Category: Main Meals

Fried Potato Omlette


Serves 1
Time: 15 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

1 large white potato (a)
1 tbsp canola oil (b)
2-3 eggs
3 cm or 7 g celery (c)
25 g dark green tips of leek (d)
1 pinch citric acid
1 pinch salt

Foodnotes

(a) Use white brushed, coliban, sebago or kennebec potatoes, or other large white potatoes with white flesh. Check the colour before buying brushed potatoes because they can come in yellow.
(b) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321)
(c) Celery is low FODMAP at 75 g (FODMAP Friendly App, 2018)
(d) Dark green tops of leeks are low FODMAP. They are also slightly higher in salicylates than the white part although suitable for failsafe elimination. Tip: re-grow the leeks.

Instructions
  1. Thickly (double) peel the potato and then slice thinly
  2. Rinse the dark green tips of leek and celery and chop finely
  3. Heat the canola oil in a large frying pan on high heat
  4. Fry the thinly sliced potato until all the potato has started to go transparent and some is lightly browned
  5. Add the green tips of leek, celery, salt and citric acid to the potato and cook until the celery begins to go soft
  6. While the potato is cooking, separate the eggs into whites and yolks
  7. Beat the egg whites until light and fluffy and then gently fold in the egg yolks
  8. Pour the egg mixture over the potato and spread evenly
  9. After a couple of minutes, flip the omlette
  10. When the egg is cooked through, remove from the pan and serve immediately
Personal notes

Usually the omlette falls apart in the flipping stage, probably because my frying pan is much larger than my egg flip, but even if it does, it will taste good.

This is my go-to meal when I’m short on time or resources, or cooking at someone else’s house. I’m actually surprised it’s taken me this long to get it up on the blog, but I guess I must have been more organised in the last few months! It’s good because the ingredients are things I almost always have in the house (especially now I grow my own leeks) and most of my family and friends have them too. If not, eggs and a potato are very easy to pick up at the shop. If citric acid and celery are not on hand, they can easily be omitted; likewise, if fresh chives are on hand, they make a nice addition. So the ingredients are readily available, it’s fast to cook and it’s filling – can’t ask for much more in terms of convenience! I most often have this for lunch on a Saturday morning when I’ve run out of food before doing the weekly shop, or as a light dinner if I’ve flown in late to visit my family and they haven’t had a chance to get to the butcher and buy some fresh meat for me.

I actually made this particular omlette a couple of weeks ago as I had a choir concert on in the evening and I wanted to bring a light dinner with me that wouldn’t require refrigeration for the day. I only managed one bite before the concert as everything was a bit hectic, but it was very welcome immediately afterwards. Because of the eggs, the omlette should be eaten the day it is cooked rather than as leftovers. Cooked eggs build up in amines if left for a day or longer.

This week I need to use up lots of eggs as one of my friends has given me some of her chooks’ eggs and I’m going away soon. I actually made quiche last week, so it might be too soon for another quiche, but perhaps some salads… Last time I tried to make an egg salad I decided to boil all the eggs at once and then freeze the last. I discovered that hard boiled egg whites do NOT freeze well. While the yolk maintains it’s original consistency, defrosted egg white turns rubbery and is quite unpleasant – an experiment that doesn’t need to be repeated. The quiche recipe won’t be appearing here any time soon either as I am liberalising some salicylates back into my diet and so the quiche was filled with high and moderate salicylate vegetables like jap pumpkin, zucchini, carrot and sweet potato (low FODMAP at 1/2 cup or 70 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP App 2018). It was delicious though, and I don’t seem to have reacted!

Jacketless Potatoes


Serves 1
Time 1 hr 40 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~ vegetarian ~

Ingredients – potato

1 large white potato (a)
1/2 tbsp canola oil (b)
1 tbsp Nuttelex Original
1/4 tsp salt

Suggested toppings

15 g / 1 iceberg lettuce leaf
22 g / 1 red cabbage leaf (c)
8 g / 2 dark green tips of spring onions (d)
1 tbsp chives
12 g / 1/4 stick celery (e)
15 g / small handful of sprouted mung beans
20 g / small handful of bean sprouts
1/4 cup tinned chickpeas, well rinsed (f)
30 g / 5 green beans (g)

Foodnotes

(a) Use white brushed, coliban, sebago or kennebec potatoes, or other large white potatoes with white flesh. Check the colour before buying brushed potatoes because they can come in yellow
(b) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321)
(c) Red drumhead cabbage is low FODMAP at 1 cup (89 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(d) Tip: re-grow spring onions
(e) Celery is low FODMAP at 75 g (FODMAP Friendly App, 2018)
(f) Tinned chickpeas, well rinsed, are low FODMAP at 1/4 cup (42 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(g) Green beans are low FODMAP at 14 beans (75 g, FODMAP Friendly App, 2018)

