Brown Rice Curry Pilaf

I've had a feeling that curry is not healthy for some reason. Maybe because I usually use ready-to-make curry paste.


But recently noticed that those spices which are used for curry are very helpful for our health.


Curcumin (found in Turmeric)
1. anti ageing - what an attractive word \(^o^)/
2. lower Alzheimer's - 4times less in India
3. cancer prevention
4. lower cholesterol


Here's my effort!

2 cup Brown Rice (2 cup water)

1/2 Onion

1 Garlic

1 Canned tuna

2 TBS Sake

1/2 TBS Chicken Stock

1/2 TBS Curry Powder (better use Turmeric, Chili, Cumin, Coriander powder)

Salt & Pepper

Cook in Rice Cooker, drizzle with Olive oil & place Poached Egg on top.......Yummy:)

 

Quinoa & Chickpea salad

Quinoa is one of the grains which I never heard until recently when my friend told me she is having qunoa salad every night to lose weight.


I believe whole grains are good as they are high in fiber and a lot of other health benefits. 


Quinoa especially is high in magnesium which is meant to reduce frequency of migraine. I occasionally suffer from it >_< It's really killing me...


I bought quinoa even though I had no idea how to prepare/cook/eat. I thought I should try it to become more whole food lover.


Here's my first quinoa dish:

To be honest, I was unsuccessful... but after arranging the salad with tuna, it became delicious!!


Sorry, I lost the recipe but ingredients were;


quinoa, chickpea, baby spinach, pears, lemon juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, salt & pepper

Sardine Tofu Burger

Sardine is one of economically friendly fish in Australia.
Actually, I never bought fresh sardine here, always buy tinned sardine from which we still get Omega-3 fatty acid and also, plenty of calcium as tinned sardines contain softened bones.


It is very good for pregnant women :) My friend who's pregnant told me her teeth suddenly broke because of lack of calcium! How scarery >o< Her baby must be having really strong bones.


Try this sardine tofu burger whether or not you are pregnant!! It is yummy.

2 tins of sardine
1 pack of firm Tofu (not in water)
Ginger, sliced thin or grated
2 eggs
1 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS sesame oil
Bonita flake (if you have)
Wakame or Hijiki (if you have)
1/2 Carrot (if you have)


1. Combine sardine and tofu in a bowl, mix well or use food processor.
2. Add the other ingredients
3. Divide the mixture and shape with hands
4. Fry with medium-low heat and cover (all ingredients can be eaten raw but better have golden crispy bits on both sides)


Eat with favorite sauce (eg: wasabi mayo, chili sauce, ponzu, ankake sauce etc)

Moroccan Chickpea & Lentil Curry

Luckily, I like legumes which gives us a lot of health benefits like cholesterol lowering effect. One of my favorite dish with legumes is this one, moroccan chickpea & lentil curry!


Actually, I've been cooking this dish many times (and already in my previous post in the blog) but haven't shared the recipe here. It doesn't have many calories so I don't feel guilty even if I overeat! Serving it with brown rice makes me feel less guilty too\(^0^)/


Enjoy!!


1 Onion, sliced thin
5 cloves garlic, pressed
1 medium Eggplant, cut into 2cm-pieces
Pinch of red chili flakes
1 can Chickpea, drained
1 can Lentil, drained
1 can Tomato diced
1/2 cup Tomato sauce
2 tsp Turmeric
1/2 Garam masala
1-1/4 cup Vegetable broth
1/2 cup Sultanas


1. Prepare onion & garlic, let sit for at least 5 minutes (oxygen will help their nutrition work better)
2. Cook (saute) onion in 1 TBS broth in a pot for 5 mins, add garlic, eggplant, garam masala, turmeric and mix well for 1 min, and add broth, diced tomato & tomato sauce. Stir & cover, cook over medium low heat for 15 mins. (stir occasionally) or until eggplant is tender.
3. Add chickpea, lentils, red chili flakes and sultanas. Simmer for 5mins and season with salt & pepper.


* Any vegetable can be added :), chili flakes can be very spicy T_T 

HOKI - More Omega 3

I keep saying fish is expensive... one day, my friend told me I can buy 1kg frozen fish for $10 from Aldi, its name is "Hoki skin-on".

Hoki seems to be living in NZ coasts and is rich in omega-3.
The fish produce a lot of eggs, which means eating Hoki is environmently sustainable:) Plus, the taste is soooooo yummy.

It looks like this:

I tried oven baked, bbq and Japanese style of "simmering in soy sauce, sugar & sake" (NI-ZAKANA).

NI-ZAKANA was the best (and the easiest) so far!

80cc water

80cc sake

20cc soy sauce

20cc mirin

1TBS sugar

ginger

Boil the above in a pot

Place the fish and cover (OTOSHIBUTA)

8-12minutes

Done!!

