Feeling Chilly? Have Some Chilli

You know it’s cold when you can see your breath, and for sunny Sydney, that time has arrived! It’s well and truly winter, with mid-winter festivals and Christmas in July all over the city and up in the Blue Mountains. Time for some hot food, really hot!

When most people think hot, in food terms, chilli (chili) is what springs to mind. We’ve all seen tv docos or YouTube clips of people trying to eat the hottest chilli peppers, and suffering for their courage! Are they mad?

It’s much easier to enjoy chilli’s heat in a good dish of chilli beans or chilli beef, or in a more subtle form in a good red curry. The heat in chillis comes from a phytonutrient called capsaicin, also found in capsicums (bell peppers), which may have anti-inflammatory effects, and is being researched for possible effects on tumours. It’s also rumoured to help you burn fat faster. Whatever the truth of these claims, capsaicin certainly warms you from the inside!

Cayenne pepper also contains capsaicin, and is a great garnish sprinkled on soups, scrambled eggs, toasted cheese, or added to a stew for a hint of fire.

So, to the recipes

Vegetarian Chilli Beans

I couldn’t do a post on chilli without giving the recipe for the best chilli bean dish I’ve tried, thanks to a friend of a friend in the US. The addition of oregano, cumin, fennel and cayenne give it a Cajun flavour. Since it’s an American recipe, I’ll give the American terms first, followed by the Aussie/English ones. If you leave off the cheese or sour cream, this is a totally vegetarian/vegan dish.

1 medium yellow (brown) onion, chopped

1 medium yellow or red bell pepper (capsicum) , diced

3 cloves garlic, pressed, crushed or chopped finely

1 teasp paprika

1 tablesp chili powder, or dried chili, or 1 tablesp sambal oeleck paste

1/2 teasp dried thyme

1/2 teasp dried oregano

1/2 teasp fennel seeds

1 teasp ground cumin

generous pinch or sprinkle of cayenne pepper

1x 15 ounce (425 gram) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1x 15 ounce (425 gram) can diced tomatoes

Salt and black pepper to taste

olive oil for sautéing

Sauté the onion and capsicum gently in the oil until soft but not browned. Toss in the beans garlic, chilli and spices, sir to coat with oil. Toss in the tomatoes, bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes.

Adjust seasonings to taste and serve on rice, (white or brown), polenta, noodles, a baked potato – whatever carbohydrates you favour. Garnish with chopped cilantro (coriander) or flat leaf parsley, and you could also add a handful of tasty cheese. A dollop of sour cream goes nicely too!

Serves 2

Spicy Brown Rice and Bean Soup

Chilli heats up this minestrone-style soup, and turmeric deepens the flavour while adding extra iron.

2x 425 gram (15 ounce) can kidney beans, or any other beans or chickpeas (garbanzos), drained and rinsed

1x 425 gram (15 ounce) can of tomatoes

6 tablesp partially cooked brown rice

1 large onion, chopped

1 large carrot, sliced or cubed

2 sticks of celery, chopped

1 large potato, peeled and cubed (optional)

2 cloves of garlic, chopped (more if you like)

2 tablesp chilli powder, or dried chilli, or 1 tablesp sambal oeleck paste

1 tablesp turmeric powder

salt & pepper to taste

oil for sautéeing

1.5 litres (about 6 cups) stock or water and stock cubes

Sautee the vegetables , apart from garlic, in the oil, until onions start to soften, add the half-cooked rice. Tip in the turmeric and chilli and stir to release aromas and to coat the rice and vegetables. Add the garlic and tomatoes.

Pour in the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes , until rice is cooked. Add the beans and simmer gently for another 10 minutes, or until the soup smells and tastes right. Garnish in the same way as the chilli pot, and serve with crusty bread or thin toast

Variation: you could replace the potato with cubed pumpkin (winter squash), which goes really well with turmeric and chickpeas.

Serves 4

Buon Appetito!

Mmmarvelous mushrooms!