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 160 deg C
  2. Thickly (double) peel potato
  3. Cover potato in canola oil and then wrap in alfoil
  4. Bake the potato in the oven at 160 deg C for 1 h 30 mins, or until a skewer passes easily through the potato and it is soft all the way through
  5. Allow the potato to cool slightly and then peel off the alfoil and cut up
  6. Place the Nuttelex on the hot potato and allow it to melt. Sprinkle with salt
  7. Rinsed and chop desired toppings and serve with hot potato
Personal Notes

This recipe is very versatile and can really be anything you choose. I’d suggest picking and choosing the toppings depending on what is available as they are not all necessary to make a good sized meal. I have also adapted this recipe several times – a particularly successful adaption has been to swap the chickpeas for left over (defrosted) roast chicken pieces – just be sure to defrost and add the chicken immediately before eating. Do not try and freeze the whole meal as the potato does not usually freeze well (speaking from experience!). If you want to make leftovers, I suggest storing the combined toppings and potato separately and in the fridge. When you are ready to eat it again, heat up just the potato and then add the toppings.

My favourite thing about this recipe is that is can be easily done with family and friends or while travelling. It is pretty hard to mess up if you have family or friends that want to cater for you. If you are camping, you can cook the potatoes in the fire (if it is fire season) and the vegetarian toppings mean you don’t have to worry about amines. If you are camping but it is fire ban season, or you need a quick and easy meal, boil the potatoes instead and serve with Nuttlex, salt and the same toppings. I had boiled potatoes with toppings on a recent Easter camping trip (photo below) and it worked really well.

Staple Beef Pasta Sauce

Serves 6
Time: 1 hr
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

500 g fresh beef mince (a)
35 g dark green tips of leek (b)
80 g celery (c)
650 g / 2 large white potatoes (d)
250 g swede
1 tin brown lentils
150 g green beans (e)
250 g green cabbage (f)
500 mL homemade chicken stock
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp citric acid
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp canola oil (g)
400 g / 6 serves of low FODMAP, failsafe, dairy free, wheat free pasta or spaghetti (h)
250 g / 1 large carrot – moderate salicylate option

Foodnotes

(a) Ensure very fresh meat (as instructed by dietician)
(b) Dark green tops of leeks are low FODMAP. They are also slightly higher in salicylates than the white part although suitable for failsafe elimination. Tip: re-grow the leeks.
(c) Celery is low FODMAP at 75 g (FODMAP Friendly App, 2018)
(d) Use white brushed, coliban, sebago or kennebec potatoes, or other large white potatoes with white flesh. Check the colour before buying brushed potatoes because they can come in yellow.
(e) Green beans are low FODMAP at 14 beans (75 g, FODMAP Friendly App, 2018). Frozen green beans can be substituted for fresh green beans and used in the same way.
(f) Green drumhead cabbage is low FODMAP at 1 cup (94 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(g) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321)
(h) My prefered pasta is Ceres Organics gluten free Quinoa Rice Spaghetti, Fusilli or Penne. See comments on pasta here

Instructions
    1. Rinse dark green tips of leek, celery, potato, green beans and green cabbage
    2. Thickly peel potatoes and swede, and chop into small cubes
    3. For a moderate salicylate option, peel the carrot and chop into thin slices
    4. Finely chop celery and green tips of leek, keeping them separate
    5. Top and tail green beans and then coarsely chop
    6. Coarsely chop the green cabbage
    7. Drain canned lentils and rinse well
    8. Heat 1 tbsp of canola oil on high heat in a large pot
    9. Add celery, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp citric acid and carrot (moderate salicylate option) to the pot and cook until celery starts to go clear, about 5 mins
    10. Add green tips of leek to the pot and cook until they soften, about 2 mins
    11. Turn the heat down to moderate-high and add the beef mince. Continually stir until the beef mince is no longer pink, adding a small amount of water if the mince starts to stick to the bottom of the pan
    12. Add lentils, potato, swede and chicken stock to the pot
    13. Add extra water until all the vegetables and meat are covered
    14. Bring the sauce to the boil and then simmer with the lid on until the potato and swede are soft, about 20 mins
    15. Remove the lid and add green beans to the sauce
    16. Around this time, cook the pasta according to packet instructions
    17. Simmer the sauce until the water level is just below the vegetables and meat, about 10 mins
    18. Add the green cabbage, maple syrup and 1/4 tsp salt to the pot
    19. Cook for another 5 mins until green cabbage is soft
    20. Serve immediately with low FODMAP, failsafe pasta, or freeze immediately to avoid amine build-up
Personal Notes

The long awaited pasta sauce is here! Or maybe it is not long awaited, but I’ve definitely refered to it several times. It has been one of my staples – easy to make in large batches and it freezes well.

