What do your meals look like (show me pictures)....
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@Adventurista
I usually use sushi rice and prefer Nishiki brand grown in the US. My information might be out of date as my Japanese cookbook is the Shizuo Tsuji classic from the 80s. There they warn that most Japanese brands dust sushi rice with talc which requires careful and vigorous washing. Nishiki brand was the first pre-washed (musenmai) rice.
Just as I now learned about dealing with (potentially reducing) arsenic in rice, comes talc. Glyphosphate in oats, wheat, corn, apples. 40 years ago, in my 20s, I was "mostly organic." I should have stayed the course all these years.
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I haven't done much real cooking since getting home this week after visiting mom. Today I warmed up some celeriac soup I found in the freezer, made when that stuff was cheap in February and just pan fried the garnish of chorizo oil and fried rosemary tonight. Green salad used vinaigrette I still had in the fridge made prior to our trip. Bolognese sauce was from the freezer too, batch cooked with a girl friend last month.
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I am apparently a little out of practice with cooking. Chicken satay got a bit overcook because I used breasts when the recipe called for thighs and forgot to adjust the cooking time/temperature. Nasi impit turned out okay despite forgetting to line the mold with clingfilm. Satay sauce was good and had no issues. Chinese turnip cake made in the microwave was a bit of a fail. It tasted good but the texture was all wrong. Scorched at the bottom of the vessel and too soft on the top. Szechuan aubergine salad was dependably good. A miniature Chinese eight jewel pudding was good despite forgetting to mix coconut fat or shortening and sugar into the rice. No fat made the rice hard to handle due to stickiness. Happily the sugar content could be rescued with extra floral syrup normally poured on sparingly just to add shine to the finished pudding.
@Adventurista
Today I made the Chinese eight jewel rice pudding and the compressed Malaysian rice cubes using Cantonese sticky rice, because the store was out of Thai sticky rice. The Cantonese stuff was also a long grain and very sticky especially when cool. There were no instructions on the package so I washed four times before the rinse water became clear. I used the normal rice to water ratio called for by my Xiaomi rice cooker, let the mixture soak for 3 hours before turning on the default 1 hour cycle. Texture turned out fine. I will have to compare with the no soak results when I am shorter of time.
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Quick dinner after rehearsal. Air fryer is really nice for late night dinners without heating up the apartment.4 -
@mjbnj0001 - ty! Picking up some garbanzos, and those little noodles. Have the rest. Made a gallon of bone broth this week and often use when cooking beans or rice. The recipe looks like it would work well with other beans too.
I have not used a pressure cooker nor instapot, however, i like to cook up a lb of beans and freeze in portions for cooking. I really like using 2+ beans in recipes, and love using large blends in soups like Bobs red mill 13 bean mix which i presoak overnight.
ps, with you on reducing chemical exposures and seeking organic. Who knew? Back in the (decades) day, it seemed to be an 'out there' thing along the lines of granola or vegetarian seeking fringe eaters.... And now, ever mounting evidence shows us how food can nourish or harm us... Would think it's a no brainer, but still is majorly resisted.1 -
@acpgee - ty for the info on rice. Talc? Who knew? Very important tho.
You have shared ideas i have never encountered... have not done sushi, rather the typical americanized Chinese food restaurants, which is the rice i had been unable to replicate at home with white long grain on stovetop.
The jewel rice dessert looks delish, and I could see doing the nuggets for a starch with stir fry veggies and meats/kabobs for a beautiful plate.
I appreciate the observations, and look forward to the no soak results.
Think I will explore our Asian markets. The options in our regular stores are rather limited.
-- my first to try will be your recommendation of "sushi rice and prefer Nishiki brand grown in the US."
-- i was so surprised a few years back to learn there are US grown rice and wild rice.
Imagine your routine is falling into place again... it is easy to slip out during a break. The meals at the facility looked sufficiently balanced and decent, but imagine very different from mumsies home cooking...
