Salad Days

Who said dieting had to be a dreary undertaking? I need to lose 1o pounds to get back to my normal weight and I was well on my way to losing the weight I put on a couple of years ago, but visiting J in Bacolod last week for a week of pure gluttony was no help at all. The food in Bacolod is irresistible and hanging out with another foodie spelled disaster for my figure. So I'm back in the city, exercising and dieting. My diet consists of lots of fruits and vegetables from the organic market (using organic produce makes a huge difference in terms of flavor and when your dieting flavor counts a lot!) and absolutely no starch. In the mornings I have a bowl of pineapple and cottage cheese or granola with low-fat milk. For lunch I have a big salad and in the evenings, it varies, sometimes I have an omelet or fish or some more salad or cereal. The two salads I've made so far are really good and I'm not missing anything by being on this diet. This could be a habit...


Tuna & Green Bean Salad

1 can tuna in brine, drained
1 can anchovies, chopped, reserve oil
a handful of green beans
salad greens mix
a good extra-virgin olive oil
a good balsamic vinegar

Steam the green beans for 3 minutes. Cut into 1 inch pieces.

Toss the salad greens with some olive oil. Then toss everything else together with the greens.


Eggplant & Sardine Salad

3 Japanese eggplants (the long kind)
3 sardines in oil, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
extra-virgin olive oil
a good balsamic vinegar
seafood seasoning

Grill the eggplants until charred, peel and chop to 1-inch pieces. Toss everything in a bowl.

Delicious!

Recipe: Prawn with Chives & Fenugreek Leaves

Adapted from the cookbook 50 Great Curries of India by Camelia Panjabi. The book failed to say that the vegetables needed draining so I went ahead and added the whole bowl of soaking chives and methi (fenugreek leaves). I then added cream to the dish because I felt the dish needed it. If you want a dry dish, which would be the case if done correctly, drain the soaking chives and methi before adding it to the pan and omit the cream. Although I have to say, this version turned out pretty good.

1 1/2 cups chopped chives
2 tablespoons dried methi, crushed fine
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon calamansi or lemon or lime juice
400 grams shelled prawns
3 tablespoons virgin coconut oil or vegetable oil
1 - 2 jalapeno chilies
4 large cloves garlic
1 inch piece ginger
1/4 cup cream
*3/4 cup coriander leaves

Soak the chives, methi and salt in a bowl of water. In another bowl add the turmeric, chili powder and calamansi juice and marinate the prawns for about 30 minutes.

Chop jalapeno, garlic and ginger in food processor. Saute this mixture in oil. Add 1 tablespoon water. Add (drained) chives mixture and cook 5 minutes. Add the prawns, just before serving, and cook another 5 minutes. Mix in cream.

*the original recipe called for coriander and was added with the chives

Recipe: Steamed Fish Filet with Scallions & Ginger

4 tilapia filet
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine, dry white wine or dry sherry
1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil + 1 tbsp
5 scallions, chopped, including green part

Mix ginger, soy sauce, rice wine and 1 tsp sesame oil in a small bowl. Place filets in a plate and pour sauce over. Top with scallions. Steam for 10 - 15 minutes.

Before serving drizzle 1 tbsp of remaining sesame oil over fish.

Recipe: Mussel & Arugula Brown Rice Salad

I purchased a bottle of cooked mussels in oil from my supplier of natural and organic processed products. The mussels come in 3 flavors - garlic, hot & spicy, and plain. All the mussels have a sweetish flavor due to the sugar used in cooking it. I thought it went perfectly with the arugula and Kalinga rice mix which I had in hand to make a quick lunch. I've used brown rice and the rice mix in making this salad and they're both delicious. The nutty rice, sweet mussels and spicy arugula turned out to be a good combination of flavors.

Take equal amounts of torn arugula and cooked brown rice or Kalinga rice (or you may make your own combination of 3 different kinds of rice varieties to make a rice mix). Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and toss. Top with mussels.

A good substitute for the mussels would be a sweet chili or sweet garlic shrimp saute. Hmmm, I'll try that next time...

Recipe: Fish Filet with Green Salad & Miso Dressing

A simple low-carb dinner. The greens were picked from my farm this morning, I used arugula and Shinjuku chrysanthemum leaves. The dressing is a combination of several recipes. Next time I will add some cherry tomatoes to the salad greens.

