Tag: recipe

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.

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 Stock


Makes 2.5 L
Time 1 hour 10 mins + cooling
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

1 chicken carcass (a)
1 leek (b)
1/2 bunch of dark green tips of spring onion (b)
2 sticks celery (c)
1 tsp salt

Foodnotes

(a) Ensure very fresh meat, and cooked that day (as instructed by dietician)
(b) Dark green tips of leek (1/2 cup) and spring onion are low FODMAP (The Monash University Low FODMAP App, Feb 2018). Tip: regrow your leeks and spring onions
(c) Celery is low FODMAP at 75g (FODMAP Friendly App, Feb 2018).

Instructions
  1. Cut off dark green tips of leek and dark green tips of spring onion, rinse and chop coarsley.
  2. To a large pot add the chicken carcass, with no skin or extra fatty bits, the dark green tips of leek and spring onions and salt
  3. Cover the chicken with warm water, about 2.5 L
  4. Bring the pot to the boil on the stove and then turn down the heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour.
  5. Sieve the stock into tall jugs, leaving behind the chicken and large chunks of leek and spring onion.
  6. Place the tall jugs in the fridge until the fat separates out and solidifies on the top.
  7. Skim the fat off the surface of the stock.
  8. Portion the stock to use immediately or freeze for future use.
Personal notes

This recipe is based on Sue Dengate’s The Failsafe Cookbook stock recipe. Cooking the stock for a long time increases the level of amines – if you use the stock in another meal, be careful how long you cook the next meal for. I find that I can tolerate the stock when used in small amounts and if cooked for not much longer, but I will react if I use the stock in another meal that requires simmering or baking for an hour. Consult with your dietician to make the right choice for you. Using a carcass without skin or fatty bits of chicken minimises the amount of fat in the stock that has to be skimmed off and helps minimse the amine level.

The Fed Up website suggests stock should last 5 days in the fridge or months in the freezer. I tend to be cautious and treat stock as I would freshly cooked meat – use immediately or freeze immediately.

I find the best time to make stock is immediately after making roast chicken – the chicken is fresh and usually I have already committed to a day of cooking with the roast, so I might as well make some decent stock at the same time. Some of my favourite recipes to use chicken stock are basic pasta sauce, Brigid’s cabbage rolls in Sue Dengate’s The Failsafe Cookbook but made with failsafe, low FODMAP mince, and a rice noodle and chicken salad (recipe to come).

Roast Vegetables

Serves as much as you can fit in the oven!
Time 50 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

large white potatoes (a)
choko (b)
brussel sprouts (c)
canola oil (d)
salt
Nuttelex Original

Moderate salicylate options

carrot
zucchini
sweet potato (e)

Foodnotes

(a) Use white brushed, coliban, sebago or kennebec potatoes. Check the colour before buying brushed potatoes because they can come in yellow.
(b) 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, Feb 2018)
(c) Two brussel sprouts are low FODMAP for GOS (The Monash University Low FODMAP App, Feb 2018)
(d) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321)
(e) Sweet potato is low FODMAP at 1/2 cup (70 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP App and FODMAP Friendly App, Feb 2018 – inconsistency on which FODMAPs)

Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C.
  2. Thickly (double) peel the potatoes, and peel the choko and (moderate salicylate) carrot, zucchini and sweet potato.
  3. Chop all vegetables into large chunks.
  4. Microwave the carrots and sweet potato for 1-2 mins depending on quantity.
  5. Microwave the potato for 3 min.
  6. Mix the vegetables in a bowl with canola oil and salt to taste.
  7. Place the vegetables in a roasting tray lined with baking paper.
  8. Using a teaspoon smear Nuttelex on each Brussel sprout and wrap up all Brussel sprouts together in alfoil.
  9. Bake all vegetables for 40-45 mins, until Brussel sprouts start to brown and the other vegetables become crisp on the outside.
Personal Notes

Watch out for overloading salicyates and stacking FODMAPs when you choose to combine multiple salicylate or FODMAP-containing foods (see Foodnotes). I usually have a full serve of potato and steamed green beans, two brussel sprouts and only a few pieces of zucchini, carrot and sweet potato in total. I don’t eat more than two small or one large piece of sweet potato. Unfortunately chokos are out of season until the cooler months, but at the end of last year, I was having just a 2-3 pieces as part of a meal.

In the last 5 minutes of roasting the vegetables, put some green beans (fresh or frozen) on to steam. Green beans are a great addition to a plate of roast vegetables. I like to use roast vegetables as a side to schnitzel or roast chicken, and use them in salads and quiches. Roast veggies are also great when you get home from work and want a mostly-healthy snack before cooking dinner.