Very good with Sapporo beer \(-^o^-)/

Cabbage Diet

Cabbage is under cruciferous vegetable and good because:

- loweres cholesterol level
- prevent from cancers especially bladder, colon & prostate (short-cooked)
- helps digestive tract to work better

My little dog "Kuri-chan" (Chris) is obviously spoiled by my parents.
He was a bit overweight and about to put our family into financial crisis.

The antifilarial drug for over-6kg-dog is significantly more expensive than for lighter dogs.

Little Kuri chan started weight loss program which was recommended by Vet.
He successfully lost about 1kg in a couple of month!! (1kg is massive for little dog like Kuri)

His diet is "Cabbege diet"!! Just eats boiled cabbege (steamed is better for human) together with his normal meal. He loves it:) His poo poo is very healthy too \^o^/

Before diet

After diet

Flat Head!!

Another girls night! Yeah!!

Claypots Seafood 213 Brakly Street, St Kilda

I like this restaurant a lot. Seafood restaurant can be very expensive but this one is quite affordable and you can see fish in the showcase like a fish market, which makes me think the fish is fresh!!

Antipasto was great... colourful, lots of different dishes, yummy bread and dip. Ummm quite filling too.

Followed by king prawns in garlic oil. Prawns legs (hands?) were crunchy & yummy:)

The garlic oil was soooooo nice with the freshly baked turkish bread. I promiss to make this dish ONE DAY...

The recommended fish.... looked like a lizard, huuuuuge lizard\*o*/

Grotesque... it's smiling... nice white meat with moderate fat... Thank you, FLAT HEAD! I'm trying not to see it when I'm typing>_<

Beans & Millet Rice

Lately, I am into this super healthy beans & millet rice. This is a product from Hakubaku. This is really yummy. A lot of people find brown rice is not as tasty as other types of rice but with this... brown rice becomes soooooo good!

The benefits of millet are;

1. Reduce migraine attack
2. Lower high blood pressure
3. Lower cholesterol level
4. Lower type 2 diabetes risk
5. High fibre - protect from breast cancer


This is my next project :) Yummmm

Sunday treat

Dino's in Windsor is a good place to have coffee or Spanish influenced tapas.
***34 Chapel Street, Windsor***

Our coffee run out! The weather didn't look so good.
But it was Sunday so I went out for coffee with my boyfriend.
He was being creative, drawing his tree with letters.
I was being a nerd, reading MANGA @_@

A chef who is a friend of his came up and said,
"You guys are not in hurry are you?"
"Not at all" we said.

Then, our lunch was slowly delivered.

Sausage (can't remember...), scalop, sweetpotato chips on top

Grilled pork with jamon

A glass of red wine & .... forgot what that was!!

Slow cooked chicken, bacons, beans

I could not eat dinner...
And unfortunately, we suffer from constipation for the next day. I guess there was lack of vegetables & fiber.

Old orange poppyseed muffin

I made some orange poppyseed muffin last week.
I brought some to work to share the taste and put the rest in the oven just to store.

I bake muffins for my boyfriend (& for my future cafe) so I forgot they were there! A week after I baked them, they became hard-rock cakes.

Here's my boyfriend who is good at recyclling food :) My dish often turns out to be totally different dish next day and it is always nicer...

My muffins were sliced & soaked in maple syrup & frangerico (Hazelnut Liqueur).
Thinly sliced apples were placed on the plate with yogurt on top.
The syrup coated shiny muffins were put on top of yogurt.

YUMMY!!

Blood test 2 - CHOLESTEROL

About 2 years ago, I did a blood test.
Back then, I did not know we are not allowed to eat before the test. (No one told me!) So, I ate my left-over birthday cake, chestnut gateau from Bread top  in the morning.

The test showed HIGH in cholesterol... I was shocked ,>_<,
But later on, my friend told me that is probably because I ate a cake.
Yes, I was eased.

However, this test I took a few weeks ago also showed HIGH in cholesterol!!

The doctor said to me,
"Avoid deep fried food, meat, cheese, fish & chips...."

I believe I don't eat these food much!! Well, I just need to stick with foods which lower cholesterol level.

Chickpeas are good source of cholesterol lowering fiber.
Here's what I made:

Carrots, eggplant, celery, broccoli, garlic, lentil & chickpeas, and brown rice, and a glass of red wine or two or three? :D

Lemon water

One of my colleagues has a lemon tree in her garden.
She brought a lot of them to work where we can share rich Vitamin C from organic lemons.

I normally drink (warm) water which I hated when I was younger.
I learned to drink water as I was told that it compensates for my alcohol consumption. This is probably not true but it definitely helps reduce hangover...

So, back to lemons, they are very rich in Vitamin C as you know, and famous for their strong immune system. Also, it is found that vitamin C-rich food like lemon protect against Rheumatoid arthritis. Time to think about aging!!


Here's what it looks like.

Here's another version :)

Blood test 1 - IRON

I have a dream. I've been longing for blood donation but always get rejected because my iron level is low.