Miso Dressing

1/4 cup yellow miso paste
3 tbsp muscovado sugar
3 tbsp rice wine
2 tbsp hot water
2 tsp Bragg's amino acid (or light soy sauce)
1/4 tsp expeller pressed toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic

Place all ingredients in a wide rimmed bottle and shake well to combine. This makes around 1 cup of dressing.

Salad Greens

mixed salad
cold pressed grapeseed oil(or any unrefined cold pressed vegetable oil)

Toss greens with oil, using just enough to lightly coat the leaves.

Just before serving, toss salad greens with some miso dressing.

Fish Filet

1 tilapia fish filet
salt
egg, beaten
unbleached flour

unrefined vegetable oil for frying (I used virgin coconut oil)

Dredge filet in flour, patting out excess. Dip in beaten egg then coat with more flour.

Fry fish in hot oil until golden brown, about 2 minutes each side.

Serve with salad greens.

Seafood & Mercury

I like seafood. But recently I've been hesitant to buy or eat seafood because of the health risks involved. I wasn't sure which kinds of fish or shellfish had the toxic mercury I heard were found in seafood. This is something I didn't worry about when I lived in San Francisco because I bought my seafood at Whole Foods Market. Now that I live in Manila I have to be more careful because there are no indicators to what the mercury level is, if any, in the seafood bought anywhere in the country. So I did a bit of research for my peace of mind and so I may make informed decisions.


Mercury is found in all sea creatures. So there isn't a single seafood found in any market in any part of the world that will be free of mercury contamination. That’s sad isn't it? The implications of this is no longer merely ones health but extends to the health of the planet in general. Mercury is found in the atmosphere, soil, seas and lakes. It enters water systems mainly through rain and surface water run-off. Much of the mercury acquired by sea life comes from toxic heavy metals in the air and water, along with sediment that reaches aquatic life. Mercury comes from multiple sources, the most pervasive of which is from acid rain caused by powerplant emissions and from gold mining operations. Mercury contamination affects us globally since mercury can be transported through the atmosphere over large distances.


Mercury contamination poses health risks to adults and especially children and the unborn fetus. In adults, symptoms of mercury toxicity are hair loss, upset stomach, difficulty concentrating; numbness, burning or tingling of the extremities (lips, fingers, toes); fatigue; weakness; irritability; shyness; loss of memory and coordination; tremors; and changes in hearing and blurred vision. Extremely high mercury levels can permanently damage an adult's brain and kidneys, or even lead to circulatory failure. In the unborn child, infants and children, high levels of mercury can harm the developing nervous system, kidneys, liver and cause neurological damage.

Some fish have higher levels of mercury than others. Predatory, large and long-lived fish such as shark, swordfish, tilefish, orange roughy, tuna, marlin and king mackerel have the highest levels of mercury and should be avoided altogether. The lowest levels of mercury are found in shrimp, sole, tilapia, clams, oysters, herring, hake, scallops, anchovies, squid, flounder and sardines. In general, the smaller the fish the lower the level of mercury.

The good news is that mercury is released from our bodies through perspiration. But, this isn’t enough if one eats contaminated seafood regularly. The only other way to eliminate mercury from our bodies is to stop eating fish. It will take 2 to 3 months for the toxin be expelled but this is only for mercury we consumed recently. Mercury that has lodged itself in tissue is much harder to remove from our system. I would suppose fasting and taking bentonite would remove mercury together with other toxins from our bodies. The other thing is that we should not altogether eliminate seafood from our diets because we need to consume foods with omega 3 oils, which our bodies don’t produce naturally. So the best thing to do is to eat fish that has very low levels of mercury and consume more foods, such as nuts and seeds, that are high in omega 3 oils.

Works Cited:

BusinessWeek, “Time To Scale Back On Big Fish?”
by Carol Marie Cropper, Jan 19, 2004
http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/BusinessWeek/2004/
01/19/347852?extID=10038&data=mercury_levels

University of Kentucky - College of Agriculture,
“Mercury in Fish: Advice for Consumers”,
http://www.ca.uky.edu/enri/pubs/enri_220.pdf

Oceans Alive, “Mercury in Fish and Shellfish”,
http://www.oceansalive.org/eat.cfm?subnav=mercury

Natural Resources Defense Council, “Mercury
Contamination in Fish”,
http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/
protect.asp