I have been working on this recipe for a while, tweaking ingredients so that it tastes good and making sure there is no FODMAP stacking going on. I think I finally have it right! As I cooked this sauce I was speaking to a good friend on the phone and I realised that although I call this my staple pasta sauce, it can also go by different names, and they would call it “nutrition mush”. Slightly less appealing, but rather accurate – vegetables, meat and carbohydrates all in one. If the sauce seems to be a bit watery, it can be thickened with gluten free cornstarch, or you can add some rice early on to soak up the water. If adding rice, it can really be eaten as a meal on its own without the pasta.

Just to prove that I really have been working on this recipe for a while, here is a photo of the same pasta sauce but back in February and with buckwheat pasta rather than quinoa and rice spaghetti. Alas, although the sauce tastes better now, the lighting is not as good at my new place.

Beef Burgers

Makes 16 patties, Serves 8
Time 30 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients – Beef Patties

560 g fresh beef mince (a)
130 g tinned chickpeas (b)
2 eggs
1/2 cup Orgran plain gluten free flour
10 g / 8 dark green spring onion tips (c)
1/2 + 2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried chives
Approximately 1 cup of quinoa flakes or rice crumbs

Ingredients – For Each Burger

Low FODMAP, failsafe bread roll (d)
Nuttelex Original
Iceburg lettuce
Red cabbage (e)
Fried egg
Peeled, grated carrot (moderate salicylate option)

Foodnotes

(a) Ensure very fresh meat (as instructed by dietician)
(b) Tinned chickpeas, well rinsed, are low FODMAP at 1/4 cup (42 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(c) Tip: re-grow spring onions
(d) Low FODMAP, failsafe bread rolls can be made from Well and Good Crusty Bread Mix, warm water, canola oil and rice flour. Preparation of the rolls takes 1 h 30 min in total. The bread mix is available online from Gluten Free Direct – Order here.
(e) Red drumhead cabbage is low FODMAP at 1 cup (89 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)

Instructions
    1. Drain and rinse tinned chickpeas well
    2. Place the chickpeas in a large bowl and mash them with a fork
    3. Rinse the dark green tips of spring onions and chop finely
    4. To the chickpeas add beef mince, 2 eggs, spring onion tips, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp dried chives. Mix well
    5. To the meat mixture, add flour slowly, mixing well. The resulting mixture should stay together when rolled in balls
    6. Prepare a bowl filled with rice crumbs or quinoa flakes. Prepare a plate for the uncooked beef patties
    7. Take a small handful of beef mixture, about 1/3 cup in volume, and roll into a ball, then squash until it is only 1 cm thick. Place the pattie in the bowl of quinoa flakes or rice crumbs and coat well. Place the uncooked pattie on the prepared plate
    8. Beef patties can be cooked one of two ways. If you have the use of a BBQ, beef patties can be cooked on te BBQ using non-stick BBQ liners to minimise meat browning. Seal on each side and be careful not to brown the meat but cook it through. Cooking on a BBQ takes about 10 min
    9. If you do not have the use of a BBQ, beef patties can be cooked in a frying pan on the stove. Heat the frying pan to medium-high heat and sprinkle 1/2 tsp on salt into the pan. Place the patties in the frying pan, cook for 3 mins on each side, shaking the pan to redistribute the salt when flipping. Cook for up to another minute on each side or until the beef patty is no longer pink when cut.
    10. While the patties are cooking, rinse the lettuce and red cabbage and tear into small pieces.
    11. In the hot pan or on the BBQ after cooking the beef patties, fry the eggs for the burgers
    12. Assemble the burgers immediately before eating. Butter the bread roll and put beef pattie, iceburg lettuce, red cabbage and fried egg in the burger. Any burgers not eated immediately should be frozen immediately as they contain meat and eggs. Eggs should be fried fresh if the defrosted burger is eaten on another day.
    Personal Notes

    Firstly, thanks for being patient in waiting for my latest post. I moved house and life got a bit crazy, so I reverted to my staples of schnitzel and roast vegetables, basic pasta sauce and chicken stir-fry or beef stir-fry and didn’t try any new recipes, or take the time to weigh ingredients. My PhD is also pretty full-on at the moment, lots of nights where I don’t start cooking until late.

    Unfortunately, cooking late with other things on your mind can lead to mistakes! Before Easter I badly burnt myself on the oven, and tonight I forgot to add canola oil to the bread mix – which I realised as soon as I took the rolls and loaves out of the oven and saw that they were small and looked strange! You can see in the photo below the rolls look different to the ones at the top of the page. Oops! I guess we all make mistakes, and luckily the burgers tasted good anyway, and that’s what matters.