It’s early Spring here in Australia and so, naturally, we’re enjoying a return to winter with cold grey days, rain and gusty winds. Thank goodness, another winter specialty is hanging around – mushrooms. Especially the big flat meaty ones. These are just the final maturing of the little white cap mushrooms grown commercially, but they have by far he best flavour, rich, dark, strong, and work equally well with beef or lamb in hearty winter stews or as a dish in their own right.

As well as the commonly available button mushrooms in all stages from tightly closed to the wide open ‘flat mushrooms’, mushroom lovers can enjoy portobellos, swiss brown, oyster, shiitake, enoki, chestnut, crimini and other exotic varieties, as well as the highly prized and hugely expensive truffle. Regardless of the variety, all mushrooms contain health giving vitamins and minerals along with their tempting flavours.

What’s good about mushrooms? Antioxidants!

Mushrooms are a surprising source of antioxidants. Eating mushrooms regularly can boost your immune system and these fungi have even been credited by some researchers as helping to fight cancers, thanks to their high antioxidant content. Japanese mushrooms are also believed to help lower blood pressure.

The specific antioxidant in mushrooms is L-ergothioneine, also found in wheatgerm and chicken livers. Mushrooms have about 12 times as much L-ergothioneine as wheat germ and four times more than chicken liver. What’s more, this powerful antioxidant is not destroyed when mushrooms are cooked.

Mushrooms also contain valuable amounts of the mineral selenium. Working together with vitamin E, selenium ensures the proper functioning of numerous vital antioxidant systems throughout the body.

Selenium’s antioxidant activity is helpful in protecting colon cells from cancer-causing toxins, and is also credited with decreasing asthma and arthritis symptoms and in the prevention of heart disease. In addition, selenium is involved in DNA repair, associated with a reduced risk for cancer.

B vitamins, valuable minerals and protein

All mushrooms are an excellent source of riboflavin (vitamin B2), niacin (vitamin B3), pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), as well as the minerals selenium, copper, zinc, iron, manganese, potassium and phosphorus. Mushrooms’ B vitamin content is a boost for vegans who, as a result of a restricted diet compared to vegetarians and omnivores, often struggle getting enough of these vitamins.

Both iron and copper are necessary for the body to synthesis haemoglobin to carry oxygen around in the blood. These two minerals are also quite difficult for non-meat eaters to get enough of, so mushrooms are a valuable addition to vegan or vegetarian meals

While mushrooms are not particularly high in protein at around 3 per cent by weight, they combine well with other animal and vegetable proteins to increase the total protein intake.

Cheap mushrooms as good as expensive varieties

While the World’s 100 Healthiest Foods lists exotic mushrooms such as crimini and shiitake, French food chemists at the Institut National de la Recherche Agrinomique have shown that ordinary commercial button mushrooms have as much or even more anti-oxidant activity as more expensive varieties.

Lead researcher and co-author of the paper published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Jean-Michel Savoie commented: "It can be reasonably assumed that white button mushrooms have as much, if not more, radical scavenging power as mushrooms currently touted for their health benefit. The good thing is button mushrooms are available all year round, are cheap and may be an excellent source of nutrition as part of a healthy diet."

Not only that, you can even buy mushroom kits and grow your own!

So, to the recipes. As mushrooms have a place in both omnivore and non-meat eating diets, I’m offering both options – a basic cream of mushroom soup and an easy baked fish and mushrooms.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

60g butter or 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
600 grams (about 20 ounces) of cap mushrooms, sliced
about 5 tablesp of plain (all purpose) flour
1.25 litre (5 cups) vegetable stock (or water plus 2 stock cubes)
1/2 cup light cream* OR 1 egg beaten up in 1/4 cup of milk*
about 5 tablesp of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
salt & ground black pepper

Heat the butter or oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, for three or four minutes or until soft. Then add the chopped mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or so until the mushrooms are tender. Remove 1/4 cup of mushrooms and set aside.

Add the flour to remaining mushrooms and cook, stirring for two minutes. Gradually add the stock, stirring constantly until all the stock has been added and bring to the boil. Lower the heat to simmering and cook the soup, uncovered, for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from the heat, and blend in a food processor or with a stick blender until smooth. Return to the saucepan over low heat. Stir in the cream* and parsley. Heat over medium-low heat until slightly thickened.

