Author: cia

Whole 30 Breakfast: Chicken and Turkey Coconut Meatballs

I had leftover meat stuff from the Whole30 larb dinner that I made the night before so I rolled them into balls to make a completely different meal out of them. I needed a binder to dry them up so they can retain their shape, so I used a little bit of coconut flour before I fried them with ghee.

Ingredients:
scant olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/4 pound ground chicken meat
1/4 pound ground turkey meat
salt, pepper
red chile flakes
1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 sprigs of mint, finely chopped
1 scallion
lime juice
1/4 cup coconut flour
ghee
2 eggs, soft-boiled

1. Put all the ingredients together in a bowl except the coconut flour, ghee and eggs. Mix well and incorporate. Scoop a generous tablespoon and gently roll them like meatballs between your hands.
2. Put the coconut flour in a separate plate and roll each meatball until slightly covered. It provides a nice thin cover unlike regular flour.
3. In a skillet, heat a tablespoon of ghee and fry the meatballs in medium-low heat, about 2 minutes per side, until most of the ball is golden brown to ensure that it’s cooked inside. Feel free to add more ghee if your pan is burning too fast. Serve with soft-boiled eggs.

Recommended:
The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom
I bought this tub of ghee from Organic Valley Purity Farms from Whole Foods
I picked the least expensive coconut flour because I know I won’t be using it as much

Whole30 Dinner: Chicken and Turkey Larb

I’m going to miss Asian foods the most while I’m trying this Whole30 meal plan. While you can substitute soy and fish sauces for Whole30 compliant brands, I’m just going to skip them altogether because I don’t want to buy any more stuff. (I recently Marie Kondoed my pantry and I’m not about to add new things!)

The idea of larb is easy: take some ground meat and mix it with fresh Asian herbs. It’s like making Italian meatballs only with spices your Italian grandma would dismiss.

Ingredients:
scant olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/4 pound ground chicken meat
1/4 pound ground turkey meat
salt, pepper
red chile flakes
1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 sprigs of mint, finely chopped
1 scallion
lettuce
lime juice

1. In a skillet, heat oil. Saute garlic and onions until onions are translucent. Add ground meats and cook for about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Make sure you lightly crush and separate the meats while mixing so they’re not clumped in large pieces.
2. Season with salt, pepper, and chile. Mix in bell pepper, mint, scallions, and lettuce. Continue cooking the meats until a tad crispy and the lettuce well-incorporated. Sprinkle with lime juice for a little acidity. Alternatively, don’t cook the lettuce so you can scoop the meat in them and eat them as individual wraps.

Recommended:
The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom
I bought this tub of ghee from Organic Valley Purity Farms from Whole Foods

Whole30 Breakfast: Brussels Sprouts and Egg Scramble

I had a great time in San Francisco this past weekend. So much so that I now have to detox for the next 2 weeks to feel healthy again. My friend Fides talked to me about Whole30 while I was there, and although I’m not strict with trendy diets and meal plans, I can recognize a good idea when there is one.

Without going into too much detail about what Whole30 is–because the Internet can tell you that with another click–I’m going to try and eliminate all grains, sugars, butter, and soy from my eating habits in the next 2 weeks while continuing to eat more animals and plants and skipping anything processed. I plan to start my days with a real breakfast to avoid snacking at work before lunch and I plan to eat more fruits and protein bars that are Whole30 compliant as afternoon snacks.

I created a new category on the right for these experimental recipes that follow the Whole30 philosophy so that they’d be easy to find and you can plan your visits to the supermarket in as fewer trips as possible. I’m not throwing out the Califian almond milk in my fridge just yet (the compliant version is really just made out of almonds and water and I’m not going to make my own) but I’ll definitely skip the sugar and honey in my iced coffees and hot teas. I’m also not buying brand-compliant soy and fish sauces for my Asian meals–I just pared down my pantry and the last thing I need is to buy more stuff; I’m just going to skip them altogether and learn to season differently. Slowly but surely, you know?

Ingredients:
scant olive oil
handful of Brussels sprouts, shredded
salt, pepper
red chile pepper flakes
3 eggs
half an avocado, sliced

1. In a skillet, heat oil. Add sprouts and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes, while seasoning with salt, pepper, and chile.
2. Crack the eggs open into the pan and scramble with the sprouts by mixing to incorporate well. Turn off the heat after 1 minute and cook the egg in the remaining heat.
3. Serve with avocado slices.

