August 26, 2011

Nori Vege Rock n Rolls

Ingredients:
Nori Seaweed sheet
Beetroot (steamed)
Shredded Carrot
Avocado
Grilled red pepper
Alfalfa sprout

Sauce:
I don't remember the portion, there is no hard rule, but mix n match the taste that suit you. All of the below or anything goes!
Avocado, yogurt, honey, soaked almond, cilantro, olive oil, lemon juice, salt....blend well.

Method:
Just roll n go! just to make sure you have the romaine leaves at the bottom, so that the sauce will not wet the nori sheet to keep it crunchy.

August 25, 2011

Homemade Yogurt Cheese with thermal cooker



FOCC (Cottage Cheese Flaxseed Oil) in Dr Budwig diet required quite an amount of cottage cheese, you can also replace it with yogurt cheese or kefir cheese. To make the cheese, it is simply straining the yogurt, curdled milk or kefir milk, then you get the 'cheese'!
I personally prefer yogurt cheese for its added probiotic benefits.Commercial yogurt is not recommended as it is usually sweeten, flavored and preservative added.

The easiest way to make yogurt is use a yogurt maker for better temperature control. I am using the thermal cooker since I do not want to add one more kitchen gadget to my crowded space. I use low fat organic milk powder and the yogurt starter from Newlife since its easily available to me in Malaysia. You can also use raw milk delivered by your local milkman (for Penang 04-8266439; Subang 0126779087), and any other yogurt starter.




Things You Need:
Thermal Cooker
Kitchen thermometer
Glass container (must be able to fit into the thermal pot)
1 pkt Yogurt starter (yogourmet from Newlife)
Organic non fat milk powder (or 400ml raw milk)
Distilled water
Muslin cloth

Preparing the milk:
1. Dissolve 6 tbsp milk powder into 400ml water.
2. Bring to near boil, not boiling.
3. Pour into glass container. Let it cooled down to 42-43C (measure with your kitchen thermometer)
4. Take 2-3tbsp milk out into small cup then dissolve the yogurt started.
5. Mix the yogurt starter back into the warmed milk.

Preparing the Thermal cooker:
1. Fill up the thermal pot with water to about 3in high and heat it up to 'steamy' hot, not boiling, too hot will kill the good bacteria in the yogurt starter, too cold will not be enough to start the fermentation.

2. Put a metal stand that able to support the glass container "ABOVE" the water, DO NOT let the bottom of the milk touch the hot water. If you do not have a metal stand (or steamer stand), you can use any bowl with the right height.

3. Place the glass container with the milk onto the stand, cover the thermal pot lid, put inside the thermal cooker and close the cover.

4. Leave it to cultivate for 12 hours, do not peek.

5. After 12 hours, you should get a smooth soft 'tofu' like yogurt and it should taste sourish.



Making into Yogurt Cheese:
1. Pour the yogurt in to a muslin cloth, tie and hang in the fridge to allow the whey(yellow water) to drip off overnight. Viola! What left is yogurt cheese!
2. Transfer to glass container and keep in fridge to use for FOCC.


Check out other method here.

August 24, 2011

Chewy Granola Bar

Ingredients:
1/2 cup rolled oat
1 1/2 cup mix nuts and seed of your choice (pumpkin seed, sunflower seeds, walnut, almond, flaxseed)
1/2 cup mix dried fruits (goji berries or Kei-chi, prune, raisin, apricot etc)
2 tbsp cane sugar
4 tbsp honey
2 tbsp olive oil
pinch of sea salt (optional)
1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1/4 tsp nutmeg (optional)

methods:
  1. lightly toast the nuts and seed (optional), so not to damage the good oil in the seed/nuts.
  2. mix the oil, sugar, honey, salt and spice well in a bowl
  3. mix all ingredient together, make sure to coat the nuts and seed well in the oil mixture
  4. line the tray with baking sheet, pressed the mixture into baking tray tightly so that it will not fall apart when cutting.
  5. bake at 170c for 10 min (do not burn it)
  6. let cool before cutting into cube or bars (note: give the block of granola a hard press before it is completely cool, this will help the nuts stay together and less likely to fall apart when cutting)
  7. cut and put into freezer for 30min to harden the bars, store in fridge.