Lunch Wednesday 30 May - Japanese Style Simmer Aubergine

Japanese Style Simmered Aubergine & Soba in Miso & Ponzu Sauce
1 medium aubergine
1 tablespoon mirin
2 tablespoons soy sauce
500 ml dashi
1 teaspoon sugar

50g soba noodles, cooked & refreshed in cold water
1 tablespoon white miso
1 tablespoon Ponzu sauce

100g lettuce, shredded
handful fresh coriander
handful fresh mint
4 spring onions, sliced
7 Spice Pepper

Score the aubergine skin in a cross-hatch all over. Make the scorings fairly close together - about 1 cm apart.

Cut the aubergine in half length wise, then cut it into slices about 2cms thick. Sprinkle with salt and leave to stand for 1 hour.

Squeeze any excess moisture from the aubergine with your hands.

Spray a non stick skillet with some oil and saute the aubergines on either side until browned.

Simmer together the dashi, mirin, soy and sugar. Add the aubergine slices and simmer until most of the liquid has either been absorbed by the aubergines or evaporated. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Mis the cooked soba with the miso & ponzu sauce.

Toss together the lettuce, herbs and spring onions, reserving some spring onions for garnish. Use this mixture to libe a serving plate.

Arrange the soba and aubergines on the salad & garnish with the reserved spring onions and 7 Spice Pepper.

Nutrition Data
Calories (kcal) 299.0
Carbohydrate (g) 45.8
Protein (g) 14.0
Fat (g) 5.1
Fibre (g) 6.7
Alcohol (g) 1.1

Breakfast Wednesday 30 May - APPLESAUCE!

Made some fresh apple sauce with cinnamon which I had for breakfast. Went Googling for a suitable pic (as I did not take one) and ran across this from Ninja Burger:


Pretty cool! although I am not quite sure WTF Ninja Burger is all about...

Ninja Burger
"Guaranteed delivery in 30 minutes or less, or we commit Seppuku! "

Dinner Tuesday 29 May - White Radish Cake with Prawns & Bean Sprouts

White Radish Cake with Prawns & Bean Sprouts
1 portion white radish cake
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2-3 chilis, sliced
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
100g prawns
190g bean sprouts blanched
1 egg, beaten
3 spring onions, sliced
handful fresh coriander leaves

Cut the white radish cake into cubes. Spray a non-stick skillet with a little oil and fry to radish cake until it is lightly browned. Add the garlic, chillis, sugar, soy sauce & fish sauce. Saute for a minute or two, then add the prawns and bean sprouts. Heat everything through, then pour over the beaten egg and cook until just set. Add the spring onions and coriander & serve.

Nutrition Data
Calories (kcal) 438.8
Carbohydrate (g) 52.3
Protein (g) 39.1
Fat (g) 9.7
Fibre (g) 6.0

Lunch Tuesday 29 May - Noodles with Bean Sprouts, Sugar Snaps & Sweet Pepper in Oyster Sauce

Noodles with Bean Sprouts, Sugar Snaps & Sweet Pepper in Oyster Sauce 1 thumb ginger, peeled & grated
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2-3 chillis, sliced
1 sweet, pointed red pepper, blanched (about 80g)
120g sugar snap peas, blanched
160g bean sprouts, blanched
100g oyster sauce
50g ho fan (what was left in the pack)
3 spring onions sliced
handful coriander leaves

Spray a non-stick skillet with a little oil and cook the chillis, ginger and garlic for a couple minutes.

Add the blanched vegetables and stir fry for 2-3 minutes, until hot.

Add the cooked noodles, oyster sauce, coriander and spring onions. Toss briefly together to mix all ingredients and serve.

Nutrition Data
Calories (kcal) 447.4
Carbohydrate (g) 89.8
Protein (g) 23.5
Fat (g) 1.1
Fibre (g) 8.8

Breakfast Tuesday 29 May - Pineapple Cottage Cheese

Nothing fancy, just a pot of low fat cottage cheese with pineapple and a pot of coffee.

Finally feeling well enough again to try the gym out, so off I go to do some cardio.