    I prefer to make these burgers with rice crumbs and use the BBQ, but as a result of moving house, I don’t have either of these two on hand. The image at the top of the page is of the same burgers that I made at my old place using the BBQ and rice crumbs. Tonight I used the frying pan, which also worked well as it is a bit easier to keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t go dry (see photo below).  Using a pan can slow down the cooking process depending on how many patties you can fit in the one pan – in my case it took 3 batches to cook all the patties. The rice crumbs provide a better coating to prevent meat browning, but the quinoa flakes also seemed to work fine.

    Finally, choko chutney is a nice addition to the beef burger, especially if you have the burger without the egg as the egg yolk acts like a sauce. Once chokos are back in season, I will publish a recipe for choko chutney.

Shepherd’s Pie

Serves 6
Time 1 hr
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

500 g fresh beef mince (a)
80 g / 3 sticks celery (b)
50 g green leek tips (1 leek) (c)
120 g green beans (d)
150 g snake beans
1 tin of lentils (e)
1/2 cup homemade chicken stock
4 large white potatoes (f)
1/4 cup SoGood Soymilk
2 tbsp Nuttelex Original
1 tsp salt
water
Canola oil (g)
Canola oil or rice bran oil spray (h)

Moderate salicylate optional additions

1 large carrot

Foodnotes

(a) Ensure very fresh meat (as instructed by dietician)
(b) Celery is low FODMAP at 75 g (FODMAP Friendly App, 2018)
(c) Dark green tops of leeks are low FODMAP. They are also slightly higher in salicylates than the white part although suitable for failsafe elimination. Tip: re-grow the leeks.
(d) Green beans are low FODMAP at 14 beans (75 g, FODMAP Friendly App, 2018). Frozen green beans can be substituted for fresh green beans and used in the same way.
(e) Tinned lentils, well rinsed, are low FODMAP at 1/2 cup (46 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(f) Use white brushed, coliban, sebago or kennebec potatoes, or other large white potatoes with white flesh. Check the colour before buying brushed potatoes because they can come in yellow.
(g) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321).
(h) Canola or rice bran oil spray should have no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321) or soy lecithin (moderate amines). Propellants such as propane, butane, isobutane are fine.

Instructions
  1. Thickly (double) peel potatoes and cut into small cubes
  2. Boil the cubed potatoes in water until soft. In the meantime begin the meat and vegetable layer
  3. To make the mashed potato layer, drain potatoes once they are soft, and mash with SoGood, Nuttelex Original and 1/2 tsp salt
  4. Rinse, top and tail and chop green beans and snake beans into 1 cm pieces
  5. Rinse and chop up dark green tips of leek, celery and green drumhead cabbage
  6. Drain tinned lentils and rinse well
  7. Thickly peel and dice carrot into 1 cm cubes (moderate salicylate option)
  8. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C
  9. Heat 1 tbsp canola oil in a large saucepan on medium-high heat
  10. Fry the celery in the saucepan until it begins to brown
  11. Add the green tips of leek and cook until leek begins to go soft
  12. Add the fresh beef mince and stir continously until mince is no longer pink. If the mince begins to stick to the bottom of the pan, add water
  13. Add green beans, snake beans, lentils, carrot (moderate salicylate) and 1/2 tsp salt
  14. Cover the meat and vegetables with water, cover and simmer for 20 mins.
  15. After 10 mins, remove the lid
  16. In the last 5 mins add the chicken stock and green cabbage.
  17. Pour the meat and vegetable mixture into a large baking dish or deep tray, spreading evenly
  18. Using a fork, evenly spead the mash potato on top of the meat and vegetable layer.
  19. Spray the mash potato layer with oil
  20. Cook Shepherd’s Pie for 20 mins at 180 deg C
  21. Serve immediately, or freeze immediately as the meal contains meat
Personal Notes

I have made Shepherd’s Pie a few times, but this one using both green beans and snake beans as well as Chicken Stock is my favourite so far. You can substitute the green beans for more snake beans, but do not increase the number of green beans. Snake beans are lower in FODMAPs than green beans. Although this recipe serves 6, it is a safe FODMAP serve if only divided into 5 serves – so if you are really hungry, go for it! I have cooked it to freeze and have meals on hand this week while I am moving house.

Another shameless plug for my cousin’s company Dreamfarm (although they are not sponsoring me!) – the potato masher I use is really efficient and you don’t get the layer of unmashed potato at the bottom. It is called a Smood from Dreamfarm, and you can find one here

Shepherd’s Pie before the mash potato layer
The mashed potato layer with a Smood potato masher from Dreamfarm

Edit: I recently re-read the RPAH charts and discovered that the emulsifier soy lecithin that is often used in canola oil spray is actually moderate in amines. I have since switched to using rice bran oil without soy lecithin.

