lime
• 1 tablespoon, freshly squeeze orange juice (or water)
• 1 teaspoon Splenda®

Coconut Custard

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 165ml of light (coconut) milk*
• ½ teaspoon vanilla essense
• 1 tablespoon Splenda®

Place all the ingredients for the compote in a small fryingpan/skillet over a medium heat and cook, stiring occasionally, for 8 minutes.

To make the custard, heat the milk until almost boiling. Either 2 minutes in the microwave or on the stove, stiring until bubble form at the edges.

In a large metal or glass bowl combine the eggs and Splenda®, while whisking add in the hot milk. Place the bowl over a saucepan with about 5cm of simmering water in the bottom of it. Make sure the bowl does not touch the water. Continue to stir until the mixture thickens. If lumps form, it’ll still taste good but it might not be dinner party material. Once the mixture is at the desired thickness it can be allowed to cool and reheated again gently in the same manner. The slightly scrambled version in the photo was very delicious, so if it’s just your Sunday breakfast don’t worry, you haven’t ruined it.

Divide the rhubarb amongst 2 ramekins and place the custard on top. Use a small spoon to give the mixture a ‘half-turn’ to make a pretty swirl.

*Plain low-fat milk works fine also.  I always buy TCC light coconut milk (like at the bottom but in a green can)

Nutrition per serve (makes 2 serves)
Calories: 180
Fat: 10.8g
Carbs: 13.8g
Fibre: 3.7g
Sugar: 3.4g (mostly from the OJ- replace with water to reduce)
Protien: 8.4g (you could boost this by adding in a scoop of vanilla whey to the custard mix)