Emily Chiu Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 Hello all, I'm new to the Whole30. It's day 5 and I'm still going strong like many of you others. Just last night, after responding to a coconut milk question, I thought, geez, coconut milk is used all over in the cuisines of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma, China, India, Africa, Brazil (Bahaian region), Columbia, Jamaica, etc. A lot of people appear to have adapted it to more "generic" western uses such as a replacement for milk and cream. I want to start this thread, simply because I think it'll be great to help others and learn of recipes from other corners of the world that would be Whole30 compliant. I am an obsessed foodie, have a plethora of cookbooks, have a chef in the family, an obsessive label reader and literally grew up in a Chinese takeout and an Asian grocery store. For starters, I want to introduce to you all to the famous Cantonese White Cut Chicken with a Ginger-Scallion Sauce. Here are two links to the same recipe which mirror closely what my parents (and I) make: http://sundaynitedin...te-cut-chicken/ http://lickmyspoon.c...r-scallion-oil/ It's fairly easy to do as all you need to do is season the chicken whole (or use bone-in chicken breasts) and poach gently for an hour. The sauce should be made with a little sesame oil (opt) and wholely with an oil that is neutral in flavour (ie. melted ghee would work, but not coconut oil). I made it for a friend and she literally could not stop eating it. It has become a favourite of hers at home. Cheers! Emily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egre4926 Posted April 12, 2013 Share Posted April 12, 2013 Why wouldn't coconut oil work? The stuff I have is completely tasteless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily Chiu Posted April 12, 2013 Author Share Posted April 12, 2013 Any unflavored oil is fine. I haven't opened my tub of coconut oil yet, but have read all over that it imparts a coconut flavor. If yours doesn't taste coconuty, then use it. Lemme know how you like this very popular Cantonese dish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily Chiu Posted April 14, 2013 Author Share Posted April 14, 2013 This is Day 6 of my Whole30. With family visiting for the day, I whipped up a Whole30 compliant "exotic" meal for us all: Bahian Fish Stew with Coconut Milk and Chayote Salad. According to Wikipedia, Bahia is a state located in northeastern Brazil boasting a cuisine with strong links to western Africa. The cuisine is noted to be "a unique Afro-Brazilian cuisine that is delicious and satisfying. Some dishes can be very peppery or rather heavy, so it is worth experimenting." (http://www.insightgu.../bahian-cuisine). The Fish Stew with Coconut Milk is a Moqueca, one of the region's most popular dishes. The cooking in the Penelope Cruz movie "Woman on Top" is derived from this region. Chayote, for those who are not familiar with this vegetable, looks like a green pear, but it actually a gourd (akin to melons, squash and cucumbers). I normally have them in a traditional Chinese tonic soup made by my folks, so it's the first time I've had them in a salad. They taste quite light, like a cucumber, but with a different texture. The Fish Stew with Coconut Milk was amazingly delicious! The coconut broth was infused with onions, tomatoes, garlic, cilantro and I threw in some chile for mild heat. It was so good, I wanted to lick the plate. The Chayote Salad was probably not the best complement to the stew, but it wasn't the worst either. For the recipes, see: Fish Stew with Coconut: http://www.saveur.co...th-Coconut-Milk Chayote Salad: http://www.canadianl...ayote_salad.php Bon appetit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derval Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 I don't think I'll try the recipe but I love reading your educational posts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jtandi Posted April 14, 2013 Share Posted April 14, 2013 the fish stew looks amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoJo09 Posted April 17, 2013 Share Posted April 17, 2013 That fish stew sounds fantastic (minus the coriander, I can't stand that disgusting excuse for a herb!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almcc Posted April 18, 2013 Share Posted April 18, 2013 I seem to be craving food I would normally eat out. Like Chinese or Thai or Mexican. So I love this thread. And I have chicken already for the Cantonese Chicken recipe. Thank you!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily Chiu Posted April 18, 2013 Author Share Posted April 18, 2013 Thanks, y'all! This is Day 10 of my Whole30. Strangely enough, I haven't craved anything since Day 3 during my visit to the local T&T Supermarket and the smells of freshly baked bread and hot, cooked, delicious non-Whole30 compliant food wafting through the air of its aisles. I've been too busy to post some of the new recipes I tried, like Jamaican Curry Chicken, because I was cooking! This evening's after-work dinner was Reunionnaise Yellow Chicken and Banana Curry from the cookbook "Where Flavor Was Born" by Andreas Viestad. The recipe can be seen in full in the cookbook's preview found here. Please excuse the messy plating, but I just finished working out and I was hungry! Essentially, the chicken (which the butcher was so nice to cut up into pieces for me) is dusted with turmeric, salt and thyme, and then browned in ghee on both sides. Chicken is set aside and the pan is filled with onions and garlic to cook away for a few minutes, tomatoes and ginger are thrown in. Then the chicken is nestled in the sauce and left to simmer away for around 30 minutes. (I took this opportunity to work out). Then added green onions for colour. Then I quartered three bananas and laid them in a hot pan with ghee. Dusted them with some curry powder and salt and cooked till brown on each side. There you have it! Boring chicken goes exotic. Reunion is a French island off the coast of Madagascar in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The cuisine is supposedly a melting pot of Chinese, African, French and Indian influences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily Chiu Posted April 18, 2013 Author Share Posted April 18, 2013 That fish stew sounds fantastic (minus the coriander, I can't stand that disgusting excuse for a herb!) GoJo09, you are not alone! Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoJo09 Posted April 18, 2013 Share Posted April 18, 2013 That yellow chicken sounds amazing too! I'm totally having the fish tonight though . I think my parents both eat coriander - must be a genetic throwback like my red hair! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily Chiu Posted April 18, 2013 Author Share Posted April 18, 2013 That yellow chicken sounds amazing too! I'm totally having the fish tonight though . Lemme know how you like it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoJo09 Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 The fish was really good (I used dory fillets) - it probably needed something as a substitute for the coriander, but it was pretty good regardless. Served it over a pile of steamed bok choy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily Chiu Posted April 22, 2013 Author Share Posted April 22, 2013 The fish was really good (I used dory fillets) - it probably needed something as a substitute for the coriander, but it was pretty good regardless. Served it over a pile of steamed bok choy. Sometimes coriander-haters don't mind it as much if it's not noticeable and cooked away. I think in this dish it is essential and adds that little wow. Glad it worked without it though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily Chiu Posted April 22, 2013 Author Share Posted April 22, 2013 It's Day 14 for me and I was temporarily fazed by the smells of the food court and the bakery at Galleria Supermarket in Thornhill, Ontario (Canada). I had to use up some defrosted Berkshire pork chops and decided to go Indian! Using the book "660 Curries" by Raghavan Iyer, I chose two fairly simple recipes: Pork Vindaloo (version 1) and Cabbage and Caulflower in a Spicy Tomato-Mint Sauce. What is Vindaloo? Well, Wikipedia describes it as a spicy Indian curry dish popular in the Goan region. The word is derived from the Portugese dish Carne de Vinha d'Alhos, which is a dish of meat (usually pork) with wine and garlic. The Portuguese dish was modified by the substitution of vinegar (usually palm vinegar) for the red wine and the addition of red Kashmiri chillies with additional spices to evolve into Vindaloo. As this dish can be very spicy, I halved the chile content, using 1 dried chile and 1 jalapeno. The sauce turned out awesome, really delicious especially with the coconut milk. Yummers! The second dish is similar to Aloo Gobi which uses potatoes instead of the cabbage. Now the mint might sound weird but the title fails to note that there are equivalent amounts of coriander and curry leaves. If you don't know what curry leaves are, see this article. They really have a great aroma incomparable to dried. You should be able to get them at an Indian grocer. I would say they take this dish to another level. Since I cooked these dishes from cookbook recipes, I guess I won't be able to share them with you. Ah! Wait! Someone posted them on the Internet! Viola! Recipes: Pork Vindaloo Cabbage & Cauliflower in a Spicy Tomato-Mint Sauce Bon appetit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoJo09 Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 Sometimes coriander-haters don't mind it as much if it's not noticeable and cooked away. I think in this dish it is essential and adds that little wow. Glad it worked without it though! I might try with coriander seed - it's the leaves I can't stand the taste of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 I might try with coriander seed - it's the leaves I can't stand the taste of. I adore cilantro but coriander does nothing for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoJo09 Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 Ah, semantics. I bet you're not a fan of rocket either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 Confused..actually cilantro and coriander are very different flavors. Rocket lettuce is very cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelliebuStacey Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 This is Day 6 of my Whole30. With family visiting for the day, I whipped up a Whole30 compliant "exotic" meal for us all: Bahian Fish Stew with Coconut Milk and Chayote Salad. According to Wikipedia, Bahia is a state located in northeastern Brazil boasting a cuisine with strong links to western Africa. The cuisine is noted to be "a unique Afro-Brazilian cuisine that is delicious and satisfying. Some dishes can be very peppery or rather heavy, so it is worth experimenting." (http://www.insightgu.../bahian-cuisine). The Fish Stew with Coconut Milk is a Moqueca, one of the region's most popular dishes. The cooking in the Penelope Cruz movie "Woman on Top" is derived from this region. Chayote, for those who are not familiar with this vegetable, looks like a green pear, but it actually a gourd (akin to melons, squash and cucumbers). I normally have them in a traditional Chinese tonic soup made by my folks, so it's the first time I've had them in a salad. They taste quite light, like a cucumber, but with a different texture. The Fish Stew with Coconut Milk was amazingly delicious! The coconut broth was infused with onions, tomatoes, garlic, cilantro and I threw in some chile for mild heat. It was so good, I wanted to lick the plate. The Chayote Salad was probably not the best complement to the stew, but it wasn't the worst either. For the recipes, see: Fish Stew with Coconut: http://www.saveur.co...th-Coconut-Milk Chayote Salad: http://www.canadianl...ayote_salad.php Bon appetit! Ahhh, Moquequa de Peixe! My family is Brazilian (gramps was Bahian) and I grew up on this. SO tasty. What a great way to do your W30!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoJo09 Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 Confused..actually cilantro and coriander are very different flavors. Rocket lettuce is very cool. Really? I've always heard them used to mean the same thing. And Google agrees... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelliebuStacey Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 Really? I've always heard them used to mean the same thing. And Google agrees... They're the same thing in different formats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AToE Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 I was going to give Mel a hard time on coriander vs cilantro (and then I did give her a hard time and got made fun of). The result of the conversation was I'm going to pretend she's right to not get beat up EDIT: whoops... turns out she IS right (pretending don't work so well if I write it on here...) as far as white people talk anyways... which is funny considering I'm the white people out of the two of us... For the record, both leaf and seed are called coriander in India though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelliebuStacey Posted April 22, 2013 Share Posted April 22, 2013 I was going to give Mel a hard time on coriander vs cilantro (and then I did give her a hard time and got made fun of). The result of the conversation was I'm going to pretend she's right to not get beat up EDIT: whoops... turns out she IS right (pretending don't work so well if I write it on here...) Love you. And for the record, I'm always right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily Chiu Posted April 24, 2013 Author Share Posted April 24, 2013 Ahhh, Moquequa de Peixe! My family is Brazilian (gramps was Bahian) and I grew up on this. SO tasty. What a great way to do your W30!! Very happy to find that it is Whole30 compliant! So, so good.... mmmmmm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.