We are looking at week 5 of the long-awaited home renovations and I, for one am still excited every morning when the work progresses. This has been such a long time coming, from conception to the builders starting took two long years, I think you will agree it has been stretching my resilience. Delays, hurdles, disappointments, waiting, have been had in equal measures, but for now I can say, “the prologue has given way to chapter one, at last!” Still, many more weeks and months of work to come, but with the right mindset and prayer (and lots of it), forbearance with each other, understanding and good humour, we will get to the fruit of the labour. Meanwhile, I’m determined to make this transitional period: living in a semi building site as homely as I can manage it. Thankfully we still have a fully functional, though perhaps more spartan kitchen, I will be facing a challenge of “can’t cook, won’t cook”!
Like many, cooking during the working week is functional. My aim is to eat healthily during this construction period, and to avoid the unnecessary weight gain (!), I am putting a few theories into practice. At the end of last year I bought two books by Professor Tim Spector. He is the man behind the Covid app and the co-founder of Zoe Health Study, this is the evolution of the Zoe Covid Study; for details, click on the links. I am a few chapters in his book, “Spoon Fed” on debunking common food myths, and will be dipping into his latest and thicker volume, “Food for Life” when I get to it. His Zoe podcasts on YouTube are also very interesting.
One of Spector’s key practices that resonates with me is eating 30 plants a week. This does not mean chomping on green leaves and salads, but to make use of a wide spectrum of foods that we often disregard. These can be herbs, spices, nuts and seeds, legumes and beans, wholegrains, the vast variety of vegetables and fruit and the gut friendly products such as kimchi and sauerkraut. These ingredients can be fresh, frozen or tinned as long as there are no unnecessary additives and sweeteners such as sugars, oils, emulsifiers, etc. As you know as an accompaniment for Cantonese food, rice is a staple. Even at banquets, where dishes are served one by one, rice is served at the very end, and in an elaborate style, never just plain steamed. I have been thinking, how can I pimp up this universal grain and make it healthier. White rice or their wholegrain cousin is mostly carbohydrates, although the latter offers more nutrients and fibre. I have been experimenting by adding bits and bobs in mine, to enrich, to bulk up, and most importantly, to increase the nutritional contents and get us to eat more plant based ingredients. The multigrain rice is born.
This experiment is a relatively new concept, as in the past we simply switched to more wholegrain varieties: mainly brown rice and cooked plainly. I mix up a few types, every now and then I vary the proportions and varieties. My rice now resembles a pick ‘n’ mix. Tinned plain legumes such as chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils (a tin can be split into two meals, make sure to decant and store it in a sealed container); smoked tofu, grains such as quinoa, red Camargue rice, black rice, oats (not the “instant” type), millet, amarath; chopped vegetables such as sweet potato, carrot, mushrooms (I particularly like the rehydrated shiitake mushrooms for flavour). Frozen vegetables are also a handy addition. Over a period of time to accustom our palates and digestion, I gradually add more varieties and/or play around with the ratios. This different way of eating does take some time to get used to. We were brought up on the plain white fluffy stuff so switching to a chewier and denser alternative is just as much a change of mindset. In a typical week, we have a few dinners featuring multigrain rice, but we also enjoy the ordinary white rice and products made from white flour. Variety makes eating enjoyable.
Going through a few cookbooks here I have discovered multigrain rice isn’t at all a new phenomenon. Koreans and Japanese have long been practising this way of eating in their homes. The former call theirs Japgokbap and the latter, Zakkokumai. The ingredients vary, and the main ingredient is still white rice, however the cook has more scope to make different proportions and perhaps like me, adding more fresh ingredients to make it a more wholesome bowlful. I don’t find this kind of food in the market, most restaurants still offer plain white rice, with some switched to the brown variety. As an ex-office worker, I remember the healthy fast food chain called “Pod”. At the time they were a rare chain that offered mixed grains in their hot food and salads.
One thing that I have noticed is that I am satisfied with a smaller amount of the multigrain rice, but with the plain white variety, I can eat a double portion or more, easily. Maybe the fibre and chewy texture do something to my stomach and to my brain.
So there you have it, now the builders have left for the day, the dog has had his second walk, it is time to prepare tonight’s dinner.
This is my quinoa rice cooked in dashi (vegetable stock made with seaweed), layered with smoked tofu, finely shredded carrot, Chinese leaf, and spring onions, served with a plain omelette on the side. I cook the grains and stock in a saucepan on the hob, when most of the water has cooked off, the toppings are added on for the last 7-8 minutes of cooking before turning off the heat and allow to steam to finish everything. By cooking it in stages, the vegetables retain the crunchy texture, nutritional value and colour.
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