Season with salt and pepper, ladle into bowls and serve topped with reserved mushrooms and more parsley, if liked. Serves 4 as a starter.

*Vegans: I’m sorry, you’ll have to work out how to substitute the cream.

Baked Fish and Mushrooms

4 fresh or frozen fish fillets (about 500 grams or a pound), ½ to ¾ inch thick
2 tablesp butter or oil
1 ½ cups sliced fresh mushrooms
2 small or one large onion, sliced
1 teasp snipped fresh tarragon or thyme, (or ¼ teaspoon dried tarragon or thyme, crushed)
juice of ½ small lemon

Thaw fish, if frozen. Rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Cut into serving-size pieces, if necessary and arrange in a rectangular baking dish, turning under thin edges, so all pieces are approximately the same thickness. Sprinkle with salt.

In a small saucepan melt butter or oil; add the mushrooms, sliced onions, and dried herbs, if using. Cook over medium heat until mushrooms and onions are tender.

Spread mushroom mixture evenly over fish pieces and sprinkle with any fresh herbs. Squeeze over a little lemon juice. Cover with foil or a lid and bake in a hot oven (220C, 450F) for between 12-18 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Sprinkle more lemon juice and more fresh herbs if you have them, and serve with steamed buttered vegetables. Serves 4

Buon Appetito!

Would you like some zucchinis?

When my children were young we were trying, fairly unsuccessfully, to live an alternative and self-sustaining lifestyle in a dairying and vegetable-growing area of rural Tasmania. Our farmlet was surrounded by huge vegetable paddocks of growers supplying the big frozen vegetable companies, but thanks to a silted up spring, broken pipes and no money to fix them, we could barely grow anything.

Fortunately, our friends on other small holdings in the district were both productive and generous, and we were frequently offered bounty from their gardens. Tomatoes, lettuce, pumpkin, potatoes, parsnips, swedes (a small turnip). One offer we came to dread was “Would you like some zucchinis?” “Some”, in this case, generally being an understatement. Zucchinis (courgettes) are very easy to grow, given water and sunshine, and they are very prolific, even a small patch producing a glut rather than moderation. We became very inventive in ways of using them, even attempting deep-fried zucchini chips, and thank goodness our chooks would happily eat any discarded experiment and repay us with eggs.

I was reminded of this time in our lives when a friend and I were offered a bag of cheap zucchinis at the local greengrocers. Not so much offered, as had them pressed on us, with many exclamations of affection, by the Italian greengrocer. Having avoided zucchinis for most of the 20 years since our rural experience, I actually had to look for a recipe to deal with this unexpected bounty!

One of the world's oldest vegetables

People have been eating zucchinis for thousands of years, probably because of their ease of growing and their generous cropping. Apparently they are one of the oldest families of vegetables that humans have domesticated, after their appearance in the Americas. (Zucchinis are botanically a fruit, as evidenced by the seeds insde them, but are generally considered a vegetable.) However, it was when they were taken up by the Italians, Greeks, Turks and Lebanese that zucchinis took off, becoming an important part of many European and Middle Eastern cuisines, as their mild flavour combines well with herbs, spices and other strongly flavoured ingredients.

While zucchinis are not in the top 100 healthy foods, they do provide some useful vitamins and minerals and a tiny amount of protein. As well as similar amounts of Vitamin C as potatoes, they provide some calcium, folate, potassium, manganese and vitamin A, all of which would contribute to a healthy diet if the vegetable was eaten regularly. In fact, they play a part in the healthy Mediterranean Diet. Like most vegetables, they contain no fat, no starch and are low in calories. And if you can’t grow them yourself, they are usually one of the cheapest veggies to buy.

Zucchini recipes

So, to the recipes. There are lots of delicious dishes using zucchinis together with stronger flavours, such as the colourful ratatouille. However, I decided to focus on zucchini’s own delicate flavour, and today being a grey and wintry day, chose to make a quick and easy zucchini soup. I modified the recipe I found to make it a little tangier, but resisted the urge to add any animal protein, so this is a vegetarian and vegan recipe. Omnivores may like to add sausage, bacon, and/or cheese, but the ‘naked’ soup is delicious in its own right.

