Sharing Healthy Recipes with You
For a long time, Sichuan Ma Po Tofu has been one of my favorite Chinese dishes. But most of the versions to this point have contained meat (usual pork). I even have a video on YouTube on how to cook that version. To keep the dish gout friendly the pork has been eliminated. It is still flavorful so do not worry about the missing pork. From what I read the dish started out as a cheap vegetarian meal so now we go back to basics.
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Lately, I have been craving something cooked in salsa verde. But of course, it has to be something gout friendly. So why not squash and mushrooms. The most important part is a flavorful salsa made with tomatillos.
Today's raw salsa verde is just a basic salsa verde. If you want you can also roast everything then make the salsa but this way requires less clean up.
If you want to see how I make my complete raw salsa verde watch this video. This one is great on tacos.
First I need to make the salsa by adding all of the salsa ingredients to a blender and liquifying them. Then sit it aside until needed.
Salsa Ingredients
Roughly chop the squash and mushrooms. The squash I used today was labeled calabaza squash but zucchini would work.
Squash and Mushrooms
Cook the veggies until they start to get some color (they will have also reduced down). Then season with cumin and ground ancho chili (optionally chili powder). Then add the salsa and cook until the squash is almost tender. Taste to check to seasoning and add salt if needed. Add the cilantro (if you like cilantro) and cook for two more minutes.
Adding salsa
Squash and Mushrooms in Salsa Verde
It was only recently that I had my first black bean burger. Luckily for me, it was one of the good ones made in house. Since then I have had some of the pre-made ones that are not so good (some pre-made ones are good). I decided that I had to learn how to make them at home. This one is a good base that I change seasoning based on what I want that day.
Most black bean burgers do have a tendency to fall apart. To help combat that I am using flax egg. Simply ground flax seed soaked in hot water. It does not keep the burger from falling apart but does help and the flaxseed meal helps to flavor the burger.
Flax Egg
I do cook my own black beans. For that, I soak one pound of black beans overnight. Then cook them in half a tablespoon of salt until tender. You can use canned beans. The amount of beans in the recipe is similar to one can of beans.
Old fashioned oats and pecans (or your nut of choice). help add body to the burger.
You can season just about any way you like but if you use canned beans be careful with adding salt.
Ingredients
First, to a food processor add your dry ingredients and seasoning then pulse until ground up.
Dry Ingredients in Food Processor
Ground up
Then add everything else and pulse until mixed. Do leave some texture. Place parchment paper on a baking pan add four English muffin rings. Evenly distribute the mixture into the four rings. Bake for thirty minutes, remove from oven and let rest for five minutes to firm up.
Mixture In-ring
Build and garnish your burger however you like. I used pickled daikon and carrot with some cilantro. For the daikon and carrot, I used a recipe from Andrea Nguyen. It can be found here: http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2009/05/daikon-and-carrot-pickle-recipe-do-chua.html
Baked Black Bean Burger
One dish that I really do miss since going on the Gout Friendly Diet is gumbo. Most variations have something that is on the bad list for me. On the bad list is items that I have to severally limit. So why not do a version with nothing from the bad list. This is my first attempt at a vegan version but lets see how it goes.
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The easiest version of gumbo that I know is chicken and sausage. So lets try to make a gout friendly version of that. For the chicken I am using frozen wheat gluten that I bought from a Vietnamese market called Mi Can. It is very similar to the https://jamesstrange.com/recipe/vegan-gout-friendly-sausages/ minus the white beans. To replace the andouille sausage I am using a tofu version of andouille sausage.
Spoiler this will be the last time I buy tofu andouille sausage.
To simplify things I made the roux in the microwave. That is fairly straight forward. Add oil and flour in a large glass container mix and heat in the microwave for five minutes. Mix and heat again for one minute. Continue doing this a few times until you get close to the color you want then go 30 seconds at a time. When get the color you want add trinity (onion, celery and bell pepper) to sweat the veggies and stop the roux from cooking.
I used 4 cups of veggie stock and 4 cups of water. You can use any ration of water / stock that you like. You can add almost any vegetable that you like. Traditionally tomatoes should not be used. But it is your gumbo.....