The longer we can preserve our health, the longer we can enjoy such beautiful variety in our meals.... Appreciate the shares here from everyone.1 -
So tonight I had my batch cooking buddy over for dinner. She struggles to cook on weeknights and every 4 weeks we spend a weekend afternoon batch cooking a huge quantity of braised dishes such as bolognese sauce or coq au vin to fill up both our freezers with ready meals. Tonight instead I instructed her how to make an easy Thai dinner of garlic pepper chicken with cucumber salad which can be produced in the 20 minutes it takes to cook some rice. My girlfriend did all the cooking and I just stood around barking orders. For dessert we steamed a Chinese eight jewel rice pudding I assembled yesterday. It really is the Chinese version of a Christmas pudding, normally served at New Years.
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@Adventurista, @mjbnj0001
Apologies for being alarmist.
As I mentioned earlier, my reference about Japanese produced rice containing talc came from my 1980 first edition of "Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art" by Shizuo Tsuji. It was the first comprehensive Japanese cookbook published in English. I guess that would be comparable to using Julia Child as my reference for French cooking.
Googling for articles in a cursory manner, scientific papers on Japanese rice and talc date from the 70s. The most recent paper I found linking talc coated rice to stomach cancer in Japan was from 1978. I did find a later blog article saying that after Ralph Nader campaigned to ban US imports of talc dusted rice, manufacturers switched to dusting with cornstarch or other flours in the 80s. There was a warning for coeliacs to read labels regarding the dusting agent.2 -
@Susanna527, I'm sorry, I didn't see this until just now! (I stopped posting food pics back in January.)Susanna527 wrote: »Tuesday lunch on the road... turkey and white cheddar cheese sandwich (on gf bread) with a peanut butter blossom I brought with me and a serving of cole slaw from the food brought in
I LOVE peanut butter blossoms - I make mine grain-free/gluten-free (I've got Celiac's) with just peanut butter, an egg and some sugar, sometimes I'll add a pinch of salt & some vanilla if I have it. I think they're fine without the flour and all the other stuff that's normally in them.
I see your sandwich was on gluten-free bread.Gluten-free bread here in Connecticut is RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE - $6 for 5 slices of g/f sourdough bread, $7.99 for a 2 g/fskinny baguettes, $8.49 for 4 g/f bagels. I make most of my bread items from scratch because of the price, but I've yet to make a sandwich bread.Can I ask what type of g/f you use? Thanks!
I wish I had the time to make my own bread from scratch. There's a bakery near me that sells a 48-hr. fermented sourdough that I'm able to eat with no problem. I pick up a loaf of that from time to time. My go-to gf bread is actually a store brand (Kroger 7-grain) bread. It doesn't fall apart when used for a non-toasted sandwich and actually tastes like bread. $5.79 for a 14 slice loaf.
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A monochromatic Germanic dinner. Salt beef pulled out of the freezer from a batch cooked sous vide 2 months ago. Air fried roast daikon and store bought sauerkraut from a jar. My hack for easy mash: prik large potatos with a fork to prevent explosions, microwave 5 or 6 minutes until soft, cut in half and place cut side down in a potato ricer and press. Remove spent peel from the ricer with a fork after each half. Mix with butter, milk and salt to taste and warm up in the microwave when you are ready to eat. I love not having to peel potatoes.
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I was shooting for crockpot peppered beef, but turned into stoup @ the moment, may make it a stew depending on if i add thickener. Had planned to serve with rice, but so much liquid, now thinking of serving in a mashed tater well.
Flavor developing nicely from bell peppers and sweet onions, (hack can diced tomatoes) and just added variety spices which will cook in. Homemade broth.
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@Adventurista
My mom used to add finely grated potato cooked to a pulp as a thickener for curries if that is something that is a more sympathetic flavour profile than a roux.
I tried to a no soak version of the Cantonese sticky rice today on the one hour setting and it was mostly fine. There were a few scorched areas at the bottom of the rice cooker. I need to try this again on the 40 minute quick setting to see if that is what is causing the problem.1 -
Ty @acpgee , yes. Went with a cornstarch slurry. Do you tend to use a rice cooker? I do well stove top with white rice, but brown or wild blends are a bit difficult.1
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@Adventurista
My mom used to add finely grated potato cooked to a pulp as a thickener for curries if that is something that is a more sympathetic flavour profile than a roux.