Roast chicken with roast vegetables, showing my usual combination of vegetables (include moderate salicylates). The plate was made by Sarah Schembri Ceramics.

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.

Colourful Stir Fry

serves 5
Time ~ 35 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

300 g diced chicken, or 3 skinless thigh fillets (a)
75 g or 2 sticks celery (b)
150 g green beans (c)
170 g bean shoots
150 g red drumhead cabbage (d)
150 g green drumhead cabbage (d)
9 dark green tips of spring onions (e)
2 tbsp canola oil (f)
1 tbsp homemade cashew paste (g)
1 tbsp pure maple syrup
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp citric acid
200 g thick rice noodles (h)
Water

Moderate salicylate optional additions

1 carrot

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) Red and green drumhead cabbage are low FODMAP at 1 cup (~90 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(e) Tip: re-grow spring onions
(f) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321)
(g) Cashew paste (100% cashew) is low FODMAP at 2 tsp (10 g, FODMAP Friendly App). Commerical cashew pastes with lightly roasted cashews are moderate in amines.
(h) Only ingredient in rice noodles should be rice

Instructions
  1. Rinse celery and chop finely
  2. If using carrot (moderate salicylate), double peel and slice into thin strips
  3. Top and tail green beans if using fresh beans, and chop into small pieces
  4. Cut out hard stems of cabbage and chop finely
  5. Dice chicken
  6. Heat a wok with 1 tbsp canola oil on moderate-high heat.
  7. Add celery, carrot (moderate salicylate) and ¼ tsp salt. Cook for about 4 minutes until carrot and celery soften. Remove from wok.
  8. Heat 1 tbsp canola oil in wok, still on moderate-high heat. Cook chicken until sealed, about 4 minutes. If chicken is browning or sticking to the bottom of the wok, add a small amount of water.
  9. Return celery and carrot to the wok, along with green beans, cashew paste, maple syrup, citric acid, ¼ tsp salt. Stir until cashew paste is well distributed, then add 3 tbsp water.
  10. After a few minutes, add bean sprouts. Put the wok cover on and heat until water is simmering. Turn down heat and allow to steam until chicken is cooked through.
  11. Cook rice noodles according to packet instructions
  12. Rinse and chop or cut green tops of spring onions
  13. When chicken is cooked through, add red and green cabbage and green spring onions to the wok. Stir through and then steam for 5 minutes. Add additional water if necessary to stop stir fry sticking to the bottom of the wok
  14. Using scissors, cut rice noodles into small pieces, then drain and add to the wok and stir through
  15. As this meal contains meat, serve immediately or freeze immediately
Variations
  • Beef strips instead of chicken
  • Bamboo shoots (add at the same time as green beans)
  • Sprouted mung beans (add at the same time as cabbage), limit to 50 g
  • Peeled choko (add at the same time as celery), limit to 100 g
  • Serve with long-grain or medium-grain white or brown rice instead of mixing in rice noodles
  • Moderate amine: firm tofu instead of chicken or in addition to chicken
  • Moderate amine: commercial cashew paste (100 % lightly roasted cashews)
  • Moderate salicylate: peeled zucchini (add at the same time as green beans)
Personal notes

Stir fry is one of my favourite meals – relatively quick and always delicious. There are also so many variations depending on what is available at the shop/markets in a particular week. This recipe originally had chickpeas as well (as seen in the photo), but the GOS in chickpeas stacks with the GOS in cashew paste, so I have moved the chickpeas to a new recipe (White and Green Stir Fry). As there are so many vegetables that can be included, this stir fry can also be made vegetarian very easily – I have done this before and it works well. The recipe above (with carrot) is my favourite combination so far.

Leek and Potato Pizza

serves 2 (a)
Time ~ 40 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

2 large white potatoes (b)
1 leek (c)
100 g / 3 sticks celery (d)
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp citric acid
Canola oil or rice bran oil spray (e)
3 tbsp canola oil (e)
2 tbsp chives
½ Well and Good Crusty bread mix (f)
1 ¾ cup warm water
½ cup rice flour

Foodnotes

(a) Suggest doubling the recipe to make 4 serves, trying other toppings or using the other half of the mixture to make a loaf of bread (while the oven is hot!) – see notes at the end.
(b) Use white brushed, coliban, sebago or kennebec potatoes. Check the colour before buying brushed potatoes because they can come in yellow.
(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) Celery is low FODMAP at 75g (FODMAP Friendly App, 2018).
(e) 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.
(f) Well and Good Crusty bread mix is available online from gluten free direct, with shipping in Australia and is worth buying in bulk. I have also found it in Norwood Foodland, Adelaide, SA, Australia and Go Vita, Highpoint Shopping Centre, Maribyrnong, VIC, Australia. Order here
(g) Scizza pizza scissors are available from Dreamfarm