Zucchini Soup

A big slurp of olive oil (about 2 tablesp)
1 brown onion, finely chopped
2 or more garlic cloves, chopped
750 grams (1½ pounds/about 7) zucchini, grated
1 celery stalk, chopped fine
500 ml (2 cups) water, vegetable stock or chicken stock
½ teasp cumin
salt and white pepper to taste

In a large heavy saucepan sauté onion and celery gently in oil for about five minutes, until softening. Add the garlic and sauté for a couple of minutes. Then add cumin and fry gently for a minute.

Tip the grated zucchini into the pot and stir to mix with the other ingredients. Add the salt and pepper. Pour in the liquid and bring to the boil. (If using plain water, either add extra salt and pepper, or dissolve 2 stock cubes in the water before adding.) When the soup is boiling, cover, turn down heat and simmer for about 8 minutes.

Take the soup from the heat and blend in a food processor or with a stick blender until smooth. It should be a pale green with tiny dark green speckles. Adjust seasonings and reheat for a few minutes before serving. A dollop of sour cream or Greek-style yoghurt can be added to each bowl for extra richness.

Serves 4

If I hadn’t made the soup, I’d have baked some Zucchini Herb Muffins.

1 cup zucchini, grated
1 or more garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup of herbs, chopped fine – basil, parsley, chives, oregano, whatever you have
Salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs, lightly beaten,
2 tablesp oil
1 cup milk or milk and yoghurt mixed
2 cups plain (all purpose) flour and baking powder to make 2 cups SR

Sift flour and baking powder together. In another, larger bowl, combine all other ingredients and mix well together. Stir in flour until just mixed.

Line muffin tray with paper pans and 2/3rds fill with mixture. Bake at 180C (350F) for 15-20 minutes.

Makes 12

Buon Appetito!

Calcium – moo-ve away from dairy and still have strong bones

As an older woman in a family where the women have typically fine bones and tend to develop osteoarthritis and even osteoporosis, I’ve been aware for many years of the need for adequate calcium in my diet.

But it isn’t just older women who need sufficient calcium circulating in their blood for physiological functions like blood clotting, nerve conduction, muscle contraction, enzyme activity, and cell membrane function. We all need it, from babies to elderlies, boys and men as well as girls and women.

Pregnant women need to get enough calcium for their own body's needs, as well as those of the baby developing inside her. And young children need plenty of calcium in the first five years of life to build their growing bones and teeth, as well as their central nervous systems.

And when it comes to building strong bones, the more calcium laid down before the age of 35, the better structure there will be to deal with later deprivations. After about 35, the depletions are greater than the additions when it comes to calcium and bones.

Although it’s well-known that women are at risk of osteoporosis after menopause, when oestrogen’s protective power is removed, it’s not so well-known that men can get osteoporosis, too. In either case, when the dietary intake of calcium is too low to maintain normal blood levels of calcium, the body draws on calcium stored in the bones to maintain normal blood concentrations, and after many years, this can lead to osteoporosis.

However, our bones can be strengthened right through to old age with a good calcium-rich diet and resistance exercises.

Cheese, Yoghurt, Milk (and Dairy Milk Chocolate)

Dairy farmers, food manufacturers and chocolate companies would like us to believe that dairy products are the best sources of calcium. And, as one who grew up in a dairying state that produces some of the world’s finest cheeses and ‘gourmet’ cream, and who still has a soft spot for dairy farmers (and for a chocolate company that promotes the “glass and a half of full-cream dairy milk in every block”), I have to admit they have a point.

But dairy products are not the best sources of calcium, and they are generally high in fat – at least all the good tasting ones are! Then there’s the problem of lactose–intolerant people and vegans. How are they to get enough calcium without going to supplements?

Strangely enough – the same way as dairy cows do!