Dinner Monday 28 May - Fusilli with Prawns, Spinach & Tomatoes

Fusilli with Prawns, Spinach & Tomatoes
50g wholewheat pasta, cooked
1 clove garlic
115g raw spinach
200g Santini tomatoes, halved
100g prawns
1 teaspoon Marigold vegetable stock powder (I use the low sodium one)

Spray a skillet with a little oil and cook the garlic for a minute or so. Add the hot pasta with a little of the cooking water. Stir in the spinach, Marigold, tomatoes and prawns and cook for 2-3 minutes, until spinach is wilted and everything is heated through.

Give it a good grating of black pepper and a sprinkle of nutmeg & serve.

Nutrition Data
Calories (kcal) 331.3
Carbohydrate (g) 46.8
Protein (g) 29.1
Fat (g) 4.0
Fibre (g) 9.3

Lunch Monday 28 May - Potato Methi

One of the things that looked good in Chapel Market yesterday was methi; fresh fenugreek leaves. Anyway, I bought some, so decided to make:

Potato Methi
10g ghee
80g shallots, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon turmeric root, grated
1 teaspoon cumin seeds. toasted & ground
1 teaspoon coriander seeds. toasted & ground
handful curry leaves
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 tomato, chopped (about 100g)
100g fresh fenugreek leaves (methi)
200g potatoes, cut into bite sized chunks
handful fresh coriander leaves
juice 1/2 lemon

Melt the ghee in a heavy skillet and add the cumin, coriander mustard seeds and chilli. Saute for a couple of minutes, until the mustard begins to pop.

Add the garlic, shallots, turmeric and chilli powder and saute over low until the shallots are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the chopped tomato, potatoes and 200mls water. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.

Stir in the methi and cook for a further 1 minutes, until the mehti is wilted.

Finally, add the lemon juice & coriander just before serving.

Nutrition Data per serving
Calories (kcal) 387.0
Carbohydrate (g) 23.0
Protein (g) 36.2
Fat (g) 16.7
Fibre (g) 5.5

Breakfast Monday 28 May - Strawberries & yoghurt

Just a big old punnet of strawberries and some M&S plain, probiotic yoghurt. With coffee, of course.

Dinner Sunday 27 May - White Radish Cake with Sugar Snaps & Bean Sprouts

1 portion white radish cake
100 mls dashi
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoon mirin
2 teaspoons brown sugar
2-3 red chillis, sliced (to taste)

100g sugar snap peas, blanched & sliced
100g bean sprouts, blanched

2 spring onions, slivered
handful fresh coriander leaves


Fry to white radish cake in a little spray oil until hot, crispy and browned.

While the cake is frying, make a sauce by simmering together the dashi, mirin & brown sugar. Add the chillis and the fried white radish cake. Turn the cakes in the sauce once, then remove them to a serving plate.

Garnish plate with blanched sugar snaps & bean sprouts. Pour over the reserved sauce, garnish with spring onions and coriander and serve.

Nutrition Data
Calories (kcal) 502.4
Carbohydrate (g) 92.7
Protein (g) 20.5
Fat (g) 3.4
Fibre (g) 6.2

Lunch Sunday 27 May - Miso Soup

Miso Soup
1 pint dashi
10g dried wakame seaweed, cut into bite sized pieces

50g tofu, diced
10g leeks, sliced thinly
50g white miso paste
Simmer the wakame in the dashi for 5 minutes or so. Add the leeks & tofu and warm through. Add a little hot dashi to the miso paste and mix well to loosen the miso. Then add the miso to the hot stock and stir well to combine.

Do not boil the miso or you will kill it.

Nutrition Data per serving
Calories (kcal) 193.2
Carbohydrate (g) 20.1
Protein (g) 13.2
Fat (g) 5.5
Fibre (g) 6.0

Breakfast Sunday 27 May - Strawberries

Munched my way through a big box of strawbs for breakfast. Woke up feeling like shite, so went back to bed and had a lie in until nearly noon, then went up to Chapel Market to see what looked good.