Fried Rice


Serves 4
Time: 30 min
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

500 g cold cooked rice (a)
60 g / 2 sticks celery
90 g sprouted mung beans
120 g green beans, fresh or frozen (c)
230 g green drumhead cabbage (d)
240 g cooked chicken pieces (e)
20 g / 1/2 bunch of dark green spring onion tips (f)
1 tbsp golden syrup (g)
3 eggs
3 tbsp canola oil (h)
1/2 tsp salt

Foodnotes

(a) Avoid basmati, jasmine or wild rice which are moderate in salicylates (RPAH Elimination Handbook, 2011). I used long grain white rice.
(b) Celery is low FODMAP at 75 g (FODMAP Friendly App, 2018)
(c) Green beans are low FODMAP at 14 beans (75 g, FODMAP Friendly App, 2018).
(d) Green drumhead cabbage is low FODMAP at 1 cup (94 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(e) Meat should be fresh when cooked and either used the same day or frozen immediately. Follow dietician’s advice.
(f) Tip: re-grow spring onions
(h) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321)

Instructions
  1. Rinse celery, sprouted mung beans, green tips of spring onions, green beans and cabbage.
  2. Finely chop celery, green tips of spring onions and cabbage. Chop green beans
  3. Heat 1 tbsp of canola oil in a wok on medium-high heat.
  4. Beat eggs together with 1/4 tsp salt
  5. Cook eggs in wok until very dry
  6. Add celery, sprouted mung beans, green beans, cabbage and remaining 1/4 tsp salt to the wok and stir fry for 3-5 mins until celery is soft. Add canola oil as required to stop food sticking to the wok.
  7. Add cold rice to the wok and stir until warm and well-mixed.
  8. Slice chicken and chop into small pieces.
  9. Add chicken and green tips of spring onions to the wok.
  10. Cook for a further 5 min
  11. Mix 1 tbsp golden syrup with 4 tbsp hot water
  12. Remove wok from the heat and stir through golden syrup mixture.
  13. As this recipe contains meat, serve immediately or freeze immediately.
Personal Notes

This recipe is based off Brigid’s Indonesian-style fried rice from Sue Dengate’s The Failsafe Cookbook, but modified to be low FODMAP.

I think the key to fried rice is having relatively dry cooked rice rather than gluggly. If you don’t have time to prepare the rice multiple days ahead, you can still do it on the same day. I cooked my rice in the morning and then used it in the evening. After my usual 10 mins of absorption, I left the rice on low heat on the stove until the rice at the bottom was dry and starting to stick to the saucepan. I then put it in a large bowl, spread it up the sides and left it to cool uncovered while I got ready in the morning. Once it had stopped steaming I covered it and kept it in the fridge until it was ready to use.

Fried rice is a nice quick dinner, and is also a good way to use up left over frozen roast chicken. You can even add left over chicken stuffing to the fried rice for extra flavour. I tried that once and it was delicious. If you don’t have sprouted mung beans they can easily be excluded, and if you tolerate moderate salicylates, you can add peeled, diced carrot in with the other vegetables at the start. I really like egg in my fried rice. I only had two eggs in the fridge this week, but I’ve bumped the recipe up to three eggs. Anywhere between two and four eggs would be fine, depending on personal preference and what is on hand.

Vegetarian Pasta Sauce


Serves 5-6
Time: 1 hr
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

80 g / 3 sticks celery (a)
2 large white potatoes (b)
270 g swede
170 g choko (c)
50 g dark green tips of leek (1 leek) (d)
250 g green drumhead cabbage (e)
180 g snake beans (f)
150 g of tinned lentils (g)
1 tbsp chives
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp citric acid
2 tbsp gluten free cornflour (h)

Foodnotes

(a) Celery is low FODMAP at 75 g (FODMAP Friendly App, 2018)
(b) Use white brushed, coliban, sebago or kennebec potatoes, or other large white potatoes with white flesh. Check the colour before buying brushed potatoes because they can come in yellow.
(c) Choko is also known as chayote, see photos here. Choko is low FODMAP for fructans at 1/2 cup (84 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP App, 2018)
(d) Dark green tops of leeks are low FODMAP. They are also slightly higher in salicylates than the white part although suitable for failsafe elimination. Tip: re-grow the leeks.
(e) Green drumhead cabbage is low FODMAP at 1 cup (94 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(f) Snake beans are low FODMAP at 1 cup (90 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(g) Tinned lentils, well rinsed, are low FODMAP at 1/2 cup (46 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(h) Use gluten free cornflour, also known as cornstarch, which is a fine white flour. Corn flour from wheat contains wheat and gluten while yellow corn flour or maize flour is higher in salicylates.

