Low-carb tuna sandwich

This low carb tuna sandwich has less than 6g net carb per serving

 

Tuna from the can is not something that I eat very often. Mostly because I am not a fan of the extremely fishy smell and in order to get rid of the smell, a lot of effort is required in preparing the tuna filling. Hence, I usually only shop for tuna in water or brine and add a host of other ingredients like lime juice and zest, bird eye chilli, pepper, olives, scallion and cheese to get rid of the smell.

However, since I am currently craving for sandwich and have yet to replenish my grocery supplies, I only have canned tuna chunk in spring water in the pantry to fill the sandwich. So, I shall be having tuna sandwich due to this lack of option.

Preparation time: 40 mins

Carb: 7.5g | Fiber: 2.15g | Nett carb: 5.35g | Protein: 28.9g

Ingredients (serves 2)

For the low carb coconut bun:

3 eggs

3 tablespoons cream cheese

1 tablespoon coconut flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

For the sandwich filling:

1 can of tuna in spring water

10 cubes of feta cheese (1cm cube each)

3 tablespoons cream cheese

5 olives (sliced thinly)

4 bird eye chillies (minced)

1 sprig scallion (chopped)

1 lime (juice an zest)

4 tomato slices

1 cup lettuce (shredded)

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Prepare the bun as shown in this Youtube video
2. Mix together all the sandwich filling ingredients (except for lettuce and tomatoes)
3. Sandwich the filling in between two coconut buns and serve

Chilli lime beef and black fungus carbonara

Chilli lime beef and mushroom carbonara made using Shirataki noodles

Jumping into the hype train is not quite my thing. Usually, I am either late or miss the train altogether and it had never been an issue for me. But not this time. If only I had discovered Shirataki noodles sooner, I would saved myself months self-deceit — psyching my brain into beliving that shredded vegetables taste just like noodles. Shirataki noodles on the other hand, is real! With 1g of carbs net carbs and 2g of fiber per serving, it tastes really close to pasta al dente!

Thanks to experimenting with this holy grail miracle konjac noodles, I discovered this spiced-up version (pun intended) of carbonara sauce. Adding bird eye chillies and lime into an otherwise ordinary carbonara sauce only makes the flavour profile more exciting. It makes for a good balance of acidity, creamy, salty and spicy — I promise.

Here goes there recipe.

Carb: 14g | Fiber: 5.4g | Nett carb: 8.6g | Protein: 60g

Preparation time: 30 mins

Ingredients (serves 2):

1 packet Skirataki noodles

100g sliced beef

50g black fungus (shredded)

50g oyster mushrooms (shredded)

4 bird eye chilies (minced)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

Juice of 1 lime

100ml cream

3 tablespoon grated Parmigiano cheese

1 egg yolk

Butter

Salt to taste

Chopped spring onions for dressing

Method

1. Rinse Shirataki noodles thoroughly and toast on a frying pan to reduce its water content
2. Melt butter on a saucepan and stir fry beef slices till desired doneness
3. Add garlic and chillies and saute until soft
4. Add black fungus and oyster mushrooms and stir fry
5. Add toasted Shirataki noodles and stir fry for 3 minutes
6. Reduce heat and stir in cream, grated Parmigiano cheese and egg yolk and temper till sauce thickens
7. Add salt and lime juice to taste
8. Garnish with chopped spring onions and serve

 

Brunch Egg

There is just something about piercing a fork through a runny piece of egg yolk kept intact by an invisible membrane, sending the liquid gold spilling over delicious little things. I find that strangely satisfying. Do you?

Back to the subject at hand. I had eggs for brunch. It’s something I put together by deconstructing my sunny side up. The reason? I love sunny side ups but I like my egg white extra crispy around the edges and the yolk extra runny. So it makes sense to cook them separately. While I was at it, I thought why not add other ingredients and make it a meal? So here goes the yet-to-be-named brunch egg.

I have yet to name this dish. Maybe someone could help me with this?

Carbs: 5g | Fiber: 1.3g | Nett carb: 3.8g | Protein: 18.3g

Preparation time: 30 mins

Ingredients (Serves 1)

2 medium eggs

100g sliced Portobello mushrooms

5 pitted black olives (sliced)

3 cubes of 1 square centimetres feta cheese

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon butter

3 sprigs coriander leaves (chopped)

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Melt the butter and sauté the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper and keep aside.
2. Heat up the vegetable oil and fry the egg white
3. While the egg white is still runny, sprinkle sliced olives and sautéed mushrooms on top.
4. When the edges of the egg white starts to brown, reduce the flame, add egg yolk and cover the pan with a lid to cook the yolk to desired consistency
5. Sprinkle coriander leaves and feta cheese crumbles and serve

Steamed pork belly with fermented bean curd

Steamed pork belly with fermented bean curd

This is a comfort dish. It’s warm, simple, meltingly tender yet envelops the taste buds with flavours so rich it makes the world stop for a while — just like love (for the gustatory cells).

It is made with very few ingredients but, it requires at least 2 hours of medium heat steaming to achieve that melt in your mouth texture. I have added bird eye chilli in my recipe because as you probably would have already guessed, I love my food spicy!

Carb: 5.4g | Fiber: 0.4g | Nett carb 5g | Fats: 128g

Cooking time: More than 2 hours

Ingredients (serves 2)

350g pork belly

1 piece lam yu (Chinese fermented red bean curd)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 clove grated garlic

1 tablespoon grated ginger

1 tablespoon chopped spring onions

2 bird eye chillies

1 star anise

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Boil the pork belly for about 10 minutes
2. Remove from boiling water, dap dry with a piece of kitchen towel then scorch the belly (skin side down) on a hot skillet until light brown
3. Remove from the skillet glaze the entire pork belly with dark soy sauce and then slice (half inch thick)
4. Arrange in a steamer bowl — skin side down
5. In a separate bowl mix together lam yu (mashed), grated garlic, chopped spring onion, grated ginger, chillies, star anise, salt and pepper
6. Coat the pork (meat side) with the lam yu mixture and steam in medium heat for at least 2 hours until the meat is meltingly tender

Kaffir Leaves Lamb Shoulder Chop

I had a Eureka moment with this recipe experiment and am really excited to blog about it!

Have yet to find a suitable name to describe its exciting burst of flavours but, lets call it kaffir leaves  lamb shoulder chop.

At first it was the citrusy aroma from the kaffir leaves added with the heat from the ginger and bird eye chilli that made my mouth water. However, drizzling the dish with a little bit of lime juice right before eating sealed the deal for me. I am in love — with a piece of lamb chop!

Kaffir leaves grilled lamb chop

Carb: 3.9g | Fiber: 0.2g | Nett carb: 3.7g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 35g

Ingredients (serves 1)

200g lamb shoulder chop

5 kaffir leaves (chopped)

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1 tablespoon grated ginger

1 tablespoon chopped spring onions

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 bird eye chillies (chopped)

1 clove garlic (grated)

A pinch of salt to taste

Juice from 1/4 lime

Method:

1. Add all grated and chopped ingredients with olive oil, sark soy sauce, light soy sauce and salt and mix
2. Coat lamb chop with the marinade and refrigerate overnight
3. Let the lamb to stand at room temperature while preheating over to 200 degree Celsius
4. Roast to desired doneness and drizzle with lime juice just before serving