Dinner Saturday 26 May - White Radish Cake with Prawns, Baby Corn & Broccoli

White Radish Cake with Prawns, Baby Corn & Broccoli

1 serving white radish cake
100g prawns
125g broccoli, separated into florets
50g baby corn

3 cloves garlic, crushed
5 mls sunflower oil
100mls fish stock
50mls Shao Shing
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon Nam Prik Pow
3 spring onions, sliced
handful fresh coriander

Add the oil to a wok or skillet and dry the white radish cake until browned. Remove and reserve. While the cake is frying, steam the broccoli & baby corn together

Fry the garlic in the same pan for about 1 minute, then add the fish (or vegetable) stock, Shao Shing, fish sauce, sugar and Nam Prik Pow. Bubble together for a minute or so, then add the prawns and white radish cake.

Arrange the white radish cake and prawns on a plate. Add the steamed veggies, spring onions and coriander to the skillet with the sauce and toss together. Arrange around the white radish cake & prawns and serve.

Nutrition Data for meal
Calories (kcal) 411.7
Carbohydrate (g) 43.2
Protein (g) 30.8
Fat (g) 13.0
Fibre (g) 6.5

Well, I said back in late April that had forgotten how much I enjoyed white radish cake and I must try making it at home, so this was first attempt.

It came out pretty damn tasty! I added the Maggi cube because they always remind me of Indonesia and Thailand. Some ruminations about Maggi cubes here .

White Radish Cake
450g white radish (also called mooli or daikon)
125ml water
1 Maggi stock cube
10g dried Shrimp

120g brown rice flour
30g plain white flour
200mls water

1 tablespoon unrefined sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon white pepper

Peel & grate the mooli. Combine with the water, stock cube & dried shrimp in a non-stick pan. Simmer over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes until radish is soft and the liquid has evaporated.

Mix together the flours and the 200mls water to form a paste. Add to the cooked mooli and simmer together over very low heat for 5 minutes or so, until a thick mixture is formed. Watch carefully so it does not burn.

Add the sugar & seasoning and stir the mixture well.

Turn the paste into a greased 20cm square cake tin. Smooth the surface with a spatula. Place it in a steamer and steam over high heat for 35 to 45 minutes, until firm. The cake will firm as it cools, but it should be pretty well set before you stop cooking - no liquidy or excessively jiggling centres!

Allow it to cool thoroughly - overnight is best. Cut into slices and pan fry before serving with a sauce of your choosing. This recipe adapted from one found in The Star newspaper (Kuali), Phillipines (online). You can also add sauteed shallots and/or dried sausage (for meat eaters) to the mix.

Makes 4 servings
Nutrition Data per serving
Calories (kcal) 169.5
Carbohydrate (g) 33.2
Protein (g) 5.4
Fat (g) 1.7
Fibre (g) 1.8

Lunch Sat 26 May - Thai Red Curried Tofu with Sugar Snap Peas

Thai Red Curried Tofu with Sugar Snap Peas
I tend to keep homemade green, red and massaman Thai curry pastes about. Whenever I get some nice coriander with the roots still intact, I save them in the freezer for Thai curry pastes which tend to use the coriander roots rather than leaves.

Anyway, I had some Thai red curry paste to hand, so decided to make a sort of a red curry.

Fry a tablespoon of red curry paste until fragrant. Add water, creamed coconut (the block stuff), fish sauce and sugar. Simmer together for a couple minutes, then add the tofu and sugar snaps. Simmer until the sugar snaps are cooked - this will only take 2-3 minutes at most.

Stir through the spring onions and serve. The tofu tends to soak up most of the sauce, making this a fairly dry curry.


Nutrition Data
Calories (kcal) 489.9
Carbohydrate (g) 27.6
Protein (g) 35.1
Fat (g) 27.2
Fibre (g) 4.0

Thai Red Curry Paste
8 dried, long, red chillis
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 tablespoon chopped garlic (about 4 fat cloves)
2 stalks lemon grass, chopped
3 coriander roots/stems
1 teaspoon finely chopped kaffir lime leaves
1 inch piece galangal
2 teaspoon shrimp paste
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 teaspoon sunflower oil

Process all ingrediants together into a smooth paste using either a mortar & pestle or food processor. This will keep for ages in the fridge.

This makes enough for about 4 curries/4 servings.