I will admit this tasted like gumbo but the "chicken" and "sausage" were not what I was looking for the sausage was really mushy. I will continue working of the recipe and will post more versions as I learn.
Vegan Gumbo
This delicious mac and "cheese" recipe using sweet potato and unsweetened almond milk keep the recipe dairy free and vegan. The sauce is very creamy and does not taste like eating a sweet potato. You will not miss the heavy cheese.
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Smothered okra and tomatoes is a dish that was around every summer when tomatoes and okra were abundant. But it's one of those dishes I never really thought about. Let's face it I do prefer fried okra. ...
One food that is very dangerous for Gout sufferers is sausages. We have no way of knowing what cuts of meat were used which is not a good thing. Did they use thymus glands? Thymus glands are extremely high in purine. They can also contain other possible outbreak triggers like MSG, curing salt and high fructose corn syrup. So I chose to completely avoid them, at least until now.
These delicious sausages made with Navy beans and vital wheat gluten are a great alternative.
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Navy Beans and Gluten
The base of the sausages are Navy beans and gluten. Think of this a a blank canvas to flavor how you like. They do have a nice texture. I was really worried about this the first time. I like to use dry beans but this works just fine with can beans but this way I control the amount of salt.
First I soak one pound of dried Navy beans overnight. For this recipe we do not need that many but why not cook some extra?
Then the beans get cooked in plenty of water with one teaspoon of salt. And no cooking beans with salt will not make them hard. Cook the beans until tender, about two hours on a slow boil. Then let them cool off a little.
To a blender add one cup of drained beans, two and a quarter cups liquid, and any veggies that you want to add. I add two tablespoons green onion, two cloves of garlic and some black pepper. For the liquid I used extra liquid from cooking the beans. If you do do not have that much extra use what you have and make up the extra with water.
I also added one Tablespoon of red miso.
Red Miso
Blend all of this up and taste for seasoning. Remember you will will also be adding gluten so if is bland add more salt.
In a mixing bowl add three hundred grams for vital wheat gluten, quarter cup nutritional yeast and what other seasonings you want. I added half a teaspoon of Cajun seasoning. Then add your wet ingredients.
Adding Wet to Dry
Mix just until you can no longer see dry spots.
Yes its ugly
Now take some plastic wrap and add some of the mixture (the one that I weighed was eighty seven grams) and roll into a log.
Mixture log
Place into a steamer and steam for forty five minutes. Let cool, remove plastic and cool in the fridge until completely cool. Do leave a little space in between your logs to allow for expansion.
Then they are ready for brown on the outside. They are cooked but for appearance and texture it is good to brown them. For these I added half a Tablespoon of oil to a pan and cooked until brown.
Next time I will make some breakfast sausages by adding sage and red pepper.
Vegan Sausages
Egg free mayo is one of the simplest recipes you can make. Some people do not eat eggs and some for medical reasons can not eat raw eggs. The egg is replaced with Aquafaba is the liquid used to cook chickpeas. I used the liquid for chickpeas that I cooked but the stuff from the can also works. This recipe requires only five minutes and less than one minute to blend together.
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I love okra raw, fried, stewed with tomatoes, in curry, or in gumbo but will not eat boiled okra. Let's just say slime is not for me, enough said. Growing up in South East Arkansas I was able to eat a lot of fried okra. What's not to like about something fried until golden brown, crunchy and delicious. It is a very simple dish to cook but is best with fresh okra.
Today at the farmers market they had fresh cut okra, so today's recipe is fried okra.
First, we need one pound of fresh okra. You want them about the size of your finger. If you use ones bigger than that you risk them being tough. When I worked in Pakistan they called okra ladies fingers.
Farmers Market Okra
Of course, they need to be washed. After washing and drying it is time to cut them. First I cut off the stem end (throw that away), then cut them into half-inch rounds. They can be a bit bigger or smaller that's not a problem.
The round gets added to a bowl, to that we need to add two Tablespoons of milk. This can be any kind of milk that you like. If you use plant-based milk then the recipe will be vegan but coconut milk might taste a bit odd in this recipe.
Add milk to the okra
After adding the milk give the okra a good mix. Adding milk to the okra will help the cornmeal to stick to the okra. The more cornmeal that sticks the crunchier the okra will be.
Ready to mix
For this recipe, I used 1/4 cup of stone-ground cornmeal. Stoneground cornmeal gives the dish extra crunch. If you do not have stone-ground then you can use regular cornmeal. Sometimes I will even use a mix of flour and cornmeal. We will also add our seasonings at this time. Today I am going simple, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/8 teaspoon granulated garlic. Then give it a good mix and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. This will help keep it from falling off the okra.
Okra battered and ready to fry
In a wide bottom, pan heat up 1/2 cup of neutral-flavored oil (I used vegetable oil). Then add your battered okra.
Spread the okra out and cook on medium-high heat. Cook a little then turn over, continue to do this while cooking. This will ensure even cooking. Cook until you get lots of nice brown color.
Fried okra
One thing that I do after the okra is cooked the pan is propped up on one side to drain the leftover oil. This is not a healthy dish but I do drain off as much of the oil as possible.
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Cutting the Chuck Roast Steak
Chuck Roast is a cheap and very flavorful cut of meat. It is perfect for long cooks that's why it is perfect for making pot roast. But it's not good for quick high-temperature cooking methods. This is why it's not a good cut of meat for steak. But by cooking Sous Vide for 12 hours or more chuck roast can make for a very nice and cheap steak.
Salting the Chuck Roast
Season the steak with salt and pepper then Vacuum seal. Set your temperature on your sous vide device. I used a Sous Vide Supreme set at 130 F. And cooked for 16 hours. If you use an open container with a circulator you will need to cover the container or monitor the water level during the cook.
Adding to the Sous Vide Supreme
After the Chuck Roast Steak has cooked you need to make the sauce. First I cooked down the juices from the bag (or you can use beef stock) wine and black pepper. Do not add salt at this point it will have salt from cooking. You can adjust later. Cook the liquid down to 1/3 of its original volume.
Adding wine to the bag juices
While this is reducing I cooked
Shallots and Mushrooms
In 3 Tablespoons of oil, I cooked 2 shallots and 1 cup of roughly chopped mushrooms. When the shallots and mushrooms start to get some brown color I added 2 Tablespoons of flour. Mixed it in, lowered the flame, and cooked until the flour started to smell nutty. That told me the flour was starting to brown and was ready for liquid.
At this point, I strained the reduced liquid into the pan. Stirred it in at this point the sauce was very thick so I added some water until it was slightly thinner than I wanted. Checked for and adjusted seasoning and moved to the simmering burner.
Stirring the mushroom sauce.
At this point, it was time to sear the steak. I heated up my cast iron griddle until it was really hot and added the chuck steak. As a side note, you really should dry the steak before searing.
When the steak was seared on the first side I added 1 Tablespoon of cold butter cut into small pieces to the sauce. When it was seared on both sides it was ready to cut and serve.
Cutting the Chuck Roast Steak
At our house we often add Korean flavors to American recipes, this Bulgogi burger is a prime example. The key to this great tasting Bulgogi Burger is to marinate the lean ground beef with a simple bulgogi sauce /marinade.
For the bulgogi ground beef:
1 pound of lean ground beef I used 93% lean to 7% fat ground beef.
1/4 cup soy sauce
Adding soy sauce to lean ground beef
1 Tablespoon of raw sugar
1 teaspoon of roasted sesame oil
3 chopped green onions
1 Tablespoon freshly chopped garlic
All of this gets mixed and formed into patties.
Add all the ingredients and mix
Cook the patties on medium to desired temp.
Putting the burgers on the griddle
To the griddle add 1/4 cup sliced onion
1/2 cup chopped kimchi
Mix and cook.
Kimchi onions and burgers on the griddle
To make the burgers you can do protein style or put them in a bun.
Use lettuce, gochujang ketchup, the cooked kimchi and your burger patties.
I prefer them wrapped in lettuce since that is more like eating bulgogi.
Build the bulgogi burger on lettuce.
