Mango & Sweet Sticky Coconut Brown rice

Usually travelling gives me inspiration to try out new food and recipes but for this dish I was inspired because of a friend who travelled through southeast Asia for a few months. So I have a few healthyfied Asian recipes on my sleeve coming soon!

Thai coconut rice, which is like the Asian form of rice pudding, is one of the most famous Thai dishes. Eaten as either dessert or snack, it is traditionally served with mango (a must), a thick and sweet coconut sauce and sesame seeds. Nee I say more why I had to have this? Drag me away.

I made sure, using just enough sugar in form of maple surup (just 2 tsp per serving) to let it pass as a healthy breakfast. While the flavour of the coconut rice is still amazing, I'm using waaaay less sugar than traditional recipes and also, maple syrup is a 'healthier' form of sugar than refined sugar.

Also, by using brown rice instead of regular white rice as is normal, you are getting in more fibre and other nutricional benefits.

This recipe is for 2 people, if you're preparing it for just yourself you can just pop half the cooked coconut rice in a bowl in the fridge to have it another day. It will stay good and flavours are even better when the rice is chilled.

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

Coconut rice:

• 75 gr (uncooked) brown rice 
• 1 tblsp maple syrup (or use rice syrup or honey)
• 270 ml coconut milk 
• good pinch of seasalt

Toppings: 

• heaped tblsp sesame seeds
• 40 cashews
• 1 ripe mango

Coconut sauce:

• 4 tblsp coconut milk
• 2 tsp brown rice flour (or use cornstarch, potato starch)
• 1 tsp maple syrup (or use rice syrup, honey)

• Method:
• The night before: wash the brown rice until the water runs clean. Put in a bowl and cover with water. Let the brown rice soak in the water overnight (or for about 4 hours).
• The next day, get rid off the water and rinse the rice once more. Pop it in a pan with the coconut milk and salt. 
• Bring to a boil with the lid on top of the pan (important!) and immediatly turn to low heat.
  
• Let the rice simmer for about 25 minutes. The rice needs to absorb all of the coconut milk. Add some water if neccesary. 
• Stir regularly to make sure the rice does not stick and burn to the bottom of the pan. 
• In the mean time: put a  frying pan on low/medium heat and roast the cashews and sesame seeds until golden.
• Slice the mango in pieces.
• For the coconut sauce: warm the coconut milk (for the sauce) on low heat, stir in the rice flour and let it stand on the stove until it has thickened a bit. Take of the heat and stir thourgh the maple syrup. 
• Your rice is finished when the liquid is absorbed, the rice is sticky and soft (taste it to make sure). When this is the case, take of the heat and stir through the tblp of maple syrup.
• Serve the rice chilled (best) or warm, dress with the coconut sauce, sesame seeds, cashews and mango.

• http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2009/06/fluffy-coconut-rice-with-tofu-pillows.html

Oven baked Super Crisp Sweet Potato Fries

 I have made loads of sweet potato fries but I never was quite satisfied with how crispy they became in the oven. When I tried this I was blown over.

I'm sharing my sweet potato fries secret with you guys. You don't need to deepfry your fries to make them crisp using liters of oil. A tablespoon or 2 of oil is enough if you give them an ultra crispyfying coat of polenta.

A series of good dipping sauces to eat with these champs to replace mayonaise is coming soon!

Servings: 4 persons

Ingredients:

• 3 medium size sweet potatoes
• 150 gr polenta
• 1 egg
• about 100-200 ml milk of choice (I used unsweetened almond milk)
• 2 tsp seasalt (or a little less)
• 1/2 tsp spice of your choice (think cayenne/cumin/chili, I used smoked paprika powder)
• about 1-2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil or molten coconut oil

Method:

Wack the oven on to a 200-210 degrees C. Prepare a oven tray with greaseproof paper.

Cut the potatoes in thin fries.

Mix the egg and the milk together in a big bowl and throw in the fries, making sure all of the fries are covered with the egg-milk mixture.

On a plate, mix together polenta, seasalt and the spice of your choice.

One by one, take a fry out of the egg-milk mixture, shake off excess moisture, roll it through the polenta mixture until it is completely covered and put it on the oven tray. Do the same with the rest of the fries. Make sure you the fries have space between them on the baking tray and don't cover one another (stops them from getting crisp as they start 'steaming').
-> Quick version: pop all of the polenta mix and all of the sweet potato fries on the baking tray and use your hands to mix it up and cover all of the sweet potato.

When all of the fries are covered with a thin polenta coat and have been put on the baking tray, sprinkle them with the oil and put the oven tray in the oven for 30 minutes exact.

Keep a regular check on the fries while they're in the oven and shake them around halfway through.

