Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

Recently I fell in love with rhubarb again. It is a lovely low FODMAP fruit and it pairs beautifully with other low FODMAP fruits, not just apple - which leaves me with nasty IBS symptoms for days.

My favourite is strawberries because I can sometimes get away with no added sugars because they are so sweet.

Having said that, they usually do need sugar so I use rice malt syrup.

Ingredients:

1 kg of hulled strawberries
750 g - 1kg of rhubarb
1/2 cup rice malt syrup
1/4 cup water

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 C.
Wash fruit thoroughly.
Trim and dice rhubarb into stalks about 2 inches long and ensure that you remove all the leaves.
Cut strawberries into quaters.
Place fruit in a deep oven safe dish (I use Pyrex glass dishes) ensuring that you have at least an inch clear as the fruit tends to bubble over when it is hot.
Melt rice malt syrup in the microwave for 30 seconds.
Add rice malt syrup and water.
Cover the dish top in aluminium foil and put it in the oven.

Set a timer for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes is up check if the fruit is bubbling and falling apart a little. If it is take it out. Mix the fruit around so the top bits don't burn and then put it back in the oven WITHOUT the aluminium foil for another 30 minutes.

After the time is up remove it from the oven again and recheck. If the rhubarb is falling apart it is done. Turn the oven off and leave the fruit to cool for a while. Once it has cooled sufficiently you can try a little to ensure that it is sweet enough. If it isn't, add some more rice malt syrup.

Serve with custard and/or ice cream. Yum!

You can also turn it into a crumble or eat it with your soy yoghurt for breakfast.

Soy Yoghurt Updates - Even Better Soy Yoghurt

Even Better Soy Yoghurt

I've had more hits on my blog for my soy yoghurt recipe than everything else put together.

In the last 2 years the recipe has had some tweaking to make it better. While my friends have been informed about those tweaks (that is, if they asked), no-one else has.

So, since I'm on holidays I thought I might add the additions.

It all started when one of my friends commented that the yoghurt was very runny. I didn't really care before she brought it up, but I decided to have a play and see if I could fix it up a bit and make it better.

Thicker double batch (2 litres of soy yoghurt)

Ingredients:

2 Litres of Soy milk

3 tablespoons of gluten free cornflour

60 grams of rice malt syrup

Small scraping of culture.

Method:

After boiling the water to sterilise everything add 1/3 of the soy milk (if using 1 litre- if you are making 2 litres use 1/2 a litre of soy milk) and 1.5 tablespoons of gluten free cornflour per litre of soy milk.

Heat this at 75-100 degrees C. (75 is quicker, but 100 is thicker.) Once it gets up to temperature give it 5 minutes to break down the starch and make it thicker. 

Then add the rest of your milk and 30 grams of rice malt syrup and mix it for 4 minutes on speed 3 or 4 (some thermocookers only go to speed 3 with hot foods). 

You'll need to let it cool down to 37 C before adding the culture so that it doesn't kill your culture. I recommend that you put the lid on the jug and surround the jug with ice packs to cool it quicker or if you can plan ahead put the milk cartons in the fridge 12 hours prior so they are cool to help quickly cool the hot mixture when you add them to it. Let it cool for about 30 minutes, then it should be cool enough to use again.  Check the actual temperature with a food thermometer.

Once the temperature is below 40 add your culture, mixing at speed 4 for 4 seconds. 

Empty the easiyo containers of the hot water if you haven't already; then pour the mixture into them. Seal them tightly and put the containers into the easiyo hot water bath to keep it warm and pop the bath's lid on. I recommend getting them as close to 24 hours as possible as the yoghurt will be nice and thick then.

If you're like me and want to make a double batch don't forget that you will need 2 easiyo sets to make a double batch but it's well worth it in my opinion.

Enjoy! :)

Pumpkin Chili Soup

Ingredients

1 large butternut pumpkin or 2 smaller ones
1/6 bunch of parsley
1 red chili (This makes it quite hot - don't add the chili if this is for people who have a low tolerance for hot food, or if there is a mild tolerance use half of the chili.)
1/2 bunch of spring onion (green tops only for low FODMAP)
Dash of oil (you could use garlic infused olive oil)
500 ml of chicken or vegetable stock - I used Sue Shepherd's low FODMAP stock.  (Obviously, use vegetable stock if you are making this vegetarian/vegan.
1 cup of almond milk (you could use coconut or soy if you need it nut free)
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 pinches of salt - optional

 Method
Wash all veggies
Put the parsley, chili and spring onion in the bellini and blitz for 20 seconds starting on speed 5 and going up to speed 7.
Peel and chop up the pumpkin into small cubes.
Add the pumpkin, stock, oil, paprika, salt and almond milk.