Instructions
  1. Peel potato (double peel), choko and swede, and chop into small 1 cm cubes.
  2. Rinse dark green tips of leek, dark green tips of spring onion, chives, celery and cabbage and finely chop, keeping them separate.
  3. Rinse snake beans and chop them into 2 cm lengths.
  4. Drain tinned lentils, rinse well and weigh out 150 g.
  5. Heat 1 tbsp canola oil in a large pot on medium-high heat.
  6. Sauté celery for about 2 minutes until it goes soft.
  7. Add potato, choko and swede to the pot and cook for about 3 mins.
  8. Add dark green tips of leek and the lentils. Cook until leek goes soft. If ingredients stick to the bottom of the pot, add more canola oil.
  9. Add salt and citric acid to the pot.
  10. Cover the vegetables with water and then cover and bring to a simmer for 20 mins.
  11. Uncover and cook for another 5 mins, until the potato is soft.
  12. At this time start cooking the pasta/spaghetti according to the packet instructions.
  13. Take 1/4 cup of liquid out of the pot and mix with cornflour to for me a slurry before adding it back to the pot.
  14. Add the cabbage to the pot and cook for 5 mins. At this point the sauce should be thick with not much extra liquid.
  15. Stir through the spring onions and chives and cook for another minute.
  16. Serve with pasta or spaghetti for your choice. As there is no meat in the sauce, it can be stored in the fridge for about 5 days, eaten immediately or frozen.
Personal notes

My favourite pasta is the Ceres Organics Rice and Quinoa range which has spaghetti, penne and fusilli. I think they have the closest taste and texture to wheat pasta. The Casare brand wheat free brown rice spaghetti is also good, as are other brown rice spaghettis, if you can find them. Gluten free stores or specialist shops in the markets are usually the best place to look. At the supermarket (Coles and Woolworths in Australia), I have found the only failsafe, low FODMAP, wheat free/gluten free pasta to be Orgran Buckwheat spirals. These are ok fresh, and not so good on reheating or defrosting. Unfortunately, they also look like a plate of brains! Not very appealing. I use them as a back-up if I don’t have a chance to go to a specialty shop.

I dislike the taste of swede on its own. If you have a similar problem, try chopping the swede into really small pieces to hide its flavour.

This is the first time I’ve used snake beans. They’ve just recently been approved as low FODMAP at 90 g, and are lower in FODMAPs than green beans. Snake beans are not a strong flavour and I think they worked well. The pasta sauce is also not really full of flavour, but it is packed full of vegetables!

White and Green Stir Fry


Serves 4
Time 30 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

400 g fresh beef strips (a)
2 sticks / 60 g celery (b)
100 g green beans (c)
200 g green drumhead cabbage (d)
120 g (1/2 can) tinned chickpeas (e)
200 g bean sprouts
20 g / 12 dark green tips of spring onions (f)
3 tbsp canola oil (g)
1/2 tsp salt, plus to taste
1/4 tsp citric acid
1 tbsp golden syrup (h)
1 1/3 cups of uncooked white or brown rice (i)
water

Foodnotes

(a) Ensure very fresh meat (as instructed by dietician)
(b) Celery is low FODMAP at 75 g (FODMAP Friendly App, 2018)
(c) Green beans are low FODMAP at 14 beans (75 g, FODMAP Friendly App, 2018). Frozen green beans can be substituted for fresh green beans and used in the same way.
(d) Green drumhead cabbage is low FODMAP at 1 cup (96 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018). The dense white part of the cabbage works well for this recipe.
(e) Tinned chickpeas, well rinsed, are low FODMAP at 1/4 cup (42 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(f) Tip: re-grow spring onions
(g) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321)
(h) Golden syrup is low FODMAP at 1/2 tbsp (7g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(i) Avoid basmati, jasmine or wild rice which are moderate in salicylates (RPAH Elimination Handbook, 2011). Medium or long grain is best for this recipe.