Pink Strawberry Overnight Oats

Ingredients:

• 1 banana 
• 30 gr oatmeal
• 60 ml rice-coconut milk or unsweetened almond milk
• 100 gr mixed red berries (strawberries, raspberries, red currants)
• squeeze of lemon or lime juice
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or bean

Toppings:

• 30 gr of your favourite nuts
• 30 gr mixed red fruit
• 1 tblsp of your favourite nubutter
• scoop of low fat (Greek) yoghurt or quark
• grated coconut
  

Method:

The night before, blend together the banana, milk, berries, lemon juice and vanilla extract.

Stir through the oats. Pop in a bowl and put in the fridge to set overnight or for at least 4 hours (the oats will soak up the moisture and turn itself into porridge).

Next morning add your toppings and enjoy. 

Yellow Lemon Chia Pudding

 Acidic lemon juice and healing curcuma will give you a super refreshing kickstart. This breakky is made for warm summer mornings!

Servings: 1 (big breakfast) or 2 servings (smaller portion, do the garnish x2)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tsp ground curcuma
• 4 tbsp chia seeds
• 200 ml rice-coconutmilk
• 1 tblsp lemon juice (more/less to taste)
• 1 tsp organic lemon zest (more/less to taste)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean
• 1 banana
  
  

Garnish:

• more lemon zest
• 30 gr peccans
• scoop of coconut yoghurty/low fat Greek yoghurt/low fat quark
• few chopped mint leaves

Method:

Blend together the milk, curcuma and vanilla extract using a blender. Pop in a bowl.

Add the chiaseeds and give it a good stir. Put the bowl in the fridge to set overnight or for at least 4 hours (the chiaseeds will soak up the moisture and become a pudding like structure).

Next morning, blend the banana together with the lemon juice using a blender and stir it through the chia-mixture. Grate the lemon and stir thorugh the zest as well.

Dress up the chiapud with a scoop of your favourite type of low fat yoghurt, peccans, chopped mint and a little extra lemon zest.

Chia-Peanutbutter Pudding Parfait

Ingredients:

• 4 tblsp chiaseeds
• 200-250 ml rice-coconut milk (or unsweetened almond milk)
• 2 tbsp peanutbutter
• 1 banana
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 10 gr peanuts
• 4 scoops of low fat Greek yoghurt / quark
• handfull of berries (optional but very tasty, especially raspberries)
  

Method:

1. Blend the milk with 1/2 banana, cinnamon and 1 tblsp peanutbutter until smooth. Pop in a bowl and mix with the chiaseeds. (Tip: start with 200 ml of milk, add more milk the next morning if pudding is too thick). 
2. Pop the bowl in the fridge to set overnight or for at least 3-4 hours (until the chiaseeds have soaked up the moisture and you have a pudding like mixture).
3. The morning after, pop the chia pud in a nice glass or jar, and layer it alternating with yoghurt, sliced 1/2 banana and other tblsp of peanutbutter. Finish with the peanuts which give the pudding a nice crunch and tuck in!

My basic Steel cut Oats

Steel cut oats! The differce between 'normal' instant oats and steelcut oats is the way the original groat has been cut and processed. Steel cut oats are created by cutting the grout instead of rolling it. The result is a rice shaped grain. It's more chewy than your regular oats and it has an acutal 'bite'. Nevertheless you can make awesome porridge with steel cut oats, though it might take you a little longer to prepare.

In the end steel cut oats and  your regular oats don't differ much in nutrients but when raw, steel cut oats contain more vitamins and minerals than regular oats because they are less processed.

I listed two methods of cooking the oats, method 1 involves soaking the oats in water overnight which will save you a lot of cooking time! But if you forgot to do this, method 2 will be just fine if you don't have a rush morning.

Ingredients:

• 40 gr steel cut oats (Dutchies: havergrutten, te koop bij o.a. Ekoplaza)
• 200 ml unsweetened almond milk
• extra water (I used about 50 ml's)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 banana
• 1 tblsp dried shredded coconut
• 1 tsp hempseed (optional)
  

Topping:

• 30 gr raspberries (or other berries)'
• 15 gr peccans
• 1 tblsp dried shredded coconut
• extra cinnamon for sprinkling
• spoon of low fat Greek yoghurt / quark

Method 1 (1 night + 5 minutes cooking):

1. Pop the oats in a bowl and cover them with approx. 50 ml boiling water and cover it with a plate or lid.
2. Pop the bowl in the fridge and let it set overnight. In the morning the oats will have absorbed all the water.
3. Now boil the oats in a pan on the stove for approx. 5 minutes together with only 100 ml of the milk until the porridge has thickened and is ready. Hop to step 2 if using this cooking method. 

Method 2 (20 minutes cooking):

1. Pop the oats together with the 200 ml's of almond milk in a pan to medium heat, bring to a boil and put the heat down a bit. Let the porridge cook for approx. 20-30 minutes until the oats have absorbed the milk and the porridge has thickened to your liking. 
2. Stir through the shredded coconut, linseeds (optional for extra protein boost) and cinnamon. 
3. Blend the banana using a blender or a fork and stir it through the porridge.
4. Pop your porridge in a bowl, dress with extra shredded coconut, peccans, rasps and yoghurt and optional extra cinnamon.