Going With My Gut

A Wholegrain of Truth...And a Recipe for Wholemeal Brownies

Above: Brownies, mince pies, oatmeal cookies and scones. All made with wholemeal flour. Don't knock it till you try it.

 

At the start of December, I was invited to attend a wholegrain cookery demonstration by TV chef Silvana Franco, hosted by HGCA, the UK-wide cereals and oilseeds dicision of Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board.

I went along as I'm always keen to learn more ways to incorporate whole foods into what I eat, dumping more processed versions of the same wherever I can. And if I can make whole grains taste as delicious as possible so that they don't just feel and taste like a chore of virtue, all the better.

The session proved to be very timely for me personally. About a week after the workshop, I got diagnosed with gestational diabetes.

Yeah. And I didn't even need a fat paycheck from a drug company to come clean about that. *Roll eyes*

In the weeks that followed, I was utterly absorbed with the first hand study of the havoc wreaked by white or processed vs wholegrain carbs on my blood sugar levels. Pretty sobering stuff.

I'm due to deliver next week. There is some expectation that my blood sugar will quickly normalise afterwards. But still. It's been quite the wakeup call. I'm not sure I'll ever look at a dessert or a plate of white (insert carb here) or any kind of sweetener without making some quick anxious calculations in my head ever again.

For those of you out there in similar situations, I just hope to share with you what I'm beginning to learn. For the lucky unaffected ones out there, take this post as a quick list of prevention tips.

 

Above: Dietician and nutrionist Dr Sarah Schenker (left) and TV chef Silvana Franco

 

One of the first things the docs will probably tell a diabetes patient to do is to lose some weight. Faddish dieters may immediately jump to the conclusion that it's best to drop carbs from one's diet altogether.

Not a good idea, says dietitician and nutritionist Dr Sarah Schenker, as carbohydrates are necessary to produce glucose, which is critical for brain function and development. But why wholegrains in particular?

Mostly because wholegrains release a slower steadier drip of glucose over time, rather than the quick flood and ebb of their more processed cousins. Turns out the kind of glucose the brain needs is the former, as it doesn't have a glucose storage facility. More details in this helpful article.

And partly because the red / brown bit of the grain that makes it "whole" contains a whole bunch of healthy oils, fibres, vitamins and minerals. Almost all of it gets stripped away in the white version of the carb, such that some vitamins and minerals have to be artificially re-added by law.

Mini aside rant alert:

Does that sound as ridiculous to you as it does to me? That we as consumers pay extra to have a wholegrain industrially stripped, and then pay some more still to have artificial good stuff added back in?

And so why is it that a wholegrain version of something usually costs more than a stripped version in a store? Partly due to the tragedy of supply and demand. But also partly because the stripped version of a grain tends to have a longer shelf life than its wholegrain original (oils in the wholegrain lends it to going rancid at an earlier date). Longer shelf life is usually a winning enough reason for Big Food Inc.

Now back to the spiel...

The recommended carbohydrate intake for an adult is about 16g of wholegrains, 3 times a day. Here's what a few examples of what 16g of wholegrains looks like:

• 3 tbs wholegrain breakfast cereal
• 1 tbs uncooked porridge oats
• 1 slice wholemeal cread
• 2 tbs cooked brown or wild rice
• 3 tbs cooked brown pasta
• 1/2 a wholemeal pitta bread
• 1/2 a wholemeal bagel

Silvana used the cookery demonstration to show a few easy ways that folks could get started on the journey to incorporate more wholegrains into their diet.

 

Tip 1: Substitute brown or wholewheat bread / rice / pasta where you might usually use white

We made a fattoush salad, with grilled wholewheat pitta bits instead of white. Basically, drizzle a bit of rapeseed oil on the pittas and grill for a few minutes until crisp. Combine roughly chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, romaine lettuce, onions, and mint.

 

 

At the end, crumble in the pitta and some feta cheese, then dress with crushed garlic, a pinch of sumac, rapeseed oil and lemon juice. I'm looking forward to making more of this when the weather warms up.