Instructions
  1. Rinse rice and cook according to packet instructions.
  2. Rinse celery and spring onions and chop finely, keeping them separate.
  3. Rinse green beans, top and tail and cut into small chunks.
  4. Rinse tinned chickpeas throughly.
  5. Heat 1 tbsp canola oil on high heat in a large wok.
  6. Add the celery to the wok and cook for ~ 3 mins until it starts going soft. Remove celery from the wok.
  7. Turn down the heat to medium, add more canola oil and add the beef strips.
  8. Continually stir the beef strips until they are sealed. If the meat starts to stick the the bottom of the wok or brown, add a small amount of water.
  9. Add celery back to the wok along with chickpeas, salt, citric acid and golden syrup and turn heat up to medium-high.
  10. Stir fry for 5 mins and then add the green beans.
  11. Stir fry for another few minutes until beef strips are cooked through, then add cabbage, bean sprouts, dark green spring onion tips and 2 tbsp water. Stir the fresh greens through the mixture and then cover for 5 mins.
  12. Serve stir fry on rice and eat immediately or freeze immediately to avoid amine build-up.
Personal Notes

This stir fry is carefully balanced to be low FODMAP despite containing quite a few ingredients that would be high FODMAP in larger amounts – be careful if you adjust the quantities in the recipe. If you would like the stir fry to be sweeter, I recommend adding maple syrup rather than more golden syrup. A nice addition to the stir fry is sprouted mung beans, if you can find them – I find them quite elusive in shops and markets. Sprouted mung beans contain GOS if eaten in large amounts (95 g is low FODMAP but 200 g is high in GOS, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018), so if you include sprouted mung beans, reduce the amount of chickpeas.

Bamboo shoots can be added to the stir fry in any quantity, but personally I am not a big fan. An experiment went wrong; I had an empty fridge and made a creamy pasta sauce with bamboo shoots as the only vegetable and ever since I couldn’t stomach the taste. Chicken can also be used instead of beef strips. This recipe works equally well with rice noodles (only ingredients should be rice) rather than on a bed of rice.

This stir fry leaves you with half a can of chickpeas. They can be added in small amounts in salads or turned into low FODMAP, failsafe hummus such as can be found here on Everyday Nutrition‘s website. Use canola oil instead of olive oil as suggested and leave out the garlic and infused olive oil garnish. Still tastes delicious! Serve with plain sakatas or other rice crackers (check ingredients), celery sticks, (moderate salicylate) peeled carrot sticks and (moderate salicylate) peeled cucumber sticks.

I have called this stir fry the ‘White and Green’ stir fry because when I started failsafe + low FODMAP, and when I was really strict on salicylates, it felt like all of my food was white, green or brown. That was before I discovered red cabbage (low salicylate) which definitely makes a stir fry seem more appealing.

Chicken Schnitzel

Serves 4 large or 6 small
Time 20 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts sliced (by the butcher) into either 2 or 3 schnitzel cuts each (a)
2-3 eggs
quinoa flour
rice crumbs
canola oil (b)

Foodnotes

(a) Ensure very fresh meat (as instructed by dietician)
(b) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321)

Variations

Use brown rice flour instead of quinoa flour
Use quinoa flakes instead of rice crumbs

Instructions
  1. Break eggs into a shallow bowl and beat with a fork
  2. On one plate, pour flour; on another plate pour the rice crumbs
  3. For each piece of chicken, covering in flour, then egg (wiping off the excess egg), and then crumbs
  4. Heat a large frying pan on medium-high heat and add canola oil
  5. Pan fry schnitzel, flipping once and adding canola oil as necessary
  6. When the schnitzel is cooked through and golden on both sides, take it out of the pan and rest on a piece of paper towel.
  7. Eat immediately or freeze immediately.
Personal notes

Schnitzel is one of my staple meals – it doesn’t take too long and is easy to vary with a range of sides – usually roast vegetables, steamed vegetables or coleslaw. In the picture above I served it with steamed green beans and brussel sprouts (limit to 2), and roast potato with moderate salicylate roast carrot and sweet potato (limit to 1/2 cup uncooked).

It is easy to do several schnitzels at once and then freeze. Quinoa flour and rice crumbs is my favourite combination for a traditional schnitzel taste and golden appearance. Brown rice flour is an acceptable substitute. Quinoa flakes on the otherhand make quite a different schnitzel – more like a crispy coating – and instead of going golden, they go from cooked to burnt quite quickly. That said, quinoa flakes are still good and I have found them in Coles/Woolworths supermarkets while rice crumbs usually require going to a health food or gluten free store. I tend to use Orgran rice breadcrumbs or Casare rice crumbs. Watch out for gluten free bread crumbs which often contain soy flour (high FODMAP), maize flour (contains salicylates) or other off-limits ingredients.

The smaller chicken schnitzels are perfect in a chicken-iceberg lettuce-egg sandwich (with Well and Good bread). Extra (but not necessary) additions to the sandwich could be bean sprouts and choko chutney. I have these sandwiches often on the weekend when I have fresh bread on hand. The sandwich is particularly good to have after a sports match, when lunch is late and I’m really hungry and can’t wait to get home. If you put the chicken schnitzel in the sandwich in the morning, it should be defrosted by lunch… unless kept in a fridge or esky. I have spent more than one road trip defrosting my schnitzel on the parcel shelf in the car!

