Saffron Fried Rice

Ingredients:

1. 4 cups of overnight cooked rice
2. A few saffron strands
3. Sea-salt
4. Sunflower oil
5. Chives (only the dark green part - chopped)

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1. Heat a wok.

2. Drizzle some oil into the wok.

3. Add the saffron strands.

4. Then add the rice and stir-fry continuously for about 3 to 4 minutes.

5. Add some sea-salt and chives. Continue to stir-fry for another 2 minutes.

6. Once it is done, scoop up onto serving dish.

7. You can eat it together with chicken or fish dishes.

Bon appetit!

Thermomix Water Roux (Tangzhong)

There is a technique called the "Tangzhong method" which is used in Asian baking. By adding this "Tangzhong/water roux" to the dough, the bread/buns will be extra soft, lighter and fluffier.

The water roux starter is made up of water and flour. It is then cooked at 65 degrees until the starch starts to gelatinize.

Before I had my Thermomix, I made the water roux using the gas stove. It was tedious as I had to stir it continuosly in order for it to gelatinize. One must be alert to not burn this too!

Now with the TMX, making the water roux is a breeze!

Ingredients:

1. 100gm plain flour
2. 500gm water

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1. Place both ingredients into the TMX jug. Set 30mins/65C/speed 1. (I have done it at 70C too.)

2. Once it is done, pour the water roux into a container/bowl to allow it to cool. Use it as desired. I kept the extra in the fridge. Bear in mind if you keep it too long, it will turn grey-ish in colour. It has gone bad.

I did not want to waste this. I made bread dough with whatever that was left in the TMX jug.

Buckwheat Tea

8 years plus of not being able to have tea can really cause one misery.

Tea is high in salicylates. Even when I could have tea (before I had the anaphylaxis), they caused me to be wide awake the whole night! Some even gave me migraines from the bowels of Hades.

So I did some research recently.

Buckwheat is negligible in salicylate. And one can make tea out of it.

YAY!

I washed 500gm of buckwheat groats and baked them at 180C for 1/2 hour. You can also bake them until golden brown.

I got a tea infuser.

Once they were cool, I poured them into a jar. 

I placed about a teaspoon of the buckwheat groats into the infuser. 

Then I dunked it into a cup of boiling water. 

Voila! Buckwheat tea!

Alternatively, you could buy these tea bags and use them instead if you do not have an infuser. 

Home-Made Minced Chicken+Mashed Potato Patty (Evelyn's Version)

Ingredients:

1. 6 very large old potatoes
2. 500gm of minced chicken (marinate with sea-salt, a dash of brown sugar and sunflower oil)
3. 4 cups of organic all-purpose flour
4. Sunflower oil
5. Sea-salt
6. Brown sugar
7. 60gm of butter (softened at room temperature)
8. 7 cups of water

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1. In a large pot, pour 6 cups of water into it and bring it to a boil.

2. Wash the potatoes and peel the potato skins. Discard the skins.

3. Once the water is boiling, drop the potatoes into it and continue to boil the water until the potatoes have softened.

4. Scoop the softened potatoes up and mash them up. Add the softened butter and 1/2 teaspoon of sea-salt to the mashed potatoes and mix throughly.

5. In a large baking bowl, pour the flour, a teaspoon of sea-salt, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1/2 cup of sunflower oil and the mashed potatoes.

6. Mix all the ingredients throughly until they resemble the mixture of dough.

7. Heat a frying pan.

8. Break the dough into balls the size of golf balls.

9. Flatten them and make a depression in the centre.

10. Scoop 2 tablespoons size of minced chicken and press it into the depression.

11. Drizzle some sunflower oil on the heated pan.

12. Place the patties onto the pan and fry till golden brown.

13. Flip them over and fry the other side until golden brown too.

14. Serve warm with rice. Alternatively, you can eat it them on their own with the sauce of your choice. I had mine with rice of course!

Bon appétit!

Mashing the potatoes!

The dough!

The potato patty with minced chicken in the centre!

The yummy-licious patties!

With rice of course! 

My Home-Made Minced Chicken Chop

Ingredients:

1. 500gm of minced chicken
(*marinate with sea-salt, sunflower oil and 2 tablespoons of organic all-purpose flour)
2. Sunflower oil
3. Bread crumbs

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1. Heat a frying pan.

2. While the pan is being heated up, flatten the minced chicken into a large slice "patty-looking-chicken". Use a plastic spoon to create some "lines of depression or wavy-lines" in the chicken.