Nutrition Data per serving
Calories (kcal) 81.9
Carbohydrate (g) 8.5
Protein (g) 3.1
Fat (g) 4.2
Fibre (g) 5.1

Breakfast Saturday 26 May - Molasses Rye & Coffee

Back to the old molasses rye loaf, toasted with some Marmite & a pot of coffee.

Still not feeling very well - I seem to have been sick most of May!

Dinner Friday 25 May - Veggie Sausages, Parsnip & Potato Cakes, Minted Peas

Parsnip & Potato Cakes
160g baby parsnips
160g baby Jersey Royal potatoes
30g green pepper, chopped fine
2 spring onions, sliced (20g)
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Boil together the parsnips & potatoes until soft. Mash together.

Add the finely chopped green pepper, spring onions, chilli flakes & cumin and allow to cool.

Form into 4 cakes. Fry in a non-tick skillet sprayed with a little olive oil until piping hot & browned on either side.

Served with:
2 Cauldron Foods cherry tomato & basil vegetarian sausages
80g petit pois with fresh mint

Nutrition Data
Calories (kcal) 418.9
Carbohydrate (g) 67.0
Protein (g) 19.2
Fat (g) 9.4
Fibre (g) 16.2

Lunch Friday 25 May - Linguine with Mushrooms & Prawns in a Creamy Lemon Sauce

Linguine with Mushrooms & Prawns in a Creamy Lemon Sauce
150g tiny button mushrooms
100ml vegetable stock
grated zest 1/2 lemon
10g cornflour
juice 1/2 lemon
30ml single cream
2 spring onions, sliced
50g linguine, cooked
100g prawns
Cover the mushrooms with the vegetable stock and add the lemon zest. Simmer over low heat until the mushrooms are cooked, about 10 minutes. Combine the lemon juice and cornflour and add to the mushrooms; cook until thickened. Add the cream and season with salt and fresh black pepper.

Stir in the spring onions, prawns and cooked linguine and stir until everything is heated through.

Nutrition Data
Calories (kcal) 377.5
Carbohydrate (g) 48.6
Protein (g) 28.0
Fat (g) 8.2
Fibre (g) 2.5

Breakfast Friday 25 May - Blueberries & Peaches again

Started the day with an instant repeat of yesterday's breakfast - blueberries, peaches & coffee.

Still feeling fairly under the weather.

Dinner Thursday 24 May - Cod with Herb Butter & Purple Asparagus

Cod with Herb Butter & Purple Asparagus



Marks & Spencer were selling British "purple" asparagus, so I thought I would give it a try. It is pretty purple when raw, but when cooked, it just turned a very dark green! Oh well, it is British asparagus anyway, and therefore the BEST IN THE WORLD!

This is a pretty simple affair - steamed Anya potatoes, steamed baby carrots, steamed asparagus and steamed cod loin with a part of Herb Butter.

Ta-da!
Nutrition Data
Calories (kcal) 317.0
Carbohydrate (g) 29.2
Protein (g) 27.7
Fat (g) 10.5
Fibre (g) 6.0

Lunch Thursday 24 May - Cous Cous Salad

Cous Cous Salad

50g cous cous
5ml macadamia nut oil
1 clove garlic
2-3 green chillis
2 ribs celery, sliced
2 spring onions, sliced (20g)
70g cucumber, quartered & sliced
handful fresh mint
handful fresh coriander
100g artichoke hearts
100g cos lettuce
160g Santini tomatoes
Add the cous cous, oil, crushed garlic and chopped chillis to a bowl and stir to combine. Pour over 100ml boiling water, cover and leave to stand until cous cous is plumped up and water is absorbed.

Add the slice celery, spring onions & cucumber along with a handful each fresh mint and coriander. Combine well.

Line a plate with the lettuce. Pile the cous cous on top and garnish with the cherry tomatoes and artichoke hearts

Nutrition Data
Calories (kcal) 495.4
Carbohydrate (g) 54.3
Protein (g) 26.3
Fat (g) 20.0
Fibre (g) 14.8

Breakfast Thursday 24 May - Blueberries and Peaches

I do love my summer fruit... started the day off with couple of peaches and a punnet of blueberries.

Yum.