Recommended:
The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom

Sichuan Dan Dan Noodles

There are a few cuisines that I crave for, and one of them is Sichuan food. This recipe looks long, but once you have your mise en place organized, you can follow my steps easily. I also substituted a few things that will be more common in your pantry. Most of the Asian ingredients here are now widely available at your store–you know, in the “Oriental” aisle–so no need to order online. You may also replace Shaoxing wine with rice vinegar, and double your soy sauce to pretend you have dark soy sauce.

Sui mi ya cai is preserved mustard greens that you have to buy at the Asian market, but it’s optional for this dish even though it provides a nice sourness and crunch to the dish. Once you buy it though, I guarantee you’ll put it on everything you eat. I also used spaghetti noodles here because the “white noodles” I find in Chinatown are simply called that; I have no idea what they really are. So to avoid confusion, just use spaghetti.

Ingredients:
For the chili oil:
2 tbsps Sichuan peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
1 cup canola oil
1/4 cup red pepper flakes

For the meat:
3 tsps canola oil
half-pound ground pork
2 tsps hoisin sauce
2 tsps Shaoxing wine
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp five spice powder
1/3 cup sui mi ya cai, or preserved mustard greens

For the sauce:
2 tbsps tahini sauce
3 tbsps soy sauce
2 tsps sugar
1/4 tsp five spice powder
1/2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, grounded
1/2 cup of your prepared chili oil
2 cloves garlic, very finely minced

For the rest:
1 lb spaghetti noodles
1 bunch of spinach or bok choy
scallions, roughly chopped

1. Make the chili oil. In a small pot, add the Sichuan peppercorns, cinnamon stick, star anise, and oil. Over medium low heat, slowly heat to 325 degrees, and then turn off the heat. Steep for about 5 minutes, then remove the peppercorns, cinnamon stick, and star anise with a slotted spoon. Mix in the crushed red pepper flakes and allow them to steep in the hot oil. Allow the oil to cool. Set aside and store in a glass jar and keep refrigerated.
2. Make the meat mixture. In a large Dutch oven, heat a teaspoon of oil over medium heat and brown the ground pork. Add the hoisin sauce, Shaoxing wine, dark soy sauce, and five spice powder. (Add the preserved mustard greens here if using.) Cook until all the liquid is evaporated and remove to a plate.
3. Cook the noodles according to package directions and drain. Save the water for the sauce and to blanch the greens. Set aside.
4. Make the sauce. Mix together all the ingredients in a bowl. Taste and adjust by adding more of the noodle water to thin it out if you like.
4. Assemble. Divide the sauce among four serving bowls. Add noodles. Top with the greens. Add the pork. Let your guests mix everything with chopsticks.

Rasam, South Indian Tomato Soup

Dal is often referred to as lentils but it’s actually the split version of lentils, peas, chickpeas, mung beans, kidney beans, and so on. The edible seeds of various leguminous plants are called pulses. If a pulse is split into half, it is a dal.

Rasam is a South Indian soup using tamarind and tomatoes as base. I added dal to make it meatier. For this recipe, I used an “Autumn blend” of brown, yellow, and orange lentils. I used 2 limes here to replace the tamarind’s sour note and deseeded the Serrano chile to keep the heat down. If you want to make a real meal out of this, buy some kebabs and serve with basmati rice and naan, like I did below.

Ingredients:
1 cup dal, soaked for 30 minutes in water, then drained
2 tsps cumin seeds
2 tsps black peppercorns
2 tbsps clarified butter
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 Serrano chile, deseeded, chopped
a small knob of ginger, peeled, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 tbsp, turmeric
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 limes, halved
a handful of cilantro, finely chopped

1. In a medium Dutch oven, toast cumin seeds and the peppercorns, and then remove to ground with a pestle.
2. In the same pot, heat clarified butter and toast mustard seeds. Cover the pot since the seeds pop. When they quiet down, add back the ground cumin and peppercorns. Be careful not to burn.
3. Stir and sauté in garlic, then chile, ginger, and the onions for about 5 minutes. Add the drained dal and turmeric and mix to coat.
4. Add the tomatoes and 4 cups of water. Stir and squeeze the lime into the pot without the seeds, and then throw in the spent lime halves. Season with salt. Simmer in medium heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat, remove and discard the lime halves, and mix in cilantro.

Recommended:
A bag of Pereg Gourmet Autumn Blend of heirloom lentils was $3 at my grocery store. Use the leftover for multiple salads and other lentil dishes.