3. Then coat the chicken with bread crumbs.

4. Drizzle some sunflower oil onto the frying pan.

5. Place the minced chicken onto the pan.

6. Allow it to sizzle until it is browned on one side.

7. Turn it over and allow the other side to sizzle until browned too.

8. Serve hot.

Bon appétit!

I did not coat the chicken with enough bread crumbs. Will do so the next time I cook this. 

This is the little boy's meal. I served the minced chicken chop with my home-made instant noodles, fried egg and sliced cucumbers. I garnished the noodles with some fried garlic and shallots. 

Salicylate-Free Black-Eye-Peas Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

1. 250gm of black eye peas (washed and soaked overnight in a bowl of water)
2. 1 whole chicken (cut into 4 parts and skin-less)
3. Water
4. Sea-salt
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1. Put the peas and the whole chicken into a very large pot.

2. Fill the pot with water until the chicken is submerged.

3. Boil for 2 hours.

4. Add sea-salt to taste.

5. Serve the soup hot.

Bon appétit!

For lunch, we had the soup with rice, steamed cod fish and some stir-fried nai-pak vegetable.

For dinner, we had rice with the soup, peas and the chicken from the soup.

Salicylate-Free Organic Wholemeal+Buckwheat Bread

Ingredients:

1. 300gm organic wholemeal flour
2. 250gm organic buckwheat flour
3. 1 1/2 tablespoons of active dry yeast
4. A teaspoon of sea-salt
5. A teaspoon of soft, brown sugar
6. 1 1/2 cups of warm water
7. 1/4 cup of sunflower oil

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1. Sieve the wholemeal flour and the buckwheat flour into a very large mixing bowl.

2. Add the yeast, sea-salt, sugar, sunflower oil and water to the sieved flour.

3. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.

4. Knead the dough until it is smooth. If it is too soft, add some flour and knead until it is smooth. If it is too dry, add some warm water and knead until smooth.
(*Buckwheat flour is more sticky than the normal bread flour)

5. Cover the bowl with a cling-wrap or a damp towel for about 2 hours until the dough has doubled in size.

6. Knock the dough back down and knead it again for about 20 minutes.

7. Divide the dough into half and allow it to rise again for about 1 hour.

8. Preheat oven at 190C.

9. Grease 2 loaf tins with some sunflower oil.

10. Put the dough into the loaf tins and bake for about 45 minutes or until slightly browned.

11. Allow to cool

Bon appétit!

Note: The usual buckwheat bread recipes use milk. I substituted milk with sunflower oil instead as I have lactose intolerance and am somewhat sensitive to something in the fresh milk. Salicylate is negligible in sunflower oil.

Salicylate-Free Barley+Chicken Soup

Soup is also sometimes called broth.

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup of barley groats

2. 1 whole chicken (cut into 4 parts)

3. 4 cups of water

4. Sea-salt

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1. Put the barley groats, chicken in to a large pot. 

2. Pour the 4 cups of water into the pot.

3. Add about 1 teaspoon of sea-salt.

4. Bring the soup to a boil then allow it to simmer for 2 hours.

5. Serve it hot. You can have it with rice and a vegetable dish.

Bon appétit!

A Salicylate-Free Meal

Steamed cod fish, steamed lettuce iceberg and claypot style minced chicken+tofu!
Serve hot with sushi rice for a perfect-salicylate-free meal!

For cod fish recipe, click here.

Bon appétit!

Salicylate-Free Chicken Nuggets!

Ingredients:

1. 500gm of minced chicken
2. 1/4 cup of organic all-purpose flour
3. 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil
4. Sea-salt
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1. Mix all the above ingredients until all blended well.

2. Make into small nugget shapes.

3. Heat the wok with just a little bit of sunflower oil.

4. Once the oil is hot, place the chicken nuggets into the wok.

5. Once one side is slightly browned, turn it to the other side and fry till it is slightly browned too.

6. Allow to slightly cool before serving.

Bon appétit!

Fresh home-made chicken nuggets with no preservatives, additives, MSG or flavourings! 

I made potato wedges to go with the nuggets! *YUMMY!*

Salicylate-Free Steamed Cod Fish

Ingredients:

1. 1 slice of cod fish (I bought mine from the wet market)
2. Sea-salt
3. Sugar

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1. Wash the fish throughly.

2. Season with some sea-salt and sugar.

3. Place in a steamer and steam until thoroughly cooked.

4. Serve while hot!
*Cold cod fish is not delicious at all. It has a very fishy taste.
**You can eat the cod fish with rice and a vegetable dish of your choice.

Bon appétit!

I had the cod with sushi rice and some stir-fried french beans! *YUMMY!*

Low-Salicylate Snacki-li-cious Snack!