Lamb, Lentil and Vegetable Pie

Serves 6
Time: ~ 1 hr 10 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

300 g diced lamb (a)
1 leek (b)
70 g celery / 3 sticks (c)
1 swede
1 large white potato (d)
1 tin of lentils (e)
200 g green beans (f)
160 g green drumhead cabbage (g)
1 packet Genius gluten free shortcrust pastry (h)
Rice flour for dusting
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp citric acid
2 tbsp gluten free cornstarch
3 tbsp canola oil (i)
canola oil spray or rice bran oil spray (j)
1 egg
3 cups of low FODMAP, failsafe chicken stock, or water
marbles or 1 cup of rice (not eaten)

Foodnotes

(a) Ensure very fresh meat (as instructed by dietician)
(b) Dark green tops of leeks are low FODMAP. They are also slightly higher in salicylates than the white part although suitable for failsafe elimination. Tip: re-grow the leeks.
(c) Celery is low FODMAP at 75g (FODMAP Friendly App, 2018).
(d) Use white brushed, coliban, sebago or kennebec potatoes. Check the colour before buying brushed potatoes because they can come in yellow.
(e) Tinned lentils, well rinsed, are low FODMAP at 1/2 cup (The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(f) Green beans are low FODMAP at 14 beans (75 g, FODMAP Friendly App, 2018). Frozen green beans can be substituted for fresh green beans and used in the same way.
(g) Green drumhead cabbage is low FODMAP at 1 cup (94 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(h) Available in some Coles supermarkets in Australia
(i) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321).
(j) Canola or rice bran oil spray should have no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321) or soy lecithin (moderate amines). Propellants such as propane, butane, isobutane are fine.

Instructions
  1. Take Genius shortcrust pastry out of the freezer the day or morning before and defrost in the fridge.
  2. Take Genius shortcrust pastry out of the fridge and warm to room temperature on the bench
  3. Cut off green tips of leek. Rinse the tips and then chop them finely.
  4. Rinse celery and chop finely.
  5. Thickly (double) peel large white potato and swede. Chop into small cubes.
  6. Drain and rinse tinned lentils.
  7. Top and tail and rinse green beans. Chop into small pieces, about 4 cm in length.
  8. Finely chop cabbage.
  9. Heat 1 tbsp canola oil in a large pot or saucepan on high heat.
  10. Add celery and cook for ~3 mins until soft
  11. Add green tips of leek, salt and citric acid and cook until soft.
  12. Remove celery and leek from the pot.
  13. Preheat the oven to 200 deg C
  14. Add 1 tbsp canola oil and turn heat down to medium.
  15. Add diced lamb to the pot and seal with frequent stirring. If the lamb starts to stick, add 1 tbsp water.
  16. Once lamb is sealed, add potato and swede and turn heat back up to medium-high. Cook for about 3 mins.
  17. Return leek and celery to the pot along with lentils.
  18. Cover the meat and vegetables with chicken stock, or water if you have no homemade low FODMAP failsafe stock.
  19. Simmer with lid on for 20 mins.
  20. Meanwhile, spray the inside of a 25 cm diameter pie dish with oil.
  21. Knead the pastry, divide in two and roll out to fit a base and lid the pie dish.
  22. Place the pastry base (and sides) into the pie dish, then line with baking paper and fill with marbles or rice.
  23. Cook the base pastry for 10 mins. Afterwards remove the marbles/rice and baking paper.
  24. Add green beans and cabbage to the pot and cook for a further 5 mins with the lid on.
  25. Mix the cornflour in a small amount of water so that it does not form lumps, and then add to the pot.
  26. Take the lid off the pot and evaporate the water (~ 10 mins) until a thick mixture is left (it should not resemble soup).
  27. Scoop the pie filling into the pie and cover with the pastry lid, pinching around the edges.
  28. Beat the egg and then brush it over the pastry lid.
  29. Cook the pie for 20 mins, until the lid is light brown.
  30. As the pie contains meat, serve immediately, or freeze immediately.
Personal notes

This pie taste much better with chicken stock rather than water, but water is a good backup if there is no stock on hand. The current recipe makes a very full pie, and it could be made without the swede and potato. I tend to chop the swede up very small because I don’t like the taste of it on it’s own but it’s good hidden in a meal. I recommend making the pie on a weekend rather than weekday as it is quite time consuming. I spread the pastry a bit thin, and it ended up cracking, as you can see below.

At Coles this week, I found a leek with the most green I have even seen in a shop. Very impressive!

Edit: I recently re-read the RPAH charts and discovered that the emulsifier soy lecithin that is often used in canola oil spray is actually moderate in amines. I have since switched to using rice bran oil without soy lecithin.