 

 

Tip 2: Not all carbs are equal

One of my most delightful discoveries over the last few weeks is that homemade popcorn is a relatively easy-on-blood-sugar snack, compared to crisps, cakes, candy etc. The trick is not to undo it all with your popcorn flavouring.

Try these flavour combinations at home:

Curried: Ground coriander, cumin, tumeric and chilli powder
Cinnamon: Mix a little ground cinnamon with a touch of golden caster sugar
Herby: Grind together mixed dried herbs and a little rock salt
Italian: Finely grated parmesan and dried oregano

 

And my little winning experiment on the day: Maple syrup, salt and cayenne pepper. A slightly more friendly sweetener for diabetics is agave nectar.

 

Tip 3: You can use wholemeal flour in some pretty unexpected desserts

Like brownies. I can tell you that the brownie on display at the demonstration (1st photo above) tasted far yummier than I had expected -- a subtly more savoury and nutty undertone. I don't plan to eat or make these until I see what's going on with my blood sugar levels after the baby pops, but I reckon I'll be using wholemeal flour instead of white whenever it is that I start making brownies again.

 

HGCA's Recipe for Wholemeal and Rapeseed Oil Brownies

Ingredients:

3 medium eggs
200g soft brown sugar
150g self-raising wholemeal flour
50g cocoa
100ml rapeseed oil
50g dried cranberries (or dried apple or chopped dates or even goji berries... a surprising discovery)
25g milk chocolate chips (optional)

 

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Base line a 22cm square tin
• Whisk the eggs and sugar together until pale and creamy. Sieve the flour and cocoa together and gently whisk into the eggs, then whisk in the oil
• Pour into the prepared tin, scatter over the cranberries and chocolate chips if using. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool slightly before turning out of the tin. Cut into 12 pieces.

 

More recipes by HGCA available here

Rapeseed oil recipes

Oaty recipes

Wholegrain Recipes

Catalan Cooking Class - Allioli and Romesco

Above: Patatas bravas. With squid ink allioli (front) and romesco sauce (back).

 

This past week Rachel McCormack of Catalan Cooking very kindly invited me to be a guest at her Allioli and Romesco cooking class.

I jumped at the opportunity as I've tried romesco sauce a number of times, but had no real idea what went into it. As far as I could tell, it was kind of a nutty tomato sauce. Turns out, according to Rachel, except for Chef Jose Pizarro, most folks who serve it here in London probably don't really know what goes into it either. And end up making it too in-your-face spicy or garlicky or something else, when actually the balance of flavours is key.

Rachel started the evening off with a tasting of Mallafre olive oils and olives, which she sells at Arch 76 Druid St at the Maltby Street foodie enclave every Saturday morning. Mallafre infuses their flavoured oils by crushing said addition (say lemon or orange) along with the olives, rather than just steeping it in the oil post-press. We have a bottle of the chilli oil at home, a lovely addition on salads, fish and fried eggs. This evening I was particularly intrigued by the coffee oil, which Rachel reckons will go very well with beef. And a few coffee-pork ribs recipes from back home in Singapore, I plot in my head...

 

 

And now to the Romesco sauce. Which turns out to be dry-fried nyora (a dried red/black Spanish pepper), hazelnuts and almonds, roasted tomatoes, singed flat-leaf parsley and garlic. If you like it old school Catalan, you'll want to pungence of raw garlic. Otherwise, roast the garlic first.

 

 

Combine the ingredients in a food processor. And there you go! If you want it thick enough so that it can serve as a dipping sauce, add a couple of small slices of dry bread into the processor.

 

 

Next up we learn how to make Xato salad, a lovely pescatarian winter salad popular in the seaside towns of Sitges and Villanueva just outside of Barcelona.

Start with some curly endive...

 

 

And combine with anchovies, flaked roasted cod, olives and romesco sauce. Amazing. Definitely looking forward to trying this at home. I might experiment with pollock or mackeral as a substitute for the overfished cod and see how that works.

 

 

The anchor dish of the evening is an osso buco with romesco sauce. Beautifully tender with just 2 hours of simmering. Be sure to scoop out the marrow when eating!