I tried to a no soak version of the Cantonese sticky rice today on the one hour setting and it was mostly fine. There were a few scorched areas at the bottom of the rice cooker. I need to try this again on the 40 minute quick setting to see if that is what is causing the problem.
I usually stock a box of quality instant potato flakes in the pantry - used for this purpose as a thickener, often in slowcooker dishes, as much as a quickie side (as a side, they do need some doctoring up for best results, lol).2 -
Adventurista wrote: »Ty @acpgee , yes. Went with a cornstarch slurry. Do you tend to use a rice cooker? I do well stove top with white rice, but brown or wild blends are a bit difficult.
I use a rice cooker. I resisted buying one for many years because I objected to their ugliness but when a Chinese colleague introduced me to the cute Xiaomi model I was smitten. I regularly make brown rice and quinoa in it as well as various types of white rice (basmati, par boiled, sticky, sushi). My batch cooking buddy says my rice has a fluffier texture than what she achieves on the stovetop.
I do not use all the high tech features of my model. I only use the dumb manual menu which has four settings (default 1 hour, quick 40 minutes, 1.5 hour for congee, keep warm for up to 12 hours) although I did have to program in the location altitude when I first set it up. If you are willing to use the smartphone app to operate the rice cooker there are different settingss for 50+ types/brands of rice.
If this one breaks down, these days there are other good looking rice cookers out there. The Muji rice cooker is very pretty and has the advantage of control buttons in English, though it is more expensive than the Xiaomi. Muji is a design led discount store in Japan, similar to Target in the US, Flying Tiger in Denmark or HEMA in the Netherlands.
Here is Mimi (my rice cooker has a name because she makes cute feminine tinkling sounds when ready).
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@Adventurista
I am attempting satay again tonight and made sticky rice for nasi inpit, those Malaysian compressed rice cubes. This time I soaked the sticky rice overnight and ran the default one hour program. Absolutely no scorched/dried areas at the bottom. I have yet to try no soak with the 40 minute program, but the conclusion thus far is soaking improves the result, but is not strictly necessary. It means tossing a few bits of dried slightly scorched rice from the bottom of the pot that don't affect the taste of the rest of the batch. That said, the Chinese are so thrifty that there are traditional recipes for using up those scorched/dried up bits of rice. If I remember correctly they involve puffing them up in the deep fryer.0 -
I made this mango salad. It taste better than it looks.
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I see your sandwich was on gluten-free bread. Gluten-free bread here in Connecticut is RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE - $6 for 5 slices of g/f sourdough bread, $7.99 for a 2 g/fskinny baguettes, $8.49 for 4 g/f bagels. I make most of my bread items from scratch because of the price, but I've yet to make a sandwich bread. ...
@Susanna527, I'm sorry, I didn't see this until just now! (I stopped posting food pics back in January.)
I wish I had the time to make my own bread from scratch. There's a bakery near me that sells a 48-hr. fermented sourdough that I'm able to eat with no problem. I pick up a loaf of that from time to time. My go-to gf bread is actually a store brand (Kroger 7-grain) bread. It doesn't fall apart when used for a non-toasted sandwich and actually tastes like bread. $5.79 for a 14 slice loaf.