Cook on speed 1 at 100 degrees for 30 minutes
Using a tea-towel on top of the lid to prevent any blow out slowly increase the speed from 3-6 - but wait until it has cooled somewhat so you don't accidentally get 2-3 degree burns!  Alternatively, leave this step out, and just let it take it's time to break the pumpkin up by stirring.
Cook again on speed 3 at 90 degrees for another 10-30 minutes with the clear top out to allow it to reduce.

Very yummy.  If you need to keep protein up add some cooked chicken to the soup when you serve it.

Serve with hot multi-grain toast.

Sweet Chili Chicken Nuggets

This chicken nuggets need a bit of refinement but if you're game to try now feel free to go ahead, and I'll modify this recipe down the track.

Ingredients

1/4 cup plain GF flour (you can use whole grain if you have it to make these lower GI)
1/2 cup rice crumbs
Pinch of salt
Sprinkle of parsley
*Sprinkle of garlic - Adding garlic here is not Low FODMAP.  If you need low FODMAP eliminate this step and use garlic infused olive oil.
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 sprinkle of black pepper
1-2 teaspoons of chili (mine wasn't very strong so you could add more or leave it with less for a non-spicy chicken nugget.
500 grams diced chicken breast (thawed)


1/2 cup Rice Malt  Syrup

Oil for frying - if you want low FODMAP use garlic infused olive oil.  Otherwise any other cooking oil will work.

Method

Mix all the flour and herbs together in a bowl until all your spices are well mixed in.

Melt your rice malt syrup either in the microwave (faster, but needed to be watched carefully and it started to harden like candy) or in a bain-marie (which will probably work better for this purpose).
As soon as your rice malt syrup is melted roll the chicken nuggets in it and transfer to the flour mix.
Coat in the flour and spice mix then transfer to the frying pan.

Cook immediately on high for about 6 minutes, then turn and cook for about another 4 minutes

As always with chicken check to make sure it is cooked before you eat it so you don't get food poisoning!  I usually break open one large piece to check the pink is gone, when I'm thinking they should be ready soon, as you don't want to over cook them either.

Serve with tomato sauce. - make sure it's a low FODMAP option for those who need it.  :)

Schnitzels

I used to love eating schnitzels, but after going gluten free I found that it was nearly impossible to find gluten free schnitzels.

A few weeks ago I decided to remedy this by going online and finding something I could modify.  And this recipe is the result.


1 cup quinoa flakes
lemon rind of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons of chives (fresh or dried) - if it's fresh dice them finely
2 tablespoons of basil (fresh or dried)
2 tablespoons of psyllium husk for psyllium husk "egg"*
4 tablespoons of boiling water
1/2 cup gf flour
1/2 cup rice crumbs

2-4 cuts of defrosted meat

• for chicken get butterflied chicken breast
• for beef get veal cutlets or a thin cut low fat and gristle meat

Garlic infused olive oil for frying.

Method

Boil the kettle
If you are using fresh basil and/or chives chop these finely.
Grate your lemon rind
Thoroughly mix flours in with the spices and lemon rind.
Place meat on a plate/3rd bowl out of the way, but close at hand.
Prepare your frying pan with oil.
In a second bowl add your psyllium husk, and add 4 tablespoons of boiling water mixing constantly with a fork.

As soon as you get a sticky gel consistency add the meat slices and coat with the psyllium mixture.
Immediately transfer to the bowl of spices and flour and coat.
Quickly transfer to frying pan for cooking.

Repeat the coating process for each slice of meat.

The psyllium may become extremely gelled, and if so, add a dash of hot water to it an mix again, then repeat the process.

Fry for approximately 7 minutes on a medium-high setting before turning to the other side for approx 5 minutes to finish it.

Enjoy!

PS for a gluten free gravy use massels lucky 7s or Sue Shepherd's chicken stock with gf cornflour.  (I'll try to provide a recipe for that soon.)

Easter - Hot Cross Buns and Other Treats

This Easter I was determined not to make food that made me need to run to the bathroom and/or left me doubled over with stomach cramps.  I also didn't feel like pretending Easter didn't exist as I have previously tried for special occasions.