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 230 °C
  2. Slowly add yeast (included in bread mix) to 1 ¾ cup warm water while whisking to dissolve yeast.
  3. Add 2 tbs canola oil and the bread mix flour to the water and yeast and stir.
  4. Leave the dough to rise for 15 mins
  5. Wash, double (thickly) peel the potatoes and slice (~4mm thickness)
  6. Microwave the sliced potatoes for 4 minutes on High
  7. Chop the dark green tops off the leek, rinse well and then slice thinly
  8. Trim celery stalks, rinse and slice thinly
  9. Heat 1 tbs canola oil in a frying pan and then cook celery stalks until they become soft (~3 minutes)
  10. Add green leek, 1 pinch of salt and 1 pinch of citric acid to the frying pan. Cook until the leek is soft (~3 mins). Add more canola oil if needed
  11. After 15 mins of the dough rising (usually mid-way through cooking the celery!), dust the bench top with rice flour and knead the dough.
  12. Separate the dough in two and roll out one half into a pizza shape – rectangular to fit the tray works well. The other half of the dough can be used for whatever you choose. (a)
  13. Place baking paper on a large baking tray, or spray with oil. Place the pizza dough onto the tray. Spray the dough with canola oil
  14. If you want thick crust pizza, allow the dough to rise for another 10 minutes, while the tray sits above a bowl of boiling water. I prefer thin crust – proceed directly to 15
  15. Spread the celery and leek mixture over the pizza base. Then placed the sliced potato evenly over the pizza
  16. Spray the pizza with oil
  17. Cook the pizza for about 15 minutes – after 10 minutes pull the pizza out and add the rinsed, chopped chives (tip: chop chives above pizza using scissors)
  18. Take the pizza out and it is ready cut up and eat! A small plug here – the pizza scissors in the photo below are really good, and they were invented by my cousin! (g)

Personal notes

This is by far my favourite failsafe/low FODMAP pizza topping. It is also pretty straightforward, and there is not too much peeling and chopping, so it can be done on a Friday night after coming home from an after-work gathering (like tonight!). It keeps well in the fridge for a good 4 days (no meat means no freezing). It goes down well, although once I think I overloaded on the celery (at least twice the amount as in the recipe above), so watch portions with that.

Making pizza is a lot faster than making a loaf of bread, so they work really well in succession, especially when cooking for one. I usually find if I’m cooking just bread, especially on a weekend (without a bread machine), if really limits what I can get done as I have to be at home for about 2 hours. Doing it after pizza in the evening means only an extra 45 mins of cooking, and that’s while you eat/do other things. So, after rolling out the pizza dough, shape the other half of the dough into a loaf, spray with canola oil and place it on an oven tray on top of baking paper. Keep it warm (sitting on a bowl of boiling water, under a wet tea towel) for 50 mins. This is enough time to finish the pizza preparation with about 15-20 mins to spare – keep the oven on. When the dough has risen, remove the tea towel, wipe down the underside of the tray, spray the loaf with canola oil and cook in the oven for 25 mins.

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.

Cashew Paste

1 serve = 2 tsp (a)
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

100 g raw, unsalted cashews
2 tbsp canola oil (b)
1 tbsp pure maple syrup
1 pinch salt

Optional:

2 tsp rice protein powder (c)
2 tsp canola oil (b)

Foodnotes

(a) 2 tsp of cashew paste (10 g) a day is low FODMAP and failsafe
(b) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321)
(c) Rice protein powder should have no ingredients other than rice. I used Sunwarrior Classic Protein – Sprouted & Fermented Whole Grain Brown Rice Protein

Instructions
  1. Combine cashews, canola oil and maple syrup in a small bowl.
  2. Blend using a stick blender until smooth
  3. If a higher protein paste is desired, mix in rice protein powder and additional canola oil with a spoon
  4. Store in glass jar in the fridge
Personal notes

The crossover of nuts between low FODMAP and failsafe is pretty much non-existent. Five cashews or 10 g are low FODMAP (conversions based on FODMAP Friendly App 2018), and 10 raw cashews are allowed per day for failsafe. Cashew paste is a perfect to solution to get a nutty flavour with small quantities of nuts. My favourite uses of cashew paste are in stir fry sauces, salad dressings and spread on rice cakes with rice malt syrup as a snack. Watch out for FODMAP stacking.