 

 

We also whizz up 3 kinds of allioli for the evening. Plain, curry, and (my new addiction) squid ink, which we use as a dipping sauce for very simply steamed mussels...

 

 

... and schmearing on some deep fried potatoes.

 

 

We snacked on Cava, wine, olives, bread, nuts, xato salad and mussels along the way, and ended the evening by catting over osso buco and patatas bravas.

What I appreciate most about Rachel's style of cooking and teaching is her constant mindfulness about what is pragmatically achieveable in a beginner-intermediate home kitchen. "Otherwise you'd just leave here tonight and then never try this at home," she says. Throughout the evening, she shared her kitchen tips and shortcuts learned from Catalan matriarchs and professional chefs alike, and a couple of times decided against a few "restaurant" techniques because it would involve equipment one probably didn't already have.

I reckon the biggest risk from taking one of Rachel's classes, is that you will will have no excuse to practice just about all of it for your loved ones afterwards!

 

Stay updated on Catalan Cooking's classes and events by clicking on the logo below.

Disclosure: I'm the founder of Edible Experiences and I was a guest at this cooking class, usually priced at £65.

2011: With A Little Bit of Help From My Friends

Above: Bacon, goat cheese and lentil salad... and a lotta love... from Kopibren

 

I struggle with "End of Year Wrap Up" posts at the best of times. On a good day I feel like life hurtles forward at about a million times faster than I can write.

And 2011, especially, was the year Babs and I started pursuing in earnest Edible Experiences, our foodie startup dream born out of 15 months of backpacking around the world. For a bunch of time each we worked days to pay the rent, and then nights and weekends to build the website. Then we made the (sometimes still) terrifying move of both committing to our startup full time.

Then, as if gestating one baby wasn't enough, we're now just a few weeks away from starting the mind-blowing journey of birthing and raising another one, of the human (though I'm not sure about humane) variety.

Soooo yeah. 2011 was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster ride. The kind that was was missing seatbelts. And brakes. And sections of visible track.

Besides the anchor that is Babs and family -- mine in Singapore and Babs's here in the UK -- I would be nowhere without the love, support and nourishment of my friends.

Spritual nourishment, absolutely.

But hell, you should see what they feed me as well.

So to Si, Kopibren, Jas, Melf, Evie, Deeps, Goz, Heavenwildfleur, gourmet traveller Pleasure Monger, D&V, Kerry... and also Mich and Ken, Chris and Helen, Lloydy, Bru, Leo and Da Pimp (sorry I don't have photos of your poh piah, sushi, raclette, moon blushed tomatos, sushi and jellof rice respectively), a very very big thank you.

Cos in 2011, you were the ones who kept my Gut Going. In more ways than one.

 

 

P.S. Yeah, my friends seems to be a bit obsessed with roast pork belly, huh? I consider this my good fortune. 

Debuting Wild Serai, A Malaysian Supperclub in London

Above: Ikan bakar -- grilled fish in a tangy tamarind sauce. The guests were faster than my camera!

 

A few gluttonous glimpses from Wild Serai's (Blog, Twitter, Facebook) solo debut in Brixton over the weekend (17 Dec). The menu was inspired by the Malay wedding feasts that chef Yolanda attended on her most recent trip to her native Malaysia.

 

 

A few guests were literally holding their sides after lunch, heaving from the volume of food served, but I reckon Wild Serai erred on the right side of pain...

We know there were quite a few of you out there who were keen to join in the fun over the weekend but had other Christmas-time commitments. I've been told that Yolanda is already plotting a nasi lemak feast and a seafood feast (possibly a reprise of this previous test dinner, but watch out for a few new tricks) for early next year, this time from the comfort of her own home in New Malden, rather than the logistical obstacle course that was the community hall in Brixton!

If the thought is making your mouth water, email wildserai@gmail.com to get on the mailing list. Feed you soon, we hope!

 

Click the logo below to keep track of Wild Serai's upcoming supperclub dates.

Disclosure: I'm the founder of Edible Experiences, which manages marketing and bookings for Wild Serai