My colleague was diagnosed she has NO!! iron in her body.
The doctor was very surprised how she could manage to walk.
She looks totally fine but often has a headache and is depressed, which are some of symptoms of iron deficiency.

Iron deficiency is common for women but quite difficult to take it from food.
Meat is high in iron, however, it's also high in saturated fat and categorised in acid foods. NO GOOD

From my research, I found most of green leafy veges are excellent, spices & herbs are also good.

To increase absorption of iron, Vitamin C rich food should be taken together.

OK, let's see when my dream comes true...

body fat scale

Finally, I bought a body fat scale.

But, I wasn't sure how it measures my body fat%.
Here's what I found...

"A small and completely harmless electrical current is passed through your body. The electrical current passes more quickly through fat free tissue like muscle than it does through fat or bone tissue. So...


The amount of resistance to the electrical current relates to how much fat-free mass a person has and their body density. Here's the first challenge...


Like all body fat tests, body fat scales don't actually measure your body fat percentage. They determine your body density. The examiner (or the scales) then uses a formula to calculate body fat percentage based on body density. Here's the key...


These formulas just predict your body fat. Unfortunately there is no one formula that accurately predicts body fat for the whole population. Differences in age, gender, ethnicity, body size, and fitness level all have a significant affect on the results.


Most scales can account for some of the basic differences such as age and gender, but take the actual body fat percentage they give you with a pinch of salt. What does this all mean for you?


Well, whether body fat scales measure your "true" body fat percentage or not doesn't matter! As long as they can accurately monitor changes in your body composition over time, that's all you need.

Your body position, the amount of water in your body, your food intake, skin temperature and recent physical activity can all adversely affect the results of body fat scales. So...

To achieve accurate, consistent results, you must standardise the way you perform each test. That simply means making each test with your scales as similar as possible. "

Ok.... but still I want to know if my fat is under OK zone.
By the way, I should disclose my fat % here... it is 29% >_<
Most of the tables I could find on-line say I am very close to the borderline between "Average" & "Fat"!!

29% sounds a lot especially when I compare it with my boyfriend's... 8.8%!!!
My goal is reducing it to 25%. Good luck to myself...


 

Sashimi night

I went to a Japanese restaurant called Shyun in Carnegie.
***126Koornang Road, Carnegie***

This restaurant is great! Definitely one of my favorite Japanese place in Melbourne :)
The taste is very good, the price is super reasonable, and the chef/owner is hyper friendly (and funny).

Please enjoy some of the food here...

 

This is sesami ice cream with chocolate tofu mouse. Very yummy :)
 
Sashimi is good because I don't feel guilty even if I eat a lot (this doesn't often happen though) Salmon & tuna are especially good as they are high in Omega-3.

By the way, I found this site:
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/finfish-and-shellfish-products/4102/2

It is good as we can see and compare nutrition facts of the food we eat or want to eat. It might stop you from eating if the food contains much trans fat or something you don't want in your body.

For example, we can compare hamburger from hungry jacks (burger king in this site) and meatball sandwich from subway!
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fast-foods-generic/9278/2
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/foods-from-subway/6550/2

Baaad example!! We are meant to eat only whole foods so this is just an idea :)

SAKE (Salmon) cooked in SAKE

Fish is super expensive here in Australia.
I love fish as I grew up in Japan where fish is so fresh and cheap! But finding difficult here in eating as much as I want T_T

I went to Prahran market to buy salmon.
There were 2 different types of salmon, one is from NZ & the other is from Atlantic.
Fish dude (man, I mean) told me NZ salmon is fishy but contains more Omega-3, Atlantic one is less fishy, less Omega-3 and about $5/kg more expensive. My boyfriend let me choose because he is in a cleaning department, not a health department in our house.

Anyway, of course I chose Omega-3 rich NZ one. (cost me $37!!....ummmm, much cheaper than dining out......yes now I feel better)
Fishy smell can be removed by lots of SAKE @_<

It is recommended to eat fish twice (2 servings) per week.
And better get wild than farmed salmon as a lot of chemicals in farmed salmon may cause cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

Although farmed salmon is more fatty (not enough swimming), the fat is not as beneficial as wild salmon's fat. Lazy is not good in fish world too :)

51% calorie from non-whole food!!

I'm trying to eat whole food and avoid any processed food.

BUT... thanks to the food availabilities in supermarkets & food companies who make yummy alternatives, it seems like I am taking 51% of total calories from non-whole food>_<

You may be interested?
Click here http://whfoods.org/foodadvisor.php

++CONTRADICTION++

A couple of days ago, I made this!

Orange Poppy seed Muffins - made from whole self-raising flour, omega 3 added eggs & organic (non-refined?) brown sugar.

Dreaming about my own healthy cafe made me healthy in a way.

*It is important to give excuses sometimes to prevent my LIFE health from stress