I employ, usually, a "no knead" method of breadmaking that requires about 10-15 minutes of manual activity in a 3-4 hour period from "start" to "end of bake." It's a pretty straightforward process that I have employed for about 6 yrs now, for about 80%+ of our consumed bread products. Lately, since New Year's, I've been trying my hand at an extended process for "hybrid sourdough" needing about 20 minutes' activity across an 9-13 hour timespan (8-12 hour countertop room-temp fermenting stage). I have yet to let it ferment longer. The lack of additives, dough conditioners and such from commercial bread manufacturing seems to help my wife's gut. For me, it's just plain tasty and robust. Disregarding energy costs (and I further economize by piggybacking bread baking to follow an oven-cooked dinner entree), I estimate $2/loaf give or take, factoring in the increasing costs of flour. for MFP recipe macros computations, I average 20 slices/loaf. For most breads - loaves, foccaccia, rolls, pizza dough - there are minor variations of process, but the same basics apply. Homemade english muffins, flour tortilla, pita require more variation. Pic is a recent 'batch" of whole wheat - for efficiency's sake, I usually make 2 loaves at a time, "one for now, one for the freezer." I have made as many as four at a time during the holidays. 2nd pic is part of a holiday spread where I baked a boule loaf (it is a product of the 3-4 hour process; the hummus is homemade from dried chickpeas, and is served plain, savory and with a sweet/hot flavoring); charcuterie and other finger foods accompanied as well. BTW, Recent research also indicates that freezing bread converts a portion to "resistant starch," further lowering the glycemix index/load. The pics were seen in prior postings in this thread.
(Edited)
Added a pic of the fermented "sponge" used for those two loaves above. Look carefully, you'll be able to see the bubbling fermentation.
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@Adventurista, @mjbnj0001
Apologies for being alarmist.
As I mentioned earlier, my reference about Japanese produced rice containing talc came from my 1980 first edition of "Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art" by Shizuo Tsuji. It was the first comprehensive Japanese cookbook published in English. I guess that would be comparable to using Julia Child as my reference for French cooking.
Googling for articles in a cursory manner, scientific papers on Japanese rice and talc date from the 70s. The most recent paper I found linking talc coated rice to stomach cancer in Japan was from 1978. I did find a later blog article saying that after Ralph Nader campaigned to ban US imports of talc dusted rice, manufacturers switched to dusting with cornstarch or other flours in the 80s. There was a warning for coeliacs to read labels regarding the dusting agent.
Thanks. I did a little probably similar research following the original posting, and saw that talc is not used in the US. Most of my rice is domestic, and I'm now taking measures to reduce arsenic, which is our problem here. I wouldn't know when eating out if the rice was domestic or not, so I presume all the sushi I ate up to the 80s or so could've had it, but there's nothing to be done now about it. You can't fix what's behind you, only what lies ahead.1 -
Chicken satay with the trimmings and sauteed spinach.
@mjbnj0001
I am sure that sushi restaurants would have known to use the "polishing" technique for washing Japanese sushi rice. It involves rubbing the rice grains against each other, and pouring off liquid repeatedly until the water runs clear. Shizuo Tsuji warned that rinsing under the tap in a colander was not an adequate wash for Japanese sushi rice, with the exception of Nishiki brand.
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Simple tonight (Monday). Savory turkey burgers, perched on slices of the whole wheat hybrid sourdough I've previously posted, with cheese and side veg salad. MFP computes this plate to be approx. 913cal, 70g protein, 43g fat (cheese! my downfall), 60g carb (with 14g fiber).
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Breakfast:
🍳 Cauli rice, mixed veggies, chicken breast, egg, avocado
🍸 red kale, açaí, collagen, blue & blackberries.
60 grams protein, 560 cals.
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Spaghetti with vodka sauce and meatballs pulled out of the freezer. Szechuan aubergine salad and coca cola glazed carrots.
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Yum yum yum4 -
& two more from this week
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Friends from Edinburgh popped in for dinner. Made gai yang and pomelo salad.
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42g Carb
26g Fat
77g Protein
Broccoli 3 small pieces, sweet potato 1, onion 1, cherry tomatoes 5, white eggs 2, avocado slice 2, chicken kebab 75g, stake burger 112g, a bit of Parmesan, olive oil and pink salt!4 -
Lunch <300 calories
Baked sweet potato topped with grilled pineapple, poblano and onion
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Leftovers from last night’s Thai dinner party. A nam prik ong I forgot to photograph yesterday as a starter. Gai yang with dipping sauce and pomelo salad as a main.
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