Ingredients:

1. 500g of chickpeas/garbanzo beans
2. 2 teaspoons of sea-salt
3. Sunflower oil

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1. Wash and soak the chickpeas/garbanzo in a bowl of water overnight.

2. Pour the water away and boil the chickpeas until they have softened.

3. Drain the water away and dry the chickpeas/garbanzo beans until they are almost 100% dried.

4. Preheat the oven at 190C.

5. Pour them on a large baking tray and spread them out.

6. Pour the sea-salt and drizzle sunflower oil over the chickpeas/garbanzo beans and mix them thoroughly until all are covered in salt and oil.

7. Bake them for about 30 to 40 minutes.

8. They will be cooked when they have turned into dark, golden brown. Make sure they do not burn!

9. This dish will be done once the chickpeas/garbanzo beans are crunchy!

10. You can store them in an airtight container. But trust me, with a snack this delicious, it won't stay in the container for long!

Bon appétit!

Salicylate-Free Oat Crunchies

Ingredients:

1. 500gm of organic rolled oats
2. 1/2 cup of sunflower oil
3. 4 tablespoons of brown sugar
4. 3 large eggs

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1. Preheat oven at 180C.

2. Pour all ingredients into a large bowl and mix thoroughly.

3. Scoop teaspoons of the mixed ingredients into small paper cups.

4. Place into oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until slightly browned.

5. Allow to cool before storing in airtight containers. They can be kept in the refrigerator for about a month.

Salicylate-Free Wholemeal Digestive Biscuits!

Ingredients:

1. 100g organic wholemeal flour
*Alternatively, you could mix 80g organic wholemeal flour with 20g organic all-purpose flour.
2. 1 tablespoon of baking powder
3. 40gm of light, brown sugar
4. 120gm of salted butter.
5. 2 to 3 tablespoons of milk
(I did not add oats to the biscuits this round. If you prefer to add oats to them, add 100gm of fine, grounded oats.)

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1. Melt the butter.

2. Mix the flour, baking powder, and brown sugar into a large bowl.

3. Add the melted butter into the dry ingredients and mix until crumbly.

4. Add the milk until a smooth dough is formed.

5. Wrap the dough in cling wrap and store it in the fridge for about 1/2 hour.

6. Preheat the oven to 180C.

7. Remove the dough from the cling wrap and roll it into a long cylinder shape. You can cut small circle shapes 0.4cm in thickness. Alternatively, you can scoop out a tablespoon size of dough and flatten it with the back of a spatula.

8. Bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

9. Lay aside to cool.

10. Store in airtight containers. I kept mine in the fridge.

Bon appétit!

Waiting for oven to be ready.

Fresh out of the oven!

Ready to be kept in the fridge!

Gluten-Free & Low-Salicylate Rich Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

1. 225g butter
2. 225g plain (semisweet) butter
3. 115g unsweetened cocoa powder
4. 150g caster sugar
5. 6 eggs

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1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Line a 23 x 5cm round baking pan with baking paper. Grease the paper with some butter.

3. Melt the butter and chocolate in the top of a double boiler. Leave aside to cool.

4. Sift the cocoa powder into a large bowl.

5. Add the sugar and eggs.

5. Stir until the three ingredients are combined.

6. Pour the melted chocolate mixture into the large bowl and stir well until combined.

7. Pour the mixture into the baking pan.

8. Set the baking pan in a roasting pan and pour about 5cm of hot water into the outer pan.

9. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the cake is firm to the touch.

10. Leave the cake to cool for 15 minutes and then unfold it onto a wire rack.

11. When it has cooled down, wrap the cake in baking paper and chill it in the fridge for about 8 hours.

12. Once the cake is chilled, it can be served.

Bon appétit!

The mixture before baking

After 45 minutes of baking!

My First Trip Abroad in 38 Months - Part 5 (The Beach!)

Garlic minced chicken

Lunch & Dinner of the day: Garlic minced chicken, stir fried french beans, fried egg and hot sushi rice!

Such peaceful surroundings!

Enjoying my dinner with the sea-breeze blowing in my face and the waves crashing on the shore!

Next to the beach are two paths for joggers, cyclists, roller bladders, and brisk walkers to exercise and enjoy! There are BBQ pits and picnic spots too.   

Bicycles for rent! Hubby and son rented a bicycle each and cycled while I enjoyed the sea breeze and waves!

We went to the Science Centre the next day and walked a bit at Orchard Road, the shopping paradise of Singapore. Too many people for my liking. The sales was great but I did not buy a thing. Too MANY people!!!

The view from the plane on the way home!