To help me out I steeply modified a recipe from Jo Whitton of Quirky Cooking for Hot Cross Buns. Hers have egg and dried fruit and the mixture is also really sloppy.

These are my very modified babies before they went in the oven, as might be noted by the fact the crosses haven't melted yet.

I got some ideas of Jamie Oliver's Food Tube (of course it was from Jamie.  I love Jamie.  *cough* anyway...) and added both xanthan gum and psyllium husk instead of only one of the two.  I switched choc chips for the dried fruit (Sweet William for those who can have soy, the allergy free ones from iherb for those who can't), and wished I had put in less cloves.  But overall it tasted pretty good despite tasting suspiciously like clove zone.

I won't bother with my icing sugar mix since it didn't work well, but don't use just plain flour for the crosses - that is disgusting as I know well from last year.  Use some icing sugar as well (50/50 plain flour and icing sugar).  Don't add nuttelex like I did though, because it melts in the oven and the buns looked pretty stupid.  But, hey, it tasted great.  A couple of drops of vanilla essence gave it a better taste too.  I used egg replacer as per normal.  I don't know, my buns looked pretty stupid afterwards, but they definitely are an improvement on last year, as mentioned.

Next time I will let them rise in the buns rather than shape them after they have risen, because, surprise, surprise, they didn't rise any further.  The chocolate kinda exploded everywhere too, so be careful when making.

(Well, it melted then stuck to everything that came near it, and made a jolly mess.  It *looked* like an explosion though.)

As food tube suggested, I used a bowl of boiling water in the bottom of the oven to create a moist and warm environment for the buns to rise.  It certainly seemed to work well for them.  It also gave my oven a bit of a steam clean.

Because Jo's recipe seemed to think you needed to leave it overnight at least to get flavours other than cloves to permeate the mixture I added the zest of a second orange, figuring that I was altering the recipe so much it wouldn't matter if I did that too, and it might add the flavour I needed without the extra time that I didn't have.  I couldn't taste the difference really, but it wasn't bad.  Maybe it did mask the cloves a little bit.

Next time I also think I should make more glaze.  It didn't go as far as I planned this year.

Also a side warning with this, they take far to long to make - so if you are Martha Stewart, you'll be fine, but for everyone else, either convince your boss that everyone needs another holiday on the Thursday before Easter, or clear your weekend and make them on the weekend before.  They freeze okay, and if you're like me, and used to eating gluten free treats if you even get a treat it will taste amazing.  Never mind those naysayers who think they would die without gluten.  IMHO gluten isn't worth killing over.  Yourself, or others to test if they actually can't eat gluten without it making them sick.  Chances are if they aren't flipping between gluten and gluten free they really can't eat the crap.

If you happen to be reading this and can eat gluten and other crap* yourself but are making these for someone who can't eat gluten and friends, I just want to say you are a special person.

By the way, chocolate wise, Target and David Jones are selling Kinnerton eggs again this year, and Sweet William has bunny heads somewhere that I haven't found apparently.  If you are inclined to gorge yourself on chocolate I hope those options help you out next year or tomorrow when you run to the shops to buy all the cheap chocolate.  I also brought some Haigh's dark chocolate eggs, which were popular with a lot of people.  :)

As for me, later this week I need to restock on cinnamon because not only am I out, but so is Coles apparently.  I still have enough cloves though, because unfortunately, last time I used cloves I thought I had none, so I brought a new container of the stuff and I only use it once a year - so I now have two fairly full containers**.

*This is a term coined to represent all the foods I can't eat - FODMAPS, dairy, egg, etc.

**They were just 'full containers', but I used copious amounts from one container in the recipe as you may have noticed.  Don't do what I did there.  Use it up in apple crumble (or something else if you can't eat apples anymore because of the FODMAP content).

Falling Off The Face of the Earth

Last year one of my few resolutions was to update my blog more often.

That did not happen.

I am not a compulsive blogger.  Nor do I have a big following, and most of all, I can't be stuffed posting all the time.  But some of my friends like to read my latest recipes.

Contributing to the lack of blogging material was the 'I can't think what to eat syndrome'.  Also the I can't be stuffed syndrome has had some consequences.  Medical issues (such as my allergies) involving food getting worse killed a lot of my spontaneity with food too.  In the last 12 months I got a FODMAPs diagnosis.  Which has meant that I can now better predict if I will be okay, but it hasn't solved every food problem unfortunately.  Because allergies...

But I've made a few things lately, and plan to review a few cookbooks that are good for allergies like mine.  I hope you find it useful.  :)