Lemongrass chicken with thai basil

With the exception of convenience food and baked goods, I've found that a lot of the foods I eat are already allergen-free since most of my meals revolve around rice.

Here is a lemongrass chicken with thai basil that my mom made. It was simple, tasty, and quick. My mom used chicken breast which she diced and sauteed with lemongrass and fish sauce. Thai basil was added off the heat so that it didn't wilt.

Red Boat Fish Sauce

I discovered Red Boat fish sauce because I found out I was allergic to the fish sauce brands we had at home. Red Boat is an extra-virgin fish sauce with only two ingredients: anchovy fish and sea salt.

It has a beautiful, clear amber color and has a wonderful flavor. It's pungent, umami, salty-sweet, and not fishy at all. I've been putting it in all my savory dishes, Vietnamese or not.

Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Mix

I was disappointed after trying King Arthur's gluten free pizza mix. The dough was difficult to work with, and it gave me a funny feeling in my throat. I suspect xanthan gum or guar gum thickening the saliva in my mouth.

My doctor recommended Bob's Red Mill gluten free pizza mix, and even though that contains the gums, I decided to try it. The dough was easier to work with than King Arthur's, and even though it doesn't taste like good gluten pizza (it tastes like school cafeteria pizza), it'll do for when I am having a pizza craving.

Today I made a red onion and thai basil pizza. I also used a fake cheese since I'm allergic to dairy and soy. The fake cheese is a little creepy, but it did melt and stretch as promised on the label.

Here is my pizza before baking:

And here it is after it's baked:

Banh Khuc -- Mung bean, mochi, and sticky rice

Banh khuc are among my favorite snacks. The center is a savory mix of mung bean, pork, fish sauce, and deep fried shallot followed by a layer of white rice and sticky rice flour dough and then an outer layer of sticky rice.

According to my uncle Chu Nghia,, there is a La Khuc -- a type of leaf -- from which these were originally made. Nowadays, most people use pureed spinach to get the green color of the dough. I decided to go with simplicity and leave the dough white.

My recipe comes from my aunt Bac Lan.


First the mung beans need to be soaked in water overnight

After soaking, the mung beans should be rinsed and then cooked. I cooked it in a rice cooker on the "brown rice" setting, but basically, you just cook them till they're tender to whip into a fluffy mound. Then add salt, deep fried shallot, fish sauce, and sauteed pork until tasty. Divide this into about 40 balls about 1 inch around.


Making the dough was easier than I thought it'd be:

Then wrap pieces of the dough around the mung bean balls.

Mom says round sticky rice is better than the elongated sticky rice. I simply steamed the rice with pinches of kosher salt.

Then cover with steamed sticky rice, let cool, then enjoy!

Gluten Free Banana and Blueberry Muffins

After reading GlutenFreeGirl's post about gluten free muffins, I've had ambivalent feelings about making my own batch. On the one hand, I was excited to try making a batch of gluten-free muffins because most gluten muffin recipes warn bakers to not overmix the batter to avoid the development of gluten. On the other hand, I'm still deeply suspicious of gluten-free versions of gluten food. GlutenFreeGirl's post about how easy  muffins are and how you don't need xanthan gum, guar gum, or any other weird, non-wholesome sounding ingredient seemed too good to be true.

I took the plunge anyway and tried. I had purchased millet flour and sorghum flour yesterday, but didn't use them in today's muffins because I was too nervous about using these flours. Instead I used almond meal and white rice flour since I had used them to make a flourless chocolate cake that turned out very good. (Not just very good for gluten free; very good, period).

12 regular muffins and a loaf

110 grams white sugar
175 grams white rice flour
50 grams almond meal (I bought almonds and pulverized them in a food processor)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
110 grams applesauce
2 eggs
3 very ripe bananas
1 cup frozen blueberries
Turbinado sugar


1. Mix the sugar, rice flour, almond meal, baking powder and salt together. Set aside
2. In another mixing bowl, beat the eggs with applesauce and then add the bananas and mash.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mix thoroughly and then add blueberries.
4. Pour batter into loaf pans or muffin tins, sprinkle turbinado sugar on top, and bake till done.

400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 25 -30 minutes

These actually came out pretty good. They didn't rise as much as gluten muffins usually do, but they were very light and tender rather than dense and heavy. I think they were a bit too moist, but better too moist than too dry.

Allergies

I found out a few weeks ago that I have allergies to several foods (wheat, soy, and peanuts). While I am relieved to have an explanation for why my skin has been acting up, I am quite saddened that I won't be able to enjoy so many of my favorite foods for a while. One thing I was particularly sad about is my allergy to soy, which apparently is in many prepared food items, including many chocolates!

On the other hand, there are plenty of delicious foods that don't have wheat, gluten, soy, dairy, and peanuts; so I will focus on all the foods I still can eat.


pad thai without peanuts
alcohol
mango, pomelo and strawberries with chili-salt
pho
tamarind soup
fruit with lime, salt, and chili
Cesar's paella
In-N-Out hamburger, protein style, mustard only
Com Tam -- broken rice
banh xeo at Thanh's Restaurant in Fremont
potato chips
tortilla chips
cornbread
bun bo hue at My Khe in San Jose
tamales
tacos at El Titanic

I've also made my share of mistakes. Among them include using the wrong fish sauces.
Many fish sauce brands have allergens including:

Tiparos Ingredients: anchovy fish, water, salt.
Three Crabs Ingredients: anchovy extract, water, salt, fructose & hydrolyzed wheat protein.
Squid Ingredients: water, anchovy extract, salt, sugar.
Golden Boy Ingredients: anchovy extract, salt, sugar.

It looks like Tra Chang and Red Boat may be allergen free:
      Tra Chang Ingredients: Ingredients: anchovy fish, salt, sugar.
       Red  Boat Ingredients: Anchovy fish, salt.

I am on the lookout for other brands that are allergen free.

Nocino July 2010

I'm making nocino again this year with the green walnuts that are now in season. I picked these a couple of days ago and have just mixed them with vodka. Here is the recipe I used this year:

20 green walnuts cut in half
1 L Sobieski Vodka
1 orange peel
3 cinnamon sticks

I put them all in a jar and will be checking on them periodically.

Update August 2011. My second batch of nocino is fantastic. It has really mellowed out now, and now I'm going through an allergy phase, I'm so glad I am still able to enjoy this