Eat Green for Good Calcium Intake

I’m not suggesting we all get down and attempt to graze our lawns or the grass in our local park, but it turns out that bright green and dark green vegetables are the best way to eat calcium.

There are some non-green foods (apart from dairy), but green is go when you’re chasing calcium.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/crobj/ / CC BY 2.0

Excellent sources of calcium include spinach, turnip greens, mustard greens and collard greens. Very good sources include Swiss chard (silverbeet), kale, basil, thyme, and, surprisingly, peppermint leaves.

(For an in-depth look at the health benefits of Swiss chard, see my article Swiss Chard - Phytonutrient Power for Diabetic and Bone Health. )

Good calcium sources include romaine lettuce, celery, broccoli, fennel, cabbage, green beans, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, oregano, rosemary, parsley, kombu, and kelp.

Non-green foods that have surprising amounts of calcium are blackstrap molasses, almonds, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, sesame seeds, garlic, tofu, oranges, summer squash, crimini mushrooms, dill seed, cinnamon and dried figs.

So, to the recipes. Although I’ve just finished up the last of a delicious home-made spanakopitta, in which lots of dark green silverbeet combined with three types of cheese for a calcium-rich savoury dish, I won’t give that recipe, as it would discriminate against people who don’t eat dairy. Instead, I offer these:

Stir-Fried Green Vegetables with Tofu and Almonds

This is a basic stir-fry in which you use as many different green vegs as you have in the fridge, together with garlic, ginger, tofu and almonds. All the quantities are estimates.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yosoynuts/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

• About 500 grams (1 lb) of green vegs – broccoli, broccolini, bok choy, choy sum, spinach, silverbeet, washed dried, stems cut into similar sized pieces, & leaves roughly torn
• 2 cloves of garlic or more if you like it, crushed,
• 250 grams (8 oz) firm tofu, in small cubes,
• 2 teasp finely grated fresh ginger,
• 1 tablesp soy sauce or tamari
• About 2 tablesp cooking oil (a biggish slurp)
• 1 teasp sesame oil
• 2 tablespoon of almonds, can be blanched & slivered or left whole

Heat the oil in the wok and add the ginger and garlic. Cook over high heat for a minute, stirring. Add tofu cubes and stir-fry for about 3 minutes. Remove tofu with a slotted spoon and keep warm.
Add the vegetable stems to the hot oil and stirfry for one to two minutes (no more). Add the leaves and wilt them in the hot oil. Toss in the almonds. Toss the tofu cubes back in and pour over the soy sauce/tamari and the sesame oil. Toss all together to combine and serve immediately on steamed rice or noodles.
Serves 4

Provençal Parsley Soup

This is one to make if you have masses of parsley growing in your garden, or have just bought a huge bunch of it at the market. This is another with estimates for quantities.

• About 800 grams (1½ lb) mashing potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
• A very large bunch of parsley – at least several handfuls when chopped
• About 2 tablesp butter or olive oil
• Garlic (optional, but if using, put in at least 2 cloves, crushed)
• Stock to just cover potatoes, with more kept hot
• Salt & pepper

Cook potatoes in as little stock as possible until soft enough to mash. Mash or puree with the garlic and the butter/olive oil. Mix in the chopped parsley, and simmer with a little extra stock for five to 10 minutes.
Adjust seasonings, add more hot stock if soup seems too thick. Serve with crusty bread.
Serves 4

Buon Appetito!

The Vegetarian Option

As I posted last time on the joys of eating meat, occasionally, it’s only fair to look at the other side of the plate and consider the vegetarian option.

As millions of people worldwide – notably the Hindus and Jains of the Indian sub-continent, among others, it is possible not only to eat healthily without any animal foods, it’s possible to create a colourful and richly flavoured cuisine at the same time.

Since this blog is about healthy eating, let’s tackle the health aspects first. No less a conservative authority than the American Dietetic Association has given a vegetarian diet a tick of approval.

The ADA says "a properly planned vegetarian diet can be nutritionally adequate in pregnancy" – surely the greatest challenge - with both mother and baby remaining healthy. It is also suitable for growing children, adolescents and adults and even athletes.

The trick is balancing your food combinations so as to build amino acids from grains and legumes to get the full complement needed to make human muscle protein. Vegetarians, and vegans even more so, also need to ensure sufficient variety to meet all their calcium, iron, zinc, B vitamins and other mineral and micronutrients that would otherwise come from meat, eggs, fish and dairy.

The advantage that vegetarians gain over omnivores – even the omnivore following the Mediterranean diet is enhanced protection from many of the degenerative diseases that attack Western people, particularly as we age. It confers protection from or improved health with heart disease, hypertension (high blood pressure), Type 2 diabetes, many cancers, lowers LDL cholesterol levels and helps maintain a healthy body weight.

Be Veg Go Green Save Our Planet

This is the motto of a religious and humanitarian organisation under the leadership of Supreme Master Ching Hai. It emphasises the contribution of livestock production on climate change and the “planet saving” effects of taking up the vegetarian lifestyle, and its followers hand out free dvds of vegan and vegetarian recipes at climate change and sustainability rallies.

Whatever I might think about Supreme Master Ching Hai’s recipes – very few of the ones on the free dvd I received appealed to me – she is right about the environmental impact of trying to create meat from grasses and grains, instead of eating them ourselves.

Vegetarian Food Need Not be Difficult or Dull

Despite the need to be more aware of food sources and food combinations, vegetarian cuisine need never be dull. There is a huge range of ethnic cuisines from many of the poorer, agrarian cultures of the world, which, while low or absent in animal products, still provide balanced nutrition. Indian, Mexican, South American, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, are just some of the cuisines that are predominantly vegetarian. There are probably hundreds of others.

A creative cook can also convert meat-based western cuisines such as French, Italian, Hungarian, Austrian, and Australian – once described by a visiting British food critic as “large slabs of protein” – into tasty and appetising vegetarian alternatives.

What’s Today’s Recipe?

Despite not having fully converted to vegetarian eating, as I confessed in In Praise of Meat as a Treat, I do still enjoy lots of meatless meals. I dive into my battered Indian cookbook, the 20-year-old paperback copy of Sameen Rushdie’s Indian Cookery.

So here’s the first dhal recipe I learnt to make, and still eat about once a month. It’s simple and tasty, the kitchen smells fantastic as the spices are frying, and combined with rice you get your complete protein.

Khari Kali Masoor ki Daal

This is made with whole green lentils, which the Indian grocery near me sells as Masoor lentils.

• 225 grams/1 cup whole Masoor lentils
• 1 small onion peeled and blended to a smooth paste (or just chopped fine)
• ½ teasp red chili powder (or to taste)
• ½ teasp turmeric (or to taste)
• 1 teasp ground coriander
• dollop of butter or 1 tablesp oil
• salt to taste
• 2-3 tablesp thick tamarind juice or lemon juice
• 1 dessertsp finely grated fresh ginger
• 2 green chilies (or to taste) finely chopped
• 1 tablesp fresh mint leaves, finely chopped.

For the Bhagar

• Cooking oil
• 1 small onion peeled and finely chopped into rings or half rings
• 2 small garlic cloves finely sliced into rounds

Wash the lentils in several changes of water. Into a heavy bottomed saucepan put a dollop of butter or some oil and fry the spices for a few minutes. Then add the lentils and stir to mix in the spices. Add the onion paste and 3 cups of water and salt to taste. Bring to the boil.

When it boils, turn down the heat as low as possible, and cover. Cook for about 45 minutes, checking every so often to see it doesn’t boil dry. When the dhal has softened, stir vigorously with a wooden spoon. Only add extra water if it has all evaporated and the lentils seem dry, when you can stir in about half a cup.

Now add the tamarind or lemon juice, grated ginger, green chillies and about half the mint, and continue cooking over a low heat, covered for another 10 minutes.

Meanwhile make the bhagar. Fry the onion slices in hot oil until golden and sizzling. Add the sliced garlic and as soon as they turn golden, pour the whole sizzling mixture over the dhal.
Garnish with the remaining mint.

Serve with plain boiled rice and steamed